ISO 14533-3:2025
(Main)Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration — Long-term signature — Part 3: Profiles for PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES)
Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration — Long-term signature — Part 3: Profiles for PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES)
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.
Processus, éléments d'informations et documents dans le commerce, l'industrie et l'administration — Signature à long terme — Partie 3: Profils pour les signatures électroniques avancées des PDF (PAdES)
General Information
Relations
Standards Content (Sample)
International
Standard
ISO 14533-3
Second edition
Processes, data elements and
2025-10
documents in commerce, industry
and administration — Long-term
signature —
Part 3:
Profiles for PDF Advanced
Electronic Signatures (PAdES)
Processus, éléments d'informations et documents dans le commerce,
l'industrie et l'administration — Signature à long terme —
Partie 3: Profils pour les signatures électroniques avancées des
PDF (PAdES)
Reference number
© ISO 2025
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Abbreviated terms . 2
5 Requirements . 3
5.1 Conformity to PAdES-T .3
5.2 Conformity to PAdES-A .3
5.3 Conformity to PAdES-DT/DTA .3
5.4 Declaration of conformity .3
6 Long-term signature profiles . 3
6.1 Definition of PAdES profile and positioning .3
6.2 Representation of the required level .4
6.3 Standard for setting the required level .4
6.4 PAdES-T profile .5
6.4.1 General .5
6.4.2 PAdES using CAdES signatures profile .6
6.4.3 Timestamp of PAdES-T profile .9
6.5 PAdES-A profile .9
6.5.1 General .9
6.5.2 Structure of the PAdES-A profile .9
6.5.3 Document security store dictionary .10
6.5.4 Signature VRI dictionary .10
6.5.5 Document timestamp . .10
6.5.6 Updating PAdES-A .11
6.5.7 Validation data for signature and timestamp .11
6.6 Multiple signatures .11
6.6.1 General .11
6.6.2 Timestamp for multiple signatures . 12
Annex A (informative) Supplier's declaration of conformity and its attachment .13
Annex B (normative) The profile for using only timestamp .18
Annex C (normative) Structure of timestamp token .20
Annex D (informative) Applying PAdES using CMS signatures .22
Annex E (informative) Examples of multiple signatures .23
Bibliography .26
iii
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.
iv
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).
v
International Standard ISO 14533-3:2025(en)
Processes, data elements and documents in commerce,
industry and administration — Long-term signature —
Part 3:
Profiles for PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES)
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
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes
requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 32000-2, Document management — Portable document format — Part 2: PDF 2.0
3 Terms and definitions
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
long-term signature
signature that is made verifiable having the ability to maintain its validity status and to get a proof of
existence of the associated signed data for a long term by implementing measures to enable the detection
of illegal alterations of signature information, including the identification of signing time, the subject of said
signature, and validation data
[SOURCE: ISO 14533-1:2022, 3.1]
3.2
profile
rule used to ensure interoperability, related to the optional elements of referenced specifications, the range
of values, etc.
3.3
required level
level of requirement for implementing each element constituting a profile (3.2)
3.4
trust anchor
origin of trust provided in the form of a public key certificate (3.7) or public key used by the validator to
validate an electronic signature, and generally a public key certificate issued by a trusted root certification
authority (3.6)
[SOURCE: ISO 14533-1:2022, 3.18]
3.5
trusted third party
TTP
security authority or its agent entrusted by another entity in connection with activities related to security
[SOURCE: ISO 14533-1:2022, 3.19]
3.6
certification authority
CA
centre that is entrusted with the development and assignment of public key certificates (3.7)
Note 1 to entry: Certification authorities can, at their discretion, develop and assign keys to entities.
3.7
certificate
information on the publicly disclosed key as a part of an asymmetric key pair for an entity, signed by a
certification authority to prevent forgery
3.8
PAdES
PAdES digital signature
CAdES signature as used in PDF for which the signer can be identified and any illegal data alteration detected
Note 1
...
Questions, Comments and Discussion
Ask us and Technical Secretary will try to provide an answer. You can facilitate discussion about the standard in here.