Electronic Invoice Transfer
Electronic invoicing has been possible since ElDI-V came into force in March 2002. ElDI-V regulates technical, organisational and process-related requirements for the probative force of electronically transferred and stored invoices. For electronic exchange of invoices there are also particular provisions in the German law regarding value added tax (MWSTGV), the regulations of Federal Department of Finance (EFD) regarding electronically transferred data and information (EIDI-V) and German law regarding electronic signatures (ZertES), which apply.
Electronic invoices are described as documents that are generated in electronic form, transferred and permanently kept. According to MWSTGV, electronically transferred and stored invoices that are relevant to input tax deductions, tax collection or declaration of income, have the same probative force as data that can be read without additional equipment. According to GeBüV business accounts, order documents and business correspondence must be carried out, recorded and stored in such a way that they cannot be changed without changes being apparent. This is the reason for the use of the electronic signature, as EIDI-V explicitly specifies that the requirements for probative force of electronically transferred data are only fulfilled by the electronic signature.
Since ZertES came into force on the 1st of January 2005 an advanced electronic signature from a recognised Swiss certification service provider can be used for electronically transferred invoices.
Sign Live! CC is our solution, which supports the process of electronic billing ("eBilling") on the sender and recipient side taking into account all relevant legal regulations (ElDI-V, MWSTGV, ZertES).
Encrypted PDF documents in Trust Room
To protect confidential information effectively, it is no longer enough to encrypt e-mails and documents. Confidential documents and information require the highest possible protection against unauthorised access, intentional or unintentional changes and protection against theft. A combination of authentication, encryption, rights management and secure environments (TrustRoom) is required.
In the solution scenario described, PDF documents with highly confidential contents are encrypted with an X.509 certificate for a defined circle of users (management board, company management etc.) using Sign Live! and they can only be decrypted again by recipients with their private key on their smartcard. The preparation of encrypted PDF documents is carried out in a protected and highly secure online area, which is accessed via a web application.
To support the required mobility, the Sign Live! used for this plug-in security was specially configured and saved on USB smartcard tokens as read-only data. In this Sign Live! installation the options to save, print or send by e-mail are not available. Authorised people receive a pre-configured mobility token allowing them access the information provided from any computer in the world over the internet. No complicated software installation is necessary (zero footprint for smartcard applications).
