The highest level of electronic signature defined by eIDAS — legally equivalent to a handwritten signature in the 27 EU Member States. Issued by a qualified trust service provider (QTSP) listed on the EU trust list. No subscription, no commitment, billed per use.
Qualified electronic signature (QES — Qualified Electronic Signature) is defined in articles 3(12) and 26 of the European regulation eIDAS (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) listed on the European trust list.
Article 25(2) of eIDAS grants it unique legal value: QES is strictly equivalent to a handwritten signature in the 27 Member States, without additional 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 incl. tax | Typical profile |
|---|---|---|
| 1 signature | 9.90 € | One-time act — INPI filing, public contract, official deed |
| 5 signatures | 49.50 € | Law or notary office — regulated monthly acts |
| 20 signatures | 198 € | Average notary practice — routine acts + official deeds |
| 50 signatures | 495 € | Business firm / M&A — closings and high-stakes acts |
| 100+ signatures | Volume pricing | Enterprise contract — discount negotiated per monthly volume |
Price incl. tax. Billed end of month 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 contract — contact our sales team.
QES becomes necessary as soon as the law explicitly requires it, or when the risk of dispute requires maximum probative force. Here are the six use cases that represent the bulk of QES demand in 2026.
Notarial powers of attorney, electronic official deeds, gifts between living persons: QES is required by decree No. 2017-770 when the official deed is drawn up on electronic media. Probative force equivalent to handwritten signature before a notary.
Patent and trademark filings at INPI, Beneficial Owner Register (RBE) declarations, annual account filings at commercial court registries — these portals require electronic signature with embedded cryptographic proof and qualified certificate.
Responses to public contracts requiring qualified signature (large EU contracts, sovereign contracts, defence contracts). Decree No. 2016-360 and the PLACE platform impose QES for certain public contract thresholds.
M&A closings, business transfers, merger-absorption deeds, shareholder agreements worth tens of millions: QES rules out any possible dispute over the signatory''s identity or the integrity of the deed.
Operations requiring the highest level of customer identification (AML-CFT, very high-stakes contracts, ACPR/AMF requests). QES guarantees cryptographic proof of the signatory''s consent with audit trail embedded in the PDF.
International mobility agreements, severance agreements in litigious risk contexts, international contracts subject to foreign jurisdictions that explicitly require eIDAS QES to recognize the deed.
Four steps — approximately 3 to 5 minutes for the first act, less than a minute for subsequent ones once identity is verified.
Import the PDF to sign, add the signatories and place the fields as for any Certyneo envelope. At the time of 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 in the PDF. The operation takes a few seconds on the server side, transparent for the signatory.
The signed PDF is archived for 10 years in the Certyneo safe, 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 needs. Here is a reference table to calibrate the level to your deed''s risk.
| Criterion | SES — Simple | AES — Advanced | QES — Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signatory 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-wide (art. 25(2)) |
| Typical use case | T&Cs, quotes, acknowledgements | HR contracts, NDA, mandates, leases | Notarial deeds, INPI, public contracts, M&A |
| Certyneo pricing | Included in all plans | Included from the Personal plan (9 €/month) | 9.90 €/signature per act — from the Standard plan |
| Available on Certyneo | Yes — all plans | Yes — from the Personal plan | Yes — from the Standard plan, per act |
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 recognized uniformly in the 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, an identity verification and a cryptographic operation on their infrastructure. Rather than passing this cost on in a flat monthly subscription (which disadvantages occasional uses), we bill 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 signatory must install the Evrotrust application (iOS or Android) or authenticate via itsme if in Belgium. Identity verification takes about 3 minutes — ID document + video selfie. Once the certificate is issued, all subsequent QES signatures are applied in less than a minute, without re-verification. The certificate is stored on the signatory''s phone and remains valid for several years.
No — QES is available from the Standard plan (19 €/month). On the Free and Personal plans, QES is not activated server-side; you must first upgrade to the Standard plan to be able to choose "Qualified (QES)" in the sending 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 shuts down in the meantime. Adobe Reader, INPI/RBE/court registry verifiers and public contract portals recognize this format natively.
The 9.90 €/signature cost only applies to a QES signature actually applied to a document. You can prepare an envelope, send it to the signatory and have it signed in QES — billing is triggered when the QTSP validates the signature, not before. If you want to test the signatory journey without validation, choose the AES level (included in your subscription) to familiarize yourself with the interface, then switch to QES for your actual deeds.
UE-mi suli EEA-mi (Island, Liechtenstein, Norga), QES eIDAS-i inugumasuginiuk ajunngikamik inugumasuguk inuit misilitsinngussa nalergivara. UE-nut pijariaqatigivara (USA, Inuit Qatannginnguaq, Suerissuaq, Kanata, etc.), inugumasuginiuk ataujinnguq ikajanngisuguk akkaleq silla inugumasuginiutinut. Suerissuaq suli Inuit Qatannginnguaq-mi silla ajunngikamik attanniannginnguq (ZertES, eIDAS-UK) ataujinnguq ikajanngisuguk akkaleq nalergivara. Akluq akorngajummi atukartuq inuit qilaktut, atauilautjilluni najunngituk ajunnginnik inugumasuginiutinut.
ᑯᒡᒋᓛᒃᑕᑉ ᐅᕝᕙᓘᓐᓃᑦ ᑐᓂᔭᐅᓯᒪᑦᑎᐊᑕᑉ ᐃᓕᓐᓂᐊᕐᕕᑦ ᑕᐃᒃᑯᐃᑦ ᑐᓂᔭᐅᓯᒪᐅᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ. ᒥᕐᖑᐃᓯᒪᐊᕐᒪᑕ ᐊᒻᒪ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᐧᐃᑦ ᐱᔭᐅᔪᑎᑦ ᐅᐱᒋᔭᖃᖡᓂᐊᕈᑎᑦ. ᐃᓕᓐᓂᐊᕐᕕᑦ