Adobe has announced the Cloud Signature Consortium, a group comprised of leading industry and academic organisations committed to building a new open standard for cloud-based digital signatures across mobile and web – so anyone can digitally sign documents from anywhere.

On July 1, 2016, a new European Union signature regulation (eIDAS) went into effect. However Adobe claims using standards-compliant digital signatures today can be a cumbersome, time consuming process that keeps people tethered to their desktop.

In many cases, they need certificate-based IDs stored on a physical device, like a USB token or smart card. This approach doesn’t meet increasing consumer and business expectations for simple and engaging experiences that work anywhere, on any device.

And, while some cloud-based digital signature solutions exist, Adobe says they are proprietary and fragmented, rather than an open approach that offers a choice of certificate providers. “Adobe has a history of pioneering and advancing industry standards like PDF. We embrace open standards and, where none exist, we help create them,” said Bryan Lamkin, executive vice president and general manager of Digital Media, Adobe.

“With more than six billion digital and electronic signature transactions processed each year through Adobe Sign and Adobe Document Cloud, we are focused on moving the signature industry forward.”

While initially focused on the EU, the Cloud Signature Consortium aims to build a global network of industry contributors and intends to release new standard specifications by the end of 2016 - with the first cloud-based implementations to follow shortly thereafter.

In addition to Adobe, initial Cloud Signature Consortium members, which span EU cloud-based digital signature providers, trust services providers, academics and standards and security focused organizations, include:

• Asseco Data Systems – Poland
• Bundesdruckerei / D-Trust – Germany
• Cryptolog / Universign – France
• Docapost / Certinomis – France
• InfoCert – Italy
• Intarsys Consulting – Germany
• Intesi Group – Italy
• Izenpe – Spain
• Safelayer – Spain
• SwissSign – Switzerland
• Graz University of Technology – Austria
• Unibridge – Norway

Learn more about the Cloud Signature Consortium