We answer all your questions about digital evidence
Everything you need to know about digital evidence: its legal basis, its evidential value and how it works technically. Find out how a certified photo or video is legally recognised, and how Certificall fits into your tools and compliance processes.
Understanding certification and digital evidence
This section explains the legal and technical foundations of digital evidence. It lays the groundwork for understanding its purpose, its admissibility and the guarantees it provides.
Digital evidence is an electronic file containing objective elements (photo, video, timestamp, geolocation) that attest to a fact, a document or an action at a given point in time. It provides legal certainty in a given situation, particularly in the event of a dispute. In a digital environment, digital evidence has become essential to contracting, compliance and risk management processes.
Digital evidence is fully recognised under French law (Articles 1366 and 1367 of the French Civil Code) and under the European eIDAS Regulation. When it is created using reliable processes, it has the same value as a paper document. Evidence certified with a qualified electronic seal even benefits from a presumption of reliability, which significantly strengthens its evidential value before a court.
A qualified electronic seal is the digital equivalent of an official stamp for a legal entity. It guarantees the integrity and origin of a document. Unlike a signature, which commits a natural person, a seal is used by companies to authenticate their documents automatically. It is issued by a qualified trust service provider, in accordance with the eIDAS Regulation.
Yes. Digital evidence certified in accordance with legal requirements is admissible in court. When it is timestamped, geolocated and sealed with a qualified electronic seal, it benefits from a legal presumption of reliability. It can therefore be used before a judge, in the same way as a paper document or a report drawn up by a commissaire de justice (French judicial officer), to establish a fact or a commitment.
An ordinary photo can easily be altered or challenged: it can be edited after the fact, and its metadata or EXIF data, such as the date or location where it was taken, can be modified. A photo certified by Certificall, on the other hand, is automatically timestamped, geolocated, sealed with a qualified electronic seal and stored securely. Together, these elements provide a legal guarantee that the photo was taken at a specific time and place and has not been modified since. It thus becomes reliable, admissible evidence.
Security, reliability and legality
Find out how Certificall guarantees the integrity, traceability and legal value of every piece of evidence, and which standards and regulations apply.
Certificall combines several trust technologies: certified ISO 8601 timestamping, enhanced geolocation, a qualified electronic seal and secure storage. These elements are embedded in a PDF/A-3b certificate that also contains a cryptographic fingerprint (SHA hash). Any attempt to modify the certificate invalidates it, which guarantees the integrity and authenticity of the evidence.
Certified timestamping dates a digital document precisely and in a way that cannot be falsified. It is issued by a qualified authority recognised by ANSSI (the French National Cybersecurity Agency), in the ISO 8601 format. It proves that a file existed at a given moment. Timestamping is a key element of digital evidence, particularly to establish that an action or event took place first in the event of a dispute.
The seals used by Certificall are issued by a qualified trust service provider (QTSP) listed on the trusted list published by ANSSI (the French National Cybersecurity Agency) and recognised at European level. Obtaining this seal required prior verification of the identity of Certificall's president by a commissaire de justice (French judicial officer), as well as a strict review of Certificall's internal procedures, ensuring the legal and technical compliance of the system.
No. When a photo or video is sealed with a qualified electronic seal, the burden of proof is reversed. It becomes digital evidence and, as such, benefits from a legal presumption of reliability: it is up to the opposing party to demonstrate that it is invalid or has been falsified, which is very hard to establish in law. This significantly strengthens your position in a dispute.
The main applicable texts are the European eIDAS Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, Articles 1366 and 1367 of the French Civil Code, and Decree No. 2017-1416 on electronic signatures. These texts recognise the evidential value of electronic documents created using reliable processes, such as the digital evidence generated by Certificall.
How the Certificall app works
This section describes the user journey, from taking a photo to retrieving the certificate. It shows how the app fits into your business workflows.
In the mobile