Sealed at generation

Proof of origin

Every signing tool can tell you a document has not changed since it arrived. None of them can tell you where it came from, because none of them were there when it was made. docspawn was.

What an electronic seal actually is

A signature is given by a person. A seal is issued by an organisation. That single difference is why a seal can be applied automatically, the instant a document is generated, while a signature has to be collected from a human being who chooses to give it.

A qualified electronic seal is tamper evident. It does not stop anyone editing the document; it makes any edit detectable afterwards, for years, to anyone who checks. Paired with a qualified timestamp, it also records that the document existed in exactly that state at exactly that moment.

Why the generator is the only one who can prove origin

When a document reaches a signing platform, it arrives as a finished file. The record it was built from, the template version, the field values, the moment of generation: all of that was discarded before the file was uploaded. The platform is not withholding it. It never had it.

docspawn sits at the other end. It holds the source record, the template version and the timestamp at the moment the document comes into existence, the only moment those things all exist together. That is what makes provenance possible here and structurally impossible downstream, and it is why the seal is worth turning on for the documents that need to hold up.

The three eIDAS levels

eIDAS grades electronic signatures and seals by how much verified identity sits behind them. Anyone selling you a signature should be able to name which of these three they mean, because the phrase "eIDAS compliant" is equally true of all of them.

SESSimple electronic signature

Admissible

A signature collected with an audit trail and no certificate behind it. A court will accept it, and the burden of proving who signed falls on whoever relies on it. This is the level docspawn collects today.

AESAdvanced electronic signature

Strong

The signer is authenticated, the signature is uniquely linked to that person, and any later change to the document is detectable. Enough for most commercial agreements.

QESQualified electronic signature

Equal to handwriting across the EU

A qualified certificate issued by a trust service provider on the EU trusted list, with the key held in certified hardware. The burden of proof reverses onto whoever disputes it.

What docspawn does today, stated plainly

You can seal any document docspawn generates. Turn sealing on and it gets a qualified electronic seal and a qualified timestamp, applied as the document is produced rather than bolted on afterwards. That is what proves the document came from this system, referencing that record, at that time, and has not changed since.

Two honest limits. Sealing is an option rather than something applied to everything, so a document is sealed only if you asked for it. And signatures are a separate matter: docspawn collects simple electronic signatures, a link, a name given on a phone, and an audit trail of who filled what and when, with no identity check in that flow. A sealed document signed with a simple signature is exactly that, and the seal does not upgrade it.

What is on the roadmap

Advanced signatures (AES): signer authentication, a signature uniquely linked to the signer, and detection of any later change. This is the step that moves the signature question forward, and it is not shipped.

Qualified signatures (QES) through a trust service provider, for the contract types that genuinely require them. docspawn is not, and does not plan to become, a trust service provider itself.

A public verification page, so anyone holding one of your documents can drop it in and see the whole chain for themselves rather than taking our word for it.

See it on your own document

docspawn covers the loop from your data to a finished, delivered document, and can seal the ones that need to prove where they came from.

Talk to us

eIDAS is European Union law, and requirements differ by country and by contract type. Sealing is an option you turn on per document. The seal proves a document's origin and integrity; it does not verify who signed it, and it does not change the level of a signature. This is not legal advice.