AdES Signature Formats

AdES stands for Advanced Electronic Signature. It is an electronic signature format that has met the requirements set forth under eIDAS regulation. These formats are technically implemented as a Baseline Profiles defined by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

It includes the following eSignature baseline profiles:

AdES	Description
PAdES (PDF Advanced Electronic Signature) Baseline Profile	ETSI EN 319 142 PDF Advanced Electronic Signature Profiles (PAdES) Part 1: Building blocks and PAdES baseline signatures Part 2: Additional PAdES signatures profiles
XAdES (XML Advanced Electronic Signatures) Baseline Profile	ETSI EN 319 132 XML Advanced Electronic Signatures (XAdES) Part 1: Building blocks and XAdES baseline signatures Part 2: Extended XAdES signatures
CAdES (CMS Advanced Electronic Signature) Baseline Profile	ETSI EN 319 122 CMS Advanced Electronic Signatures (CAdES) Part 1: Building blocks and CAdES baseline signatures Part 2: Extended CAdES signatures
JAdES (JSON Advanced Electronic Signature) Baseline Profile	ETSI TS 119 182-1 JSON Advanced Electronic Signatures (JAdES) Part 1: Building blocks and JAdES baseline signatures
ASiC (Associated Signature Container) Baseline Profile	ETSI EN 319 162 Associated Signature Containers (ASiC) Part 1: Building blocks and ASiC baseline containers Part 2: Additional ASiC containers

Digital Signature Service framework

Digital Signature Service (DSS) framework is an open-source library for electronic signature creation and validation developed and provided by CEF Digital. Implementation of the AdES baseline profiles and signature formats is part of the DSS library. It supports all baseline levels:

B-B	level provides requirements for the incorporation of signed and some unsigned attributes when the signature is actually generated.
B-T	level provides requirement for the generation and inclusion of a trusted token for an existing signature, proving that the signature itself actually existed at a certain date and time.
B-LT	level provides requirements for the incorporation of all the material required for validating the signature in the signature document. This level aims to tackle the long-term availability of the validation material.
B-LTA	level provides requirements for the incorporation of time-stamp tokens that allow validation of the signature long time after its generation. This level aims to tackle the long-term availability and integrity of the validation material.

For more information about the DSS framework implementation visit official documentation.