In the real-world, it often doesn't matter who signs a document but rather do they have the sufficient group and departmental level authority to do this. That is the "identity" of the signer is not as important as the "authorisation". E.g. a Purchase Order typically requires an authorised member from the Procurement department to sign-off on it.
PEPPOL is a large-scale European Commission project, working on allowing any company in the EU to be able to communicate electronically with any EU governmental institution for all procurement processes.
Within Europe a new digital signature format “PAdES” is gaining traction. PAdES stands for “PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures” and is a set of standards published by ETSI (TS 102 778 parts 1 to 5) to support European requirements for electronic signatures. The purpose is specifically for creation of long-term signatures that are verifiable for years or even decades.
Choosing the right type of e-signature
for your business
