Digital Certificates
Approved by Digital Policy Office for use to validate and authenticate the identity of the party to a transaction for Secure, Compliant eTransactions in Hong Kong
What are Digi-Sign Digital Certificates
Tradelink, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Digi-Sign Certification Services Limited, provides a comprehensive range of digital certificates that help businesses and individuals secure online transactions and verify digital identities with confidence. Digi-Sign is the first and only commercial Recognized Certification Authority in Hong Kong under the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (ETO), giving your e-signatures strong legal standing and trust.
Our digital certificates support secure login, e-signatures, encryption and identity authentication across government e-services, financial institutions, and enterprise systems. With over 1.4 million digital certificates issued with zero faults, Tradelink and Digi-Sign deliver a proven and reliable foundation for your digital transactions.
Why Choose Digi-Sign as Your Certification Authority
Digi-Sign is approved by the Hong Kong Digital Policy Office to issue recognized certificates for individuals and organisations. Our certificates comply with regulatory requirements and are trusted by both government bodies and leading corporations.
1.4M+ digital certificate issued with zero faults
Make sure you comply fully with local regulations
HK's only commercial Recognized Certification Authority
Accredited ISO9001 certification for quality customer service since 2004
Recognized Certificates under the Electronic Transactions Ordinance
Digi-Sign issues Recognized Certificates that comply with section 22 of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (Cap. 553), ensuring that your digital signatures carry full legal recognition in Hong Kong. These certificates verify the signatory’s identity, safeguard document integrity and provide non-repudiation for electronic records.
Recognized Certificates are governed by Digi-Sign’s Certification Practice Statement, which defines policies, assurance levels and operational controls for certificate issuance and management. Multiple classes of Recognized Certificates are available to meet diverse business needs, including certificates for individuals, organisations and specific application scenarios.
Types of Recognized Certificates
Personal ID-Cert Class 1
- For individuals aged 18+
- Used for identity proof and digital signatory
Organizational ID-Cert Class 2 and 5
- For authorised employees/members of organisations
- Used for identity proof and digital signatory
- Apply through authorised delegate (Class 2) or authorised representative (Class 5)
Encipherment ID-Cert Class 3
- For authorised individuals and organisations
- Used for encryption and decryption of electronic messages
Governmental ID-Cert Class 6 and 7
- For authorised employees/members of government agencies
- Used for signing (Class 6) and encryption purpose (Class 7)
Personal ID-Cert Class 8 and Organizational ID-Cert Class 9
- Same as Personal ID-Cert Class 1 & Organizational ID-Cert Class 5
- Signing certificate mutually recognised under the “Arrangement of mutual recognition of electronic signature certificates issued by Hong Kong and Guangdong”
Personal (Banking) ID-Cert Class 10 and Organizational (Banking) ID-Cert Class 11
- For individual and corporate customers of banks
- Support digital signing for e-cheque and other banking services
Personal (Remote) ID-Cert Class 12 (i.e. iD-One)
- For individual aged 18+ with valid travel documents
- Support remote digital signing provided by Remote Signing Service Provider (RSSP)
Organizational (Remote) ID-Cert Class 15 (i.e. iCorp-One)
- For authorised employees/members of local and overseas organisations with any of the below business identifiers:
- Business Registration Number (BRN) or Company Registration Number (CRN) or Unique Business Identifier (UBI)
- Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) or The Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S® Number
- Used for identity proof and digital signatory
- Support e-submission of application and remote digital signing provided by RSSP
Recognized Certificates under the Electronic Transactions Ordinance
Digi-Sign issues Recognized Certificates that comply with section 22 of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (Cap. 553), ensuring that your digital signatures carry full legal recognition in Hong Kong. These certificates verify the signatory’s identity, safeguard document integrity and provide non-repudiation for electronic records.
Recognized Certificates are governed by Digi-Sign’s Certification Practice Statement, which defines policies, assurance levels and operational controls for certificate issuance and management. Multiple classes of Recognized Certificates are available to meet diverse business needs, including certificates for individuals, organisations and specific application scenarios.
Recognized Certificates
- Issued by Digi-Sign under a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in compliance with section 22 of the ETO (Cap. 553) of the Laws of Hong Kong
- Support digital signatures used to confirm a signatory’s identity, guarantee the document’s integrity and ensure non-repudiation by origin of the document
- Governed by the Certification Practice Statement that Digi-Sign publishes on its website from time to time
- 12 classes of Recognized Certificates available, including:
Personal ID-Cert Class 1
- For individuals aged 18+
- Used for identity proof and digital signatory
Organizational ID-Cert Class 2 and 5
- For authorised employees/members of organisations
- Used for identity proof and digital signatory
- Apply through authorised delegate (Class 2) or authorised representative (Class 5)
Encipherment ID-Cert Class 3
- For authorised individuals and organisations
- Used for encryption and decryption of electronic messages
Governmental ID-Cert Class 6 and 7
- For authorised employees/members of government agencies
- Used for signing (Class 6) and encryption purpose (Class 7)
Personal ID-Cert Class 8 and Organizational ID-Cert Class 9
- Same as Personal ID-Cert Class 1 & Organizational ID-Cert Class 5
- Signing certificate mutually recognised under the “Arrangement of mutual recognition of electronic signature certificates issued by Hong Kong and Guangdong”
Personal (Banking) ID-Cert Class 10 and Organizational (Banking) ID-Cert Class 11
- For individual and corporate customers of banks
- Support digital signing for e-cheque and other banking services
Personal (Remote) ID-Cert Class 12 (i.e. iD-One)
- For individual aged 18+ with valid travel documents
- Support remote digital signing provided by Remote Signing Service Provider (RSSP)
Organizational (Remote) ID-Cert Class 15 (i.e. iCorp-One)
- For authorised employees/members of local and overseas organisations with any of the below business identifiers:
- Business Registration Number (BRN) or Company Registration Number (CRN) or Unique Business Identifier (UBI)
- Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) or The Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S® Number
- Used for identity proof and digital signatory
- Support e-submission of application and remote digital signing provided by RSSP
Premium Certificates
- Customised certificate service that complies with the technology and security measures adopted under the Recognized Certificate Authority hierarchy
- Provide equal trustworthiness as Recognized certificates but without the need for a costly in-house PKI deployment
- Support integration with existing operations, workflows and internal applications within an organisation
- Service set up is easy and quick
Premium Certificates for Flexible Enterprise Integration
For enterprises seeking trusted digital identities without the need to build an in-house PKI infrastructure, Digi-Sign offers Premium Certificates. These certificates provide the same level of trustworthiness as Recognized Certificates while simplifying deployment and integration.
