National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of ISO 14533‑3:2025. It supersedes BS ISO 14533‑3:2017, which is withdrawn.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee IST/47/-/3, eBusiness.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 October 2025.

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a) patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.

This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 154, Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration.

This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO 14533‑3:2017), which has been technically revised.

The main changes are as follows:

terms and definitions have been added in the Clause 3 for clarity;
the description and the title of tables have been changed in 6.4.2 for clarity.

A list of all parts in the ISO 14533 series can be found on the ISO website.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to ensure the interoperability of implementations with respect to long-term signatures that make electronic signatures verifiable in the long term. Long-term signature specifications referenced by each implementation cover CAdES signatures as used in PDF described in ISO 32000‑2 (PDF2.0).

1 Scope

This document specifies the elements, among those defined in PDF digital signatures (PAdES), that enable verification of a digital signature over a long period of time.

It does not give new technical specifications about the digital signature itself, nor new restrictions of usage of the technical specifications about the digital signatures which already exist.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Abbreviated terms

5 Requirements

5.1 Conformity to PAdES-T

5.2 Conformity to PAdES-A

5.3 Conformity to PAdES-DT/DTA

5.4 Declaration of conformity

6 Long-term signature profiles

6.1 Definition of PAdES profile and positioning

6.2 Representation of the required level

6.3 Standard for setting the required level

6.4 PAdES-T profile

6.5 PAdES-A profile

6.6 Multiple signatures

Bibliography

BS ISO 14533-3:2025

Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration. Long-term signature - Profiles for PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES)

Current

Published:

31 Oct 2025