RFC 3125 (rfc3125) - Page 1 of 44


Electronic Signature Policies



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



Network Working Group                                            J. Ross
Request for Comments: 3125                          Security & Standards
Category: Experimental                                         D. Pinkas
                                                                Integris
                                                                 N. Pope
                                                    Security & Standards
                                                          September 2001


                     Electronic Signature Policies

Status of this Memo

   This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
   community.  It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
   Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document defines signature policies for electronic signatures. A
   signature policy is a set of rules for the creation and validation of
   an electronic signature, under which the validity of signature can be
   determined.  A given legal/contractual context may recognize a
   particular signature policy as meeting its requirements.

   A signature policy has a globally unique reference, which is bound to
   an electronic signature by the signer as part of the signature
   calculation.

   The signature policy needs to be available in human readable form so
   that it can be assessed to meet the requirements of the legal and
   contractual context in which it is being applied.

   To allow for the automatic processing of an electronic signature
   another part of the signature policy specifies the electronic rules
   for the creation and validation of the electronic signature in a
   computer processable form.  In the current document the format of the
   signature policy is defined using ASN.1.

   The contents of this document is based on the signature policy
   defined in ETSI TS 101 733 V.1.2.2 (2000-12) Copyright (C).
   Individual copies of this ETSI deliverable can be downloaded from
   http://www.etsi.org.



Ross, et al.                  Experimental