Premium Certificates can be seamlessly integrated into your existing systems, workflows and internal applications, supporting secure authentication and digital signing in everyday operations. Set-up is designed to be fast and straightforward, enabling your organisation to implement certificate-based security with minimal disruption.
How Our Digital Certificate Service (PKI Consultation) Works
Digi-Sign issues digital certificates within a controlled PKI environment with clear policies for identity proofing, key generation, issuance and revocation. Depending on the certificate type, identity verification can be performed face-to-face or remotely through compliant onboarding procedures.
Digital certificates can be stored securely on approved devices or within managed signing platforms such as Tradelink’s TSS and TD-Sign services, where private keys are safeguarded, and usage is audited. Users authenticate with their credentials before applying their digital certificates to sign or access online services, ensuring strong protection against unauthorised use.
PKI consultation
From planning to implementation of identification and authentication solutions, our services include
- Feasibility Study
- Consulting and Project Planning
- Project Management
- System and Application Development
Start Using Digital Certificates with Tradelink
Whether you are a financial institution, listed company, SME, or professional service provider, Tradelink can help you adopt recognised digital certificates to support secure, compliant digital transactions. Our team will work with you to choose the right certificate classes and deployment model, and integrate them seamlessly into your existing identity management and signing workflows.
Contact Tradelink to learn how Digi-Sign’s Recognized and Premium Certificates can strengthen your digital identity strategy, reduce paper-based processes and accelerate your digital transformation.
More about Digi-Sign Digital Certificates: Digi-Sign Products and Services
Provided a Smart Warrant Card System with the use of ID-Cert to a Government department with more than 40,000 staff
Recognised by Regulatory Authorities in Hong Kong
FAQs
What is Electronic Authentication?
Electronic authentication is the process of establishing confidence in user identities presented electronically to an information system. You can learn more about the safety, guidance and common practices in the conduct of electronic authentication in the website below.
What are the Digital Certificates Recognised in Hong Kong?
Recognised digital certificates for personal use currently available in Hong Kong are issued by the two recognised certification authorities, namely the Digi-Sign Certification Services Limited and Hongkong Post Certification Authority.
Digi-Sign ID-Certs
Digi-Sign Certification Services Limited is a commercial recognised certification authority. It issues digital certificates under the brand name of “ID-Cert” for both individuals and organisations. The ID-Certs can be used in a range of services such as Government e-services, online banking, online trading and other services involving exchange of electronic documents.
Hongkong Post e-Certs
Hongkong Post Certification Authority is the public recognised certificate authority in Hong Kong. It issues recognised digital certificates under the brand name “e-Cert”, for personal and organisational use. The e-Certs can be used in a range of Government e-services, online banking services and other services like exchanging encrypted electronic documents with third parties.
The operation of the e-Cert services of the Hongkong Post Certification Authority has been outsourced through an open tendering exercise to a private contractor. Notwithstanding the contracting out of the service, there will be no change to the Hongkong Post Certification Authority’s status as a recognised certification authority under the ETO. The level of e-Cert services provided to the public will not be affected. The fees also remain unchanged.
What are Digital Certificates & Their Uses?
A digital certificate is a form of electronic record that serves as an identification of who you are in conducting online transactions. Under the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (Cap. 553) (ETO), electronic or digital signatures have the same legal status as paper-based signatures.
For transactions not involving Government entities, a signature requirement under the law can be met by any form of electronic signature including digital signature so long as it is reliable, appropriate and agreed by the recipient. For transactions involving Government entities, a signature requirement under the law can be satisfied by a digital signature supported by a recognised digital certificate.
Digital certificates can be carried in Hong Kong ID Cards, installed in your PCs and other storage devices where appropriate. Usually, your digital certificate is protected by a password of your own and you will be asked to enter your password before accessing your digital certificates for online transactions.
Digital certificates are issued by certification authorities. Hongkong Post Certification Authority is a recognised certification authority by virtue of the ETO. A commercially-run certification authority can also apply to the Commissioner for Digital Policy to become a recognised certification authority on a voluntary basis. Recognition will only be granted to those certification authorities and digital certificates that have reached a standard acceptable to the Government.
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