How to Verify UK eIDAS PDF Digital Signatures

Upload your digitally signed PDF to pdfsigncheck.com. We will compute cryptographic hashes, validate PKCS#7 structures, and check the validity in seconds — 100% in-memory with zero file retention.

1. What is UK eIDAS Regulation?

Following the UK's exit from the European Union, the EU eIDAS Regulation was transposed into UK law via **The Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019**.

Known as **UK eIDAS**, it mirrors the EU framework and provides a legal structure for electronic identification and trust services in the UK. It defines three distinct levels of electronic signatures: Simple Electronic Signatures (SES), Advanced Electronic Signatures (AdES), and Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES).

2. UK Trusted List (UKTL) vs EU Trusted List (EUTL)

Under EU rules, each member state publishes a Trusted List of accredited Trust Service Providers (TSPs). Post-Brexit, the UK no longer contributes to or automatically recognizes changes to the EU Trusted List.

Instead, the UK government maintains the **UK Trusted List (UKTL)**, which is supervised by the **Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)**. The UKTL lists all approved TSPs offering qualified certificates and time stamps within the UK. UK-qualified trust services must be verified against the UKTL to establish the highest level of legal validity (QES).

3. How to Verify UK eIDAS Signatures on pdfsigncheck.com

PDF SignCheck provides a zero-setup, completely browser-based validation mechanism to check your UK-signed documents:

1. Upload the PDF: Drag and drop your signed PDF document into the verification upload box on the homepage.
2. Extract Cryptographic Metadata:The system parses the PDF layout, extracts the embedded PKCS#7 signature block, and decodes the signer's X.509 certificate.
3. Verify Integrity & Timestamps: It computes the SHA-256 hash over the signed byte ranges to ensure the file has not been modified since the signature was applied. It also validates the embedded cryptographic timestamp.
4. Check Certifying Details: Review the Common Name (CN), certificate issuer details, validity dates, and country of origin.

4. UK Legal Status of E-Signatures

In the UK, electronic signatures are legally recognized under the **Electronic Communications Act 2000 (ECA 2000)** and the UK eIDAS regulations:

• Section 7 of ECA 2000: Establishes the admissibility of electronic signatures in legal proceedings.
• Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES): Under UK eIDAS, a QES has the exact same legal status as a handwritten signature. It carries a legal presumption of authorship and document integrity.
• Deeds and Contracts: Simple electronic signatures are widely accepted for business contracts. However, for deeds and land registries (such as HM Land Registry applications), digital signatures with robust identity verification (QES) are increasingly required.

5. Trusted UK Certifying Authorities

UK documents are typically signed using certificates from major global CAs listed on the UKTL or the AATL, including **Entrust**, **DigiCert**, and **GlobalSign**, as well as local UK corporate and government signing authorities.

When you verify a UK document on pdfsigncheck.com, our tool extracts the signing authority name and lists the intermediate CAs so that you can verify the identity chain of the signer.

6. Troubleshooting & FAQs