Austria has a very popular Qualified Electronic Signature and user identification eID method called Handy-Signatur. It's a mobile app installed on over 2.6 million phones at the time of writing and is free to use for end users.
Daily Usage and Upcoming Transition
Operated by A-Trust, Handy-Signatur generates about 150,000 qualified electronic signatures daily, based on real-time graphs published by A-Trust. By the end of 2021, Handy-Signatur is expected to be upgraded to ID Austria, although existing integrations will continue working.
Austria also had national eID cards, but issuance stopped in 2019. Existing cards will remain functional until they expire.
How to Integrate
Integration with Handy-Signatur (or ID Austria) uses an API called Citizen Card Environment Security Layer. You'll make POST requests with XML, either including the XML directly in the body or by specifying a DataURL from which the security layer retrieves the XML. A RedirectURL can also be defined for post-operation redirection.
→ You can test this integration at https://test1.a-trust.at/mobile/https-security-layer-request/test.aspx.
This endpoint sends a NullOperationRequest and pulls the actual XML from a DataURL. Because the documentation is limited and confusing, it’s recommended to start with this test app and use a proxy to inspect and replicate real command structures.
Alternative: Signatur-Box
If you find the Austrian Security Layer too complex, you can purchase a Signatur-Box. This is an on-prem server solution exposing a more developer-friendly REST API. It simplifies integration but comes with additional costs.
Going Live
To go live, you’ll need to sign contracts with A-Trust for both user identification and signature creation. A direct Handy-Signatur integration typically costs €10,000–€20,000, considering its complexity.
However, using eID Easy makes integration far easier and cost-effective. We’ve already built the integration and prepaid for yearly qualified signatures—no need to handle the messy XML yourself. The price per signature remains about the same, and we support platforms like iManage, Nextcloud, and SharePoint.
Want to integrate Handy-Signatur with eID Easy? Contact us!
