On 26 January PKI Consortium and ETSI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to structure and strengthen the relationship between both organizations and foster a closer relationship.
ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) is one of the three recognized European Standards Organizations, dealing with telecommunications, broadcasting and other electronic communications networks and services (see more at https://www.etsi.org/about). ETSI was initially founded to serve European needs, but has a global perspective and ETSI standards are now used throughout the world. ETSI collaborates and works in partnership with different types of organizations around the world, currently having more than 900 member organizations from more than 60 countries and five continents.
ETSI is divided into several Technical Committees (TCs) which manage the European standardization of specific communication areas. The standards regarding eIDAS trust services and other public key infrastructure-related aspects are maintained by the technical committee Electronic Signatures and Infrastructures (ESI). TC ESI is involved in electronic signature formats, trust service provider policies, certificate profiles and many more things related to PKI.
As PKI Consortium is heavily involved in the field of Certification Authority practices and public key infrastructure, there is no wonder about how the two organizations’ activity areas meet. This MoU will allow PKIC to collaborate closely with the ETSI Technical Committee on Electronic Signatures and Infrastructures.