General information

5th European Forum on Electronic Signature - Summary

The European Forum on Electronic Signature (EFES) was held on 1 - 3 June 2005 in Międzyzdroje, Poland. It was the fifth edition of the largest in Poland international annual conference on theory and practical applications of e-signature to business and government.

The EFES 2005 was formally opened by Mr Andrzej Bendig-Wielowieyski, Chairman of the Board, Unizeto Technologies SA and the opening speech was given by Mr Jacek Piechota, Minister of Economy and Labor (responsible for e-signature issues).

Speakers and participants represented the European Parliament, government authorities, certification authorities as well as business circles from two continents - Europe and Asia. The participants totaled over 130 persons from 14 countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, Korea, Germany, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and Ukraine).

Among the distinguished speakers of this year's edition were Mr Stig AgaAanstad - a representative of the European Commission from Belgium, Mr Vladimir Matiuchin - a head of the Federal Agency for Information Technology of the Russian Federation, professor Jos Dumrortier - a PKI expert of the European Commission from Leuven University, Belgium and Mr Oleksandr Yehortsev from the Department of Telecommunication Systems and Information Protection of Ukraine.

The main topic of this year's EFES was 'Interoperability of PKI Systems in Europe and in the World'. Multimedia presentations provided an outline of the implementation strategy regarding the UE Directive requirements in the field of e-signature. Actions taken in 25 UE member states on projects regarding electronic ID's were discussed. Lectures on the solutions implemented in different UE countries attracted the particular attention since the Polish act on e-signature requires government authorities to provide recipients of certification services with possibilities for submission of applications and requests and performance of other activities in an electronic format by August 2006.

Workshop sessions prepared by experts of Unizeto Technologies SA and MacroSoft SA were held along with the presentations and the participants could get acquainted with practical operations of the secure electronic archive and secure systems of distant work .

The EFES became a traditional platform on which representatives of organizations and companies influencing the development of e-markets in Poland and Europe in Asia meet.

Finally the importance of the discussed issues should be emphasized and the attention drawn to the free flow of information and hence the exchange of invaluable ideas between domestic and foreign experts whose commitment to the popularization of e-signature contributes to the e-state and secure e-business.

Organizers invited all potential participants to the next year's edition of the European Forum on E-signature to be held at The Amber Baltic Hotel, Międzyzdroje, on 7 - 9 June 2006.