Local Certificate

About

A Local Certificate refers to a digital certificate stored on a user’s local device—such as a computer, smart card, or USB token—which enables the creation of electronic signatures directly from that device.

These certificates are issued by a Trusted Certification Authority (CA) and tied to the user's verified identity.

Local Certificates are widely used in both Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) and Advanced Electronic Signature (AdES) contexts, depending on the certificate’s issuance process and the legal framework in place.

This method provides users with full control over their private keys and is commonly integrated into desktop signing tools, enterprise environments, and secure document workflows.

Compliance

When issued by a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) in compliance with the eIDAS Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, a Local Certificate can be used to create a Qualified Electronic Signature (QES), which has the same legal standing as a handwritten signature across the EU.

In other contexts, it may be used for Advanced Electronic Signatures (AdES), offering a high level of security and integrity but with varying legal weight depending on jurisdiction.

Local Certificate solutions must comply with relevant cryptographic standards and access controls to ensure secure key management and signature validity.