Certification Authority

A Certification Authority is a trusted entity responsible for creating and assigning public and private keys and digital certificates. It is an autonomous entity designated in accordance with the regulations to conduct reliably and securely the accredited certification authority activities.

A Certification Authority must provide the correct information relating in particular to the creation of certificates, their suspensions, revocations and renewals to the root CA which it depends.

It must create its own electronic signature keys securely using a reliable software or hardware. Then it has to manage such keys securely using a security module which meets the required technical standards, in order to avoid any loss, damage, theft.

For the provision of certification services, a certification authority must use its key electronic signature creation certified by the Root Certification Authority which it depends.