In 2008, Post.Trust and Chambers Ireland formed a partnership in support of the WESIGN project, a European funded project to be implemented by Chambers of Commerce in 9 EU countries. The purpose of WESIGN was to enhance access by SME's to digital certificates in order to undertake document signing or access egovernment services. The project ran over a period of 18 months starting on 1 January 2008 and was co-funded by the European Commission under the eTEN programme.
Post.Trust presenting at the Chambers Ireland national information seminars in support of the WESIGN project.
WESIGN Objectives
- To bring partners with low levels of experience in digital certificates to a level which would enable operational delivery
- To validate the interest of companies in various types of digital certificates by demonstrating a number of applications and conducting a market validation exercise. Applications included digitally signed email, electronic customs documents, e-invoicing, contracts and general business correspondence
- To develop a sustainable business model for Chambers of Commerce for the sale of digital certificates
- To contribute to the framework for interoperability of e-Signatures at European level
Chambers Ireland organised a number of national information seminars designed to raise awareness on the application of digital certificates in business. Presenting at these seminars were Post.Trust, Certification Europe and Chambers Ireland. The overriding objective was to provide a broad overview on the nature and application of digital certificates, security in business and demonstrate case studies from participating European Chambers of Commerce. Case studies included secure email exchange, e-signatures, electronic customs documents, electronic document storage and archiving, e-invoicing and e-procurement.
Feedback indicated that the seminars were very well received. A market validation exercise was also conducted to assess the appetite of SME’s for the deployment of digital signature applications in business. Each partner subsequently developed a business plan with the objective of ensuring the deployment of an application utilising digital signatures. In the context of business communications for the SME sector in Ireland, the findings indicated that a simple and easy-to-use document signing solution was considered to have the most potential in the short term.
For more information see www.wesign.org www.chambersign.com
