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List
The present list is the TSL implementation of FRANCE "Trusted List of supervised/accredited Certification Service Providers" providing information about the supervision/accreditation status of certification services from Certification Service Providers (CSPs) who are supervised/accredited by FRANCE for compliance with the relevant provisions of Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures.
The Trusted List aims at:
- listing and providing reliable information on the supervision/accreditation status of certification services from Certification Service Providers, who are supervised/accredited by FRANCE for compliance with the relevant provisions laid down in Directive 1999/93/EC
- facilitating the validation of electronic signatures supported by those listed supervised/accredited certification services from the listed CSPs.
The Trusted List of a Member State provides a minimum of information on supervised/accredited CSPs issuing Qualified Certificates in accordance with the provisions laid down in Directive 1999/93/EC (Art. 3,3, 3.2 and Art. 7.1(a)), including information on the QC supporting the electronic signature and whether the signature is or not created by a Secure Signature Creation Device.
The CSPs issuing Qualified Certificates (QCs) listed here are supervised by FRANCE and may also be accredited for compliance with the provisions laid down in Directive 1999/93/EC, including with the requirements of Annex I (requirements for QCs), and those of Annex II (requirements for CSPs issuing QCs). The applicable ‘supervision’ system (respectively ‘voluntary accreditation’ system) is defined and must meet the relevant requirements of Directive 1999/93/EC, in particular those laid down in Art. 3,3, Art. 8,1, Art. 11 (respectively, Art. 2,13, Art. 3,2, Art 7.1(a), Art. 8,1, Art. 11)
Additional information on other supervised/accredited CSPs not issuing QCs but providing services related to electronic signatures (e.g. CSP providing Time Stamping Services and issuing Time Stamp Tokens, CSP issuing non- Qualified certificates, etc.) are included in the Trusted List and the present TSL implementation at a national level on a voluntary basis.’
TSL and RGS
The general security referential (GSR) allows users to digitally sign documents with a private key associated to a digital certificate dedicated to electronic signature (function “signature”) or to a certificate which can be used for both authentication and signature (function “authentication and signature”).
The GSR defines 3 security levels for the function “signature”: * (the less restrictive level), ** and *** (the most secure level). For the function “authentication and signature”, only the levels * and ** are available.
The main differences between these levels concern the required qualification levels for security products used to sign and check digital signatures.
The signature device, which signs the hash of the document to be signed, must be qualified at :
- the elementary level for security level *
- the standard level for security level **
- the reinforced level for security level ***
With regards to the signature application (which computes the hash of the document) and the signature checking module, the GSR recommends a qualification at the standard level for security levels ** and ***.
For levels ** and ***, the signing key is stored in a hardware cryptographic device (for instance, a smart card or a USB key), whereas, for security level *, the key can be stored in a software module.
At last, only signature keys and digital certificates compliant with security level *** can be used for qualified signature.
