Download as PDF - Secunet

National
German Justice
Plays it Safe
secunet connects Bavaria to S.A.F.E.
central registry
The introduction of mandatory electronic commercial
registration in 2007 coincided with the launch of a new communication
infrastructure in the German judicial system. The
opportunity of having direct access to courts and authorities
via EGVP proved hugely popular right from the start; in fact,
projected user numbers were far exceeded after only three
months in operation. Because everyone registering as an
EGVP user is assigned a unique mailbox address by the identity
management system and this data must be constantly
replicated to all other active EGVPs in the system, the registration
service is of paramount importance.
What is EGVP
The electronic legal and administrative mailbox, in Germany known as
EGVP (Elektronisches Gerichts- und Verwaltungspostfach), can be used
by courts and government authorities in communication with each other
as well as with other parties to certain judicial proceedings (e. g. lawyers,
notaries, businesses and private citizens) for the safe, legal and effi cient
transmission of messages, documents and pleadings in the OSCI format
(Online Services Computer Interface). EGVP automatically encrypts the
entire data exchange. Messages can also have fi les attached and, if
necessary, bear an electronic signature. This speeds up legal processes,
and all parties benefi t from the increased effi ciency. No wonder then that
more than 40,000 parties to proceedings in all 16 federal states and in
most federal courts in Germany are making use of the EGVP, a trend that
is even expected to grow further.
Separation of registration process
from EGVP: S.A.F.E.
In order to be optimally positioned in the future in terms of
performance and interfaces, the Bund-Länder-Kommission
für Datenverarbeitung und Rationalisierung in der Justiz (Joint
Federal and State Commission for Data Processing and Rationalisation
in Judicial Processes) has prescribed the architecture
of a federated identity management system for the
German judiciary. This goes by the name of ‘Secure Access
to Federated E Justice / E Government’, or S.A.F.E. for short.
The underlying idea is essentially straightforward: the ‘Identity
Providers’ which are spread out over a number of different
domains are combined on a single platform and are addressed
via standard interfaces. The so-called ‘Trust Domain’ (TD) is
the central structuring element. This consists of a set of services
and service users that co-exist in a mutual trust relationship.
It ensures a unified communications infrastructure
within the justice system that operates across federal state
boundaries.
06 » 1 | 2013