COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION
of 14 October 2013
amending Decision 2009/767/EC as regards the establishment, maintenance and publication of trusted lists of certification service providers supervised/accredited by Member States
(notified under document C(2013) 6543)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2013/662/EU)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (1), and in particular Article 8(3) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Commission Decision 2009/767/EC of 16 October 2009 setting out measures facilitating the use of procedures by electronic means through the ‘Points of Single Contact’ under Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on services in the internal market (2) obliges Member States to make available information necessary for the validation of advanced electronic signatures supported by a qualified certificate. This information is to be set out uniformly using the so-called ‘trusted lists’ containing information on certification service providers issuing qualified certificates to the public in accordance with Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures (3) and are supervised/accredited by the Member States.
(2)
Practical experience with the implementation of Decision 2009/767/EC by Member States has shown that certain improvements are necessary to maximise the benefits of trusted lists. Moreover, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has published new technical specifications for trusted lists (TS 119 612) that are based on the specifications currently included in the Annex of the Decision, but which, at the same time, make a number of improvements to the existing specifications.
(3)
Decision 2009/767/EC should therefore be amended to refer to the ETSI technical specifications 119 612 and to incorporate changes considered necessary to improve and facilitate the implementation and use of trusted lists.
(4)
For the purpose of allowing Member States to carry out the required technical changes to their current trusted lists it is appropriate that this Decision should apply as of 1 February 2014.
(5)
The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Services Directive Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
Amendments to Decision 2009/767/EC
Decision 2009/767/EC is amended as follows:
(1)
Article 2 is amended as follows:
(a)
paragraphs 1, 2 and 2a are replaced by the following:
‘1. Each Member State shall establish, maintain and publish, in accordance with the technical specifications set out in the Annex, a “trusted list” containing, as a minimum, information related to the certification service providers issuing qualified certificates to the public who are supervised/accredited by them.
2. Member States shall establish and publish a machine processable form of the trusted list in accordance with the specifications set out in the Annex. If a Member State chooses to publish a human readable form of its trusted list, that form of the trusted list shall comply with the specifications set out in the Annex.
2a. Member States shall sign electronically the machine processable form of their trusted list in order to ensure its authenticity and integrity. If a Member State publishes a human readable form of the trusted list, it shall ensure that this form of the trusted list contains the same data as the machine processable form and they shall sign it electronically with the same certificate as used for the machine readable form.’;
(b)
the following paragraph 2b is inserted:
‘2b. Member States shall ensure that the machine processable form of their trusted list is accessible at its location of publication at any time, without interruption, except for maintenance purposes.’;
(c)
paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:
‘3. Member States shall notify to the Commission the following information:
(a)
the body or bodies responsible for the establishment, maintenance and publication of the machine processable form of the trusted list;
(b)
the location where the machine processable form of the trusted list, is published;
(c)
two or more scheme operator public key certificates, with shifted validity periods of at least three months which correspond to the private keys that can be used to sign electronically the machine processable form of the trusted list;
(d)
any changes to the information in points (a), (b) and (c).’;
(d)
the following paragraph 3a is inserted:
‘3a. If a Member State publishes a human readable form of the trusted list, information referred to in paragraph 3 shall be notified for the human readable form as well.’;
(2)
the Annex is replaced by the Annex to this Decision.
Article 2
Application
This Decision shall apply from 1 February 2014.
Article 3
Addressees
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 14 October 2013.