General information

The official signature is the legally valid electronic signature of an authority, which is applied in a visible form to notifications and other transactions. This means that the recipient can see that it is an official document from the designated department.

The official signature is visually represented by the seal of authority (comparable to a "round stamp") as well as an indication that the document has been officially signed. This ensures that the document originates from the concerned authority.

Verification mechanisms for the signature and a verification option for the printout must be made available by the authority.

Official signature of the municipality of Ferlach in accordance with Section 19 of the E-Government Act (E-GovG)

The official documents produced electronically by the municipality of Ferlach have the official signature of the municipality of Ferlach.

The official signature can be applied to notices and other transactions by an authority; thus it indicates that it is an official document from the designated authority.

This is expressed in the certificate of the signature by a special attribute (“administrative property”) and it is made visible through the seal of authority.

According to par. 19 of the e-government law, the official signature is to be represented in the document by

• the seal of the authority,
• an indication that the document has been officially signed and
• how the official signature can be verified.

The appearance of the official signature -together with the seal of authority of Ferlach- is shown below with an example and is used to verify the document. The size of the representation can be scaled depending on the document; the seal of authority can also be in black and white on printouts.

Verification of an officially signed electronic document

The electronic signature on an electronic document can be verified using the signature verification function of Adobe Acrobat Reader or of a compatible software.

A central inspection service for officially signed electronic documents -operated by Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH- is available at www.signaturpruefung.gv.at. The electronic document can be uploaded and the official signature can be checked here.

Verification of an officially signed written document

If the document is only available in a written format, you can request a verification by calling the telephone number in the header of the document. Please have the corresponding document to hand for this purpose.