The highest level of electronic signature defined by eIDAS — legally equivalent to a handwritten signature in the 27 EU Member States. Delivered by a qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) on the EU trust list. No subscription, no commitment, billed per use.
Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) is defined in Articles 3(12) and 26 of the European eIDAS Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014. It is based on a digital certificate issued personally to the signatory after strict identity verification, and created via a Qualified Signature Creation Device (QSCD) managed by a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) on the European trust list.
Article 25(2) of eIDAS gives it a unique legal value: QES is strictly equivalent to a handwritten signature in the 27 EU Member States, without further formality. It is the only level of electronic signature that benefits from this strong legal presumption at the European level.
QES is billed at €9.90 per signature, in addition to your Certyneo subscription. No package, no minimum, no commitment. You only pay for what you sign.
| QES Signatures / month | Monthly Cost (inc. VAT) | Typical Profile |
|---|---|---|
| 1 signature | €9.90 | One-off deed — INPI filing, public procurement, authentic deed |
| 5 signatures | €49.50 | Law or notary office — regulated monthly deeds |
| 20 signatures | €198 | Average notary office — routine and authentic deeds |
| 50 signatures | €495 | Corporate firm / M&A — closings and high-stakes deeds |
| 100+ signatures | Volume Rate | Enterprise Agreement — discount negotiated by monthly volume |
Prices inc. VAT. Billed at month-end via Stripe in addition to your Certyneo subscription (Standard, Business, or Business Pro). Beyond 100 signatures/month, a volume rate is negotiated in the Enterprise agreement — contact our sales team.
QES becomes necessary when the law explicitly requires it, or when the risk of dispute requires maximum evidentiary weight. Here are the six use cases that represent the bulk of QES demand in 2026.
Notary powers of attorney, electronic authentic deeds, gifts inter vivos: QES is required by Decree No. 2017-770 when the authentic deed is drafted on electronic media. Evidentiary weight equivalent to a handwritten signature before a notary.
Brand and patent filings with INPI, filings with the Register of Beneficial Owners (RBE), annual account filings with commercial court registries — these portals require an electronic signature with embedded cryptographic proof and a qualified certificate.
Responses to public procurements requiring qualified signature (large EU procurements, sovereign contracts, defense contracts). Decree No. 2016-360 and the PLACE platform require QES for certain public procurement thresholds.
M&A closings, business sales, merger-acquisition deeds, shareholder agreements worth tens of millions: QES eliminates any possible dispute over the signatory's identity or the deed's integrity.
Operations requiring the highest level of customer identification (AML/CFT, high-stakes contracts, ACPR/AMF requests). QES guarantees cryptographic proof of signatory consent with audit trail embedded in the PDF.
International mobility agreements, severance agreements in contentious contexts, international contracts subject to foreign jurisdictions that explicitly require eIDAS QES for recognition.
Four steps — approximately 3 to 5 minutes for the first deed, less than a minute for subsequent ones once identity is verified.
Import the PDF to sign, add signatories, and place fields as with any Certyneo envelope. At sending, choose "Qualified (QES)" in the signature level.
The signatory is redirected to our partner QTSP (itsme in Belgium, Evrotrust for other EU countries) for video identity verification + ID document. First time only — subsequent signatures reuse the certificate.
The QTSP issues the qualified certificate, calculates the cryptographic signature (PAdES-LTA), and seals it into the PDF. The operation takes a few seconds on the server side, transparent to the signer.
The signed PDF is archived for 10 years in the Certyneo vault, exportable at any time with its complete audit trail. The signature is billed at €9.90 on your end-of-month Stripe invoice.
The three eIDAS levels meet different probative force requirements. Here is a reference table to calibrate the level to the risk of your document.
| Criterion | SES — Simple | AES — Advanced | QES — Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signer authentication | Click or checkbox | Double OTP email + SMS | Qualified certificate issued by QTSP after identity verification |
| Probative value | Contractual basis | Strong — presumption art. 1367 Civil Code | Maximum — equivalent to handwritten EU (art. 25(2)) |
| Typical use case | Terms, quotes, acknowledgments | HR contracts, NDAs, mandates, leases | Notarial deeds, INPI, public procurement, M&A |
| Certyneo pricing | Included in all plans | Included from Personal plan (€9/month) | €9.90/signature per document — from Standard plan |
| Available on Certyneo | Yes — all plans | Yes — from Personal plan | Yes — from Standard plan, per document |
Yes. Certyneo QES goes through a qualified trust service provider (itsme in Belgium, Evrotrust for other EU countries) listed on the European trust list published by the Commission. The certificate issued is uniformly recognized in all 27 Member States under article 25(2) of eIDAS. The signature produced is strictly equivalent to that of any other QTSP on the list.
The marginal cost of a qualified signature comes from the partner QTSP — each signature consumes a certificate, identity verification, and cryptographic operation on their infrastructure. Rather than pass this cost into a flat monthly subscription (which disadvantages occasional use), we charge per use. You only pay for QES the months you use it, and only for the volume actually signed. Beyond 100 signatures/month, a negotiated volume rate is available in the Enterprise contract.
For the first signature only, the signer must install the Evrotrust app (iOS or Android) or authenticate via itsme if in Belgium. Identity verification takes about 3 minutes — identity document + video selfie. Once the certificate is issued, all subsequent QES signatures are applied in less than a minute, without new verification. The certificate is stored on the signer''s phone and remains valid for several years.
No — QES is available from the Standard plan (€19/month). On Free and Personal plans, QES is not activated on the server side; you must first upgrade to the Standard plan to choose "Qualified (QES)" in the send wizard. The cost of QES (€9.90/signature) is added to your Standard, Business, or Business Pro subscription and appears on your end-of-month Stripe invoice.
Yes. Certyneo QES uses the PAdES-LTA format (PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures — Long Term Availability) defined by ETSI EN 319 142 standards. The qualified certificate, qualified timestamp, and all validation information are embedded in the PDF itself, allowing the signature to be verified for 10 years even if the QTSP closes in the meantime. Adobe Reader, INPI/RBE/court verifiers, and public procurement portals natively recognize this format.
The €9.90/signature cost applies only to a QES signature actually applied to a document. You can prepare an envelope, send it to the signer, and sign in QES — billing is triggered when the QTSP validates the signature, not before. If you want to test the signer journey without validation, choose the AES level (included in your subscription) to familiarize yourself with the interface, then switch to QES for your actual documents.
Within the EU and EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), eIDAS QES is legally recognized in all Member States. Outside the EU (United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, etc.), recognition depends on bilateral agreements and the law of the destination country. Switzerland and the United Kingdom have equivalent frameworks (ZertES, eIDAS-UK) with partial mutual recognition agreements. For a document intended for a third country, consult an international lawyer to confirm local recognition.
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