For individuals
| Tool | Role |
|---|---|
| ASiCE Viewer | Instant pre-check: signers, times, integrity |
| DigiDoc4 client | Full validation with a clear status per signature |
| ASiC-E Viewer app | Pre-check on Android, offline |
This pair covers almost everything a private person or small company meets.
For organisations
When signed files arrive through a portal or a document system, validation should be automatic. A validation service accepts a container and returns a structured report: status per signature, signer, time, warnings and errors.
- SiVa is the open-source Signature Validation Service published by Estonia's Information System Authority. Organisations can deploy it themselves and call it from their own systems.
- DSS (Digital Signature Service) is the European Commission's open-source library, which also ships a web application for validation and produces ETSI-style reports.
Running the service inside your own network keeps documents in-house.
For developers
| Library | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| digidoc4j | Java | Creates and validates ASiC-E, BDOC and more |
| libdigidocpp | C++ with bindings | The engine behind DigiDoc4 |
| DSS | Java | Generic eIDAS signature creation and validation |
All three are open source. They handle canonicalisation, chain building against the EU trusted lists and revocation checks, which are the parts that are easy to get wrong by hand.
What a validation report contains
A good report states the validation time, the policy applied, an indication for each signature (passed, failed or indeterminate) with a sub-indication explaining why, the signer's identity and the best signature time. Keep the report together with the container if the result may be needed later.
Choosing sensibly
- One file, right now: viewer first, DigiDoc4 if it matters.
- A steady stream of files: a validation service.
- Building a product: a library, tested against the official test files.
A pre-check is still worth it
Even with heavy tools available, a glance in a viewer catches the common faults, such as a missing signature or a modified document, before a file enters a workflow. How to interpret results is covered in ASiC-E signature validator.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official online validator for ASiC-E?
Estonia publishes the SiVa validation service as open source for organisations to deploy, and DigiDoc4 is the official end-user tool. Any online service receives your file, so consider confidentiality.
Which library should I use to validate ASiC-E in Java?
digidoc4j is purpose-built for Estonian containers; DSS is the general European library. Both are open source.