Portugal’s Ministers Move to Electronic Signatures with CoSign

Algorithmic Research (ARX), a leading worldwide provider of electronic signatures solutions, today announced that the Portuguese Government has publicly introduced its new CoSign-based paperless public administration system.

Portuguese Prime Minister, Jose Scrates, presented the new system, using CoSign to sign electronic documents, at a major national press conference held at the headquarters of the National Press and broadcast on TV, in Lisbon earlier this year.

Speaking at the conference, Prime Minister Socrates said, “With electronic signatures, the decree documents exchange between the prime minister’s office and the other ministers offices will be made electronically, replacing the old fiscal paper-based process”.

Implemented by ARX reseller, Partner Solutions, and CEGER (the Portuguese Government’s IT Department), CoSign allows ministers and officials to electronically sign Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF-based internal and official documents with ease. In addition, the government believes the end of the paper edition of the Government Official’s Diary will save 1400 tons of paper annually.

Prior to the introduction of CoSign, even the simple publishing of a decree meant the government had to coax signatures from officials throughout the city. The new system ensures these approvals are easily acquired within a very short space of time. Using electronic signatures the government has effectively done away with the need for handwritten signatures, sealing and legally-enforceable documents as well as saving the costs and time associated with paper-based processes.

A key requirement of the Portuguese Government was to allow internal government to verify electronic signatures. With CoSign, users can easily validate the authenticity of both the document and the signer without the need to install any propietary client software, thanks to the use of standard electronic signatures.

“CEGER was searching for a highly secure electronic signature solution that government officials would find easy to use,” says Gadi Aharoni, CEO, ARX. “With CoSign, the Portuguese government has confidently migrated to a paperless environment using electronic signatures to ensure the authenticity of sensitive government documents.”