INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Court of Cassation: on the subject of digital signature, no further checks are required if the deed has the extension pdf.p7m.
With its judgment no. 31767 of 2 August 2024, the Supreme Court of Cassation – taking up a 2023 orientation – recalls that in general, the lack of the annotation of the digital signature on a document does not mean that the document has not been digitally signed.
In particular, digital signatures can be of two types: the so-called PAdES-BES or PAdES Part 3 or the CAdES-BES.
Only in the case of the PAdES signature does the file have a graphic representation of the signature, while in the second case (with the CADES signature, which has no graphic signature sign) the file has a .p7m extension and can be opened using the verification function offered by the same signature software. The printing of a digital document is never suitable for revealing whether or not it was digitally signed, by whom, when and if the signature was valid at the time of affixing it.
The verification of the existence and validity of the digital signature can in fact only be carried out with the appropriate signature software (Dike, Firma Certa, Firma Ok Gold etc.) or through the ministerial software. Or it can be inherent in the file extension itself.
For the purposes of verifying the existence of the digital signature of a deed, there is no need for further investigations if it appears in deeds that the file has the extension pdf.p7m as this extension is itself probative of the digital signature of the deed.
In particular, digital signatures can be of two types: the so-called PAdES-BES or PAdES Part 3 or the CAdES-BES.
Only in the case of the PAdES signature does the file have a graphic representation of the signature, while in the second case (with the CADES signature, which has no graphic signature sign) the file has a .p7m extension and can be opened using the verification function offered by the same signature software. The printing of a digital document is never suitable for revealing whether or not it was digitally signed, by whom, when and if the signature was valid at the time of affixing it.
The verification of the existence and validity of the digital signature can in fact only be carried out with the appropriate signature software (Dike, Firma Certa, Firma Ok Gold etc.) or through the ministerial software. Or it can be inherent in the file extension itself.
For the purposes of verifying the existence of the digital signature of a deed, there is no need for further investigations if it appears in deeds that the file has the extension pdf.p7m as this extension is itself probative of the digital signature of the deed.
