eIDAS Qualified Timestamps (Custom plan add-on)

Last updated: 8 May, 20264 min read

EU Regulation 910/2014 (eIDAS) defines a class of cryptographic timestamp called a Qualified Electronic Timestamp, issued by a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) under EU member-state supervisory oversight. Under Article 41(2), a qualified timestamp carries statutory legal presumption of accuracy of the date and time it indicates and of the integrity of the data bound to it. It is the strongest evidentiary credential available under EU law for proving that a piece of digital content existed at a specific moment.

PageCrawl supports eIDAS qualified timestamping as a Custom plan add-on. This article explains what the feature provides, when you might need it, and how to enable it.

When you need it

You probably do not need eIDAS qualified timestamps if your archives are primarily for internal compliance documentation, US-court evidentiary preparation under FRE 902(13)/(14), or routine regulatory inspections. The default Ultimate-plan archive (embedded WACZ Auth signature plus OpenTimestamps Bitcoin anchor plus DigiCert and Sectigo AATL certified timestamps) covers those scenarios.

You probably do need eIDAS qualified timestamps if you are an EU regulated entity (financial institution under DORA, life sciences company subject to EMA/national-authority inspection, controller subject to GDPR DPA inspection in a member state where qualified evidence is preferred), and you anticipate that the integrity of the archive will be tested in an EU court, supervisory inspection, or formal regulatory dispute.

What you get

When the add-on is enabled for your account, every WACZ archive PageCrawl produces is also stamped with an RFC 3161 timestamp from the QTSP we have contracted with. The resulting .qtsa.tsr file is retained alongside the WACZ in the same Check directory, downloadable via the API or via the public verification page.

The proof file is a standard RFC 3161 TimeStampResp DER-encoded structure. It is verifiable with openssl ts -reply -in archive.wacz.qtsa.tsr -text and with any commercial PKI verification tool. The proof binds the WACZ's SHA-256 hash to a specific moment in time, signed by the QTSP's qualified seal.

How to enable

eIDAS qualified timestamping is provisioned manually because each customer's setup involves a per-stamp QTSP cost and may require contractual coordination on specific qualified providers depending on jurisdiction. To enable:

  1. Contact our sales team via the contact page on the website.
  2. We discuss your jurisdiction, anticipated stamp volume, and provider preferences.
  3. We provision the eidas_enabled flag on your team and configure the worker fleet to route stamping requests to the chosen QTSP.
  4. From the next detected change onward, every Ultimate-plan WACZ ships with the qualified timestamp attached.

Existing archives produced before enablement are not retroactively stamped. Re-stamping historical archives is possible on request but would incur per-stamp costs and is typically only done when a specific historical period needs upgraded evidentiary status for a known regulatory matter.

Verifying a qualified timestamp

openssl ts -reply -in archive.wacz.qtsa.tsr -text

The output describes the timestamp authority's identity, the time of stamping, and the SHA-256 hash bound to the timestamp. To complete verification, validate the QTSP's signing certificate against the EU Trusted List for the issuing jurisdiction (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2015.235.01.0026.01.ENG). The EU Commission and member-state authorities maintain the trust lists; the QTSP's certificate must appear there for the timestamp to qualify under Article 41.

What it does not do

  • Qualified timestamps prove time, not author. They do not bind the archive to a specific natural or legal person. Identity binding (qualified electronic signatures, qualified electronic seals) is a separate eIDAS service and not currently part of the PageCrawl integration.
  • Qualified timestamps do not extend to retention obligations. The archive itself must be retained for whatever period your regulatory regime requires, by you. PageCrawl's retention is determined by your plan tier.
  • Qualified timestamps do not retrofit unverifiable archives. The integrity guarantee applies from the moment of stamping forward.

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