WebID Case Study Qualified Electronic Signatures

For BASF Agricultural Solutions scientists working at various sites around the world, documenting and recording study results in accordance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standards in their international studies used to be associated with high costs and significant time losses.

Thanks to the expertise of PrimeSign and WebID, BASF scientists now benefit from seamless, integrated processes for recording and signing study results that meet the highest international security standards.

Background

BASF Agricultural Solutions develops innovative products and services by conducting extensive international studies. BASF offers farmers a wide range of innovative products and services, including seeds, crop protection products and digital farming tools. These solutions help farmers to increase yields, improve crop quality and manage their farms more efficiently and sustainably.

These studies are subject to strict documentation requirements under GLP standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the OECD. Any failure to comply with these standards risks rejection of the carefully developed studies and denial of market approval for the respective product or service.

The Challenge

GLP standards require study directors to sign study protocols and any subsequent amendments or revisions. An additional challenge is that the identities of all participants in BASF studies must be verified to a „high“ level of certainty.

In the past, these study documents were created in a physical process with handwritten signatures. However, as BASF typically conducts studies with participants from all over the world, the processes for recording the results became too slow and costly: it simply took too long to obtain all the required signatures in time. It was therefore essential to digitize the identification, signature, and data capture.

The Implementation

BASF decided to use eIDAS-compliant qualified electronic signatures (QES) for signing GLP-related documents to meet the highest security levels for studies. Although an EU regulation, eIDAS is similar to the PKI standards of ICP Brazil and is therefore accepted by Brazilian authorities. In addition, the US E-SIGN Act ensures the legal recognition of electronic signatures in international trade, and the implementation of QES in accordance with European eIDAS standards is considered to fulfill these legal requirements.

For this highly demanding task, PrimeSign was selected as the supplier of the QES solution, and WebID was involved as the solution provider for the identity verification of the signatories. The additional challenge of supporting the new North Carolina Real ID documents for identity verification was also mastered by WebID at the request of BASF through VideoID.

The result

primeSign is integrated with Adobe Acrobat Sign, enabling BASF to continue using its current document management system in combination with QES as an integrated solution. The processes – from verifying the scientists involved in the studies to recording and signing the study results – are now significantly more efficient in terms of both time and costs and help to ensure that (partial) results of international studies are available to scientists much faster.

The collaboration between BASF and PrimeSign is going well, ” says the project manager at BASF. ”In particular, support for the North Carolina Real ID was an important part of this solution, and we were pleased with WebIDs quick response to this need.“

About WebID

Since its foundation in 2012, WebID has been setting global standards for innovative digital identification methods with the quality feature ‘Made in Germany’. With 30 million transactions, WebID is one of the largest providers of identification services in Europe. WebID offers international solutions and a wide range of products for digital know-your-customer processes: from fully automated processes with artificial intelligence to video identification.

About PrimeSign

PrimeSign is a leading provider of products, services and solutions for electronic signatures. Since June 2016, primeSign has been an eIDAS trust service provider for qualified signature and seal certificates. Millions of signature transactions are processed every day.

Good to know

The eIDAS framework defines a set of standards for electronic identification and trust services within the European Union, including qualified electronic signatures (QES). QES, the highest level of eIDAS electronic signature, is legally equivalent to a handwritten signature and ensures secure and reliable electronic transactions across borders within the EU.

The REAL ID Act, which was passed by the US Congress in 2005, sets minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. The deadline for full enforcement of the REAL ID Act is May 7, 2025.

The full use case available for download

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