The best of both worlds. Linde & sproof.

Linde Verlag - a specialist publisher of legal, business and tax literature since 1925 - is entering into a cooperation with sproof, the Salzburg-based expert in the field of digital signatures in Europe. In addition to the introduction of the technology throughout the publishing house within the next few weeks, the cooperation also consists of an investment in the company itself. "Linde Verlag publishes over 270 new specialist and non-fiction books and e-books, as well as 19 specialist journals every year. The solution from sproof enables us to sign all contracts, for example with authors, or to process other everyday agreements easily, quickly, securely and completely GDPR-compliant," says Benjamin Jentzsch, Managing Director and owner of Linde Verlag.

The publishing house is introducing the e-signature solution from LegalTech start-up sproof across the board and is also announcing an investment.

In addition to the introduction of the technology throughout the publishing house within the next few weeks, the cooperation also consists of an investment in the company itself. A partnership-based sales strategy is also being pursued in order to address joint target groups with combined strength.

sproof is also enthusiastic about the cooperation with Linde: "Due to their binding nature, digital signature solutions require a high degree of responsibility on the part of both the user and the manufacturer. It is a very special honor that we were able to convince Linde Verlag, a traditional specialist publisher of legal, business and tax literature, of sproof and gain their trust," says Fabian Knirsch, founder and CTO of sproof.

Focus on legal validity and data protection

The requirements that digital signatures must meet are regulated in the European Union as part of the eIDAS Regulation. In addition to the requirements and their implementation, this regulation also regulates the legal status. Data protection also plays a special role, as it is not necessarily a given that a provider of digital signatures is GDPR-compliant. "There are basically different ways to sign digitally: simple, advanced and qualified. Despite the fact that the digital signatures look the same on the final document, the status of the respective type of digital signature and its binding nature are different," adds Fabian Knirsch from sproof. Only the so-called Qualified Electronic Signatures, or QES, are legally equivalent to handwritten signatures. In Austria, this is laid down in Section 4 (1) of the Signature Act. In terms of data protection, the legal requirements of the GDPR must also be met and the IT structure must also guarantee certain security requirements. "The data is stored and processed exclusively in data centers within the European Union. Any reference to the USA is avoided, as this would not be GDPR-compliant," concludes Fabian Knirsch.