Digital accreditation symbol – contribution to trustworthy chains of evidence at international level

For business and industry, digital transformation is becoming more important all the time. To meet the need for digitised Industry 4.0 applications and processes, Germany’s national accreditation body introduced the digital accreditation symbol in April 2024. This was preceded by a DAkkS pilot project launched in spring 2023 to test the introduction of a digital accreditation symbol. The digital accreditation symbol can make a valuable contribution, particularly with regard to the digital transformation of international supply chains and the need to make trade documents available digitally.

Verifying quality declarations quickly and reliably

In international trade, it is essential to be able to verify quality declarations quickly and reliably. The digital accreditation symbol makes two things possible in the digital space. First, use of the digital accreditation symbol helps to strengthen and assure trust in declarations of accreditation in the digital space. In addition, the digital accreditation symbol can be used to issue tamper-proof evidence of conformity from accredited bodies and provide proof of valid accreditation in the digital space in real time.
The digital accreditation symbol is based on the digital identity of the conformity assessment body (CAB). It is linked to the body’s specific accreditation number. The basis for the digital accreditation symbol is an electronic seal, which provides technical assurance of the origin and integrity of the data.

Good interoperability with other safeguarding processes and data sovereignty for CABs

A notable feature of the cryptographic system around the seal certificate – the public key infrastructure (PKI) – is its particularly good interoperability with other safeguarding processes such as blockchain. Interoperability tests with other accreditation bodies around the world have demonstrated that in technical terms, the digital accreditation symbol can be read correctly with the software applications used and can be accepted as digital proof of accreditation.

The testing showed that the eAttestation can be read perfectly with the Adobe Acrobat Reader and XolidoSign software programs on the basis of two digital conformity assessment certificates with a digital accreditation symbol, and that the information relevant to accreditation is presented correctly. The evidence of conformity assessment was tested in both PDF format and in machine-readable XML format. In principle, all software programs that can process PDF or XML documents are suitable for reading the digital accreditation symbol.

In addition, the PKI system not only ensures the integrity of the document, it also guarantees the data sovereignty of the conformity assessment body. This allows a CAB to seal its documents independently with its digital accreditation symbol and issue them digitally. Qualified seal certificates can also be created cost-effectively.
Note: Applications for the digital accreditation symbol are currently only possible in the German language version.

Finke: Important building block for establishing a global, trustworthy digital chain of evidence

DAkkS Chief Executive Officer Dr.-Ing. Stephan Finke: “With the digital accreditation symbol, we ensure trust in the declaration of accreditation and enable the tamper-proof issue of proof of conformity from accredited bodies. These are important building blocks for establishing a global, trustworthy digital chain of evidence.”

Global Project Quality Infrastructure

As a key component of the German quality infrastructure, DAkkS participates in the Global Project Quality Infrastructure (GPQI), an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. As part of the GPQI, the participating countries of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Mexico are working together with Germany to reduce technical barriers to trade, improve the safety of products and strengthen consumer protection in the long term. The participants have the ability to table their issues, and these issues are then addressed together to enable the development of meaningful approaches to ensuring well-functioning and compatible quality infrastructures.