Susanne Kuch
Digital Policy Officer for Quality Infrastructure
DAkkS

DAkkS, Germany’s national accreditation body and a key player in the German quality infrastructure, was the first accreditation body worldwide to develop and introduce a digital accreditation symbol. Machine-readable and technically verifiable, globally and in real time, the digital accreditation symbol enables conformity assessment attestations and reports to be issued electronically, and it protects these digitally sealed attestations (eAttestations) against unauthorised alteration by third parties.

To meet the need for digitised Industry 4.0 applications and processes, DAkkS 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. Based on the digital identity of the conformity assessment body (CAB) the digital accreditation symbol is linked to the CAB’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.

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.

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 CAB. 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.

Short and compact

Explanatory video on the digital accreditation symbol. These videos offer a brief overview of the topic on DAkkS’s YouTube channel:

If you have any questions about the digital accreditation symbol, please contact Susanne Kuch at susanne.kuch@dakks.de.