Upgrade of your LuxTrust certificate

LuxTrust, your digital identity provider in Luxembourg, intends to upgrade its IT infrastructure. This upgrade is part of the development and continuous improvement of its services. Over the coming months, all LuxTrust customers will be able, with the help of their existing device, to electronically sign at "qualified” level, i.e. legally equivalent to a handwritten signature. In order to complete this process, we have to upgrade the existing e-certificate (Token, Scan, Mobile App) that you access via your LuxTrust device.
 

What changes have been made?

The upgrade process does not require any action on your behalf. It will also not have any practical implications on the use of your device in your day-to-day operations. Your device (Token, Mobile app, Scan, etc.) will remain the same and should not need to be replaced. The validity of your certificate and, by extension, your contract with LuxTrust will be automatically renewed for a period of 3 years at no additional cost.

The transition from the current level certificate established as "advanced" by law to a certificate established as "qualified" maximises the legal value attached to your electronic signature. Therefore, in the event of a dispute over the value of the latter in a dispute, for example, a judge will deem the signature to have the same value as a written signature; this applies to all countries in the European Union.

We have adapted our services and are in the process of updating our general terms and conditions of sale. To review these modifications and examine the specific terms and conditions for the use of our services, including the limits on this usage, please refer to gtc.luxtrust.lu..

If you do not want LuxTrust to upgrade your certificate, you can opt out. Just send an e-mail to qcp@luxtrust.lu before 05/08/2019 at midnight. Please provide your first and last name, the serial number of your Token or Scan. If you do not know the serial number, please call our service desk on +352 24 55 05 50.

If, on the other hand, you wish to terminate your contract with LuxTrust, you can do so by sending us a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt within a month.

If we do not receive any notification from you by this deadline, we will consider this as an agreement on your part to the modification of our general terms and conditions of sale and to the upgrade your certificate to the “qualified” level.

Attention: your certificate will only be upgraded at the end of 2019. If you are notified that your certificate expires beforehand, please proceed to its renewal.

To find out more:

1. What is an electronic signature certificate?
   The certificate of your LuxTrust device (Token, Mobile app, Scan, etc.) is similar to a digital identity card. To be more precise, it is an electronic certificate that links the validation data of an electronic signature with you as a person and confirms your name, pseudonym or other data.You can use your LuxTrust device with your certificate to sign documents online.
    
2. What are the different levels of certificates?
   There are three levels of certificates: simple, advanced and qualified. The level of the certificate depends on how you have been identified by LuxTrust or one of its registration authorities (for example, your bank) and the IT infrastructure that hosts your certificate. The level of the certificate used has legal implications, in particular on the legal validity attached to any document that you sign using your device. This is explained in more detail in question 5 below. Before creating your LuxTrust identity, you had previously been identified face-to-face and furnished with a so-called advanced certificate. Our IT infrastructure has since been certified as "qualified" by our regulatory body, which is why we are planning to upgrade your certificate.
    
3. What are the advantages of a qualified certificate?
   Using a LuxTrust device with a qualified certificate, you will be able to sign documents electronically with the guarantee that your signatures will be just as legally valid in all European Union (EU) countries as a handwritten signature.In an increasingly digital world, this will allow you to sign contracts without having to go anywhere personally. Based on a LuxTrust qualified certificate, your electronic signature will be recognised as a qualified electronic signature in all EU countries. As such, a French, Italian or English judge required to interpret or enforce your contract in a dispute or litigation must view the contract signed using your LuxTrust device in the same light as one signed by hand. As stated by the European Commission , trusted qualified services (such as electronic signatures based on a qualified certificate) provide greater legal certainty and security in electronic transactions than non-qualified services (such as electronic signatures based on an advanced certificate).
    
4. What is the difference between a qualified and an advanced electronic signature?
   The importance of the different levels of electronic signatures becomes apparent in the event of legal disputes or a dispute involving a document signed with an electronic signature and especially when a party disputes the validity of the electronic signature. If the signature is qualified, the judge will be obliged to view the electronic signature in the same light as a handwritten signature. In such cases, it will therefore be up to the party contesting the signature to prove that the electronic signature in the contract may not be thought of as equal to a handwritten signature. If, on the other hand, the electronic signature is advanced, it is not a priori thought of as a handwritten signature and, unless specified otherwise, it will be for the party claiming the electronic signature’s validity to prove to the court that the electronic signature was made in such a way that it can be considered equal to a handwritten signature. Thus, in the event of a legal challenge to his/her electronic signature by a co-contractor in a EU country, the user of a device enabling him/her to sign documents electronically at qualified level will be in a better position.
    
5. Does it make any difference if an unauthorised person uses my LuxTrust device?
   The legal provisions for forswearing your own electronic signature leading to the verification of legal documents do not make any distinction between whether the electronic signature used was based on an advanced or qualified certificate. Although it cannot be excluded that a qualified electronic signature could in practice be treated differently from an advanced electronic signature during the verification process carried out by experts, the law does not currently provide for any such differential treatment. Criminal law on the offence of forgery, which also covers electronically signed documents, does not distinguish between whether the electronic signature used to commit the offence was advanced or qualified.
    
6. What are the conditions of use of a LuxTrust device with a qualified certificate?
   The precise conditions relating to the use of such a device, as well as the limits to its use, are described in our general conditions of sale which are available at gtc.luxtrust.lu.
    
7. What if I don't want to upgrade my certificate?
   If you do not want LuxTrust to upgrade your certificate, you can opt out. Just send an e-mail to qcp@luxtrust.lu before 05/08/2019 at midnight. Please provide your first and last name, the serial number of your Token or Scan. If you do not know the serial number, please call our department +352 24 55 05 50. If we do not receive any notification from you by this deadline, we will consider this as an agreement on your part to the modification of our general terms and conditions of sale and to the upgrade your certificate to the qualified level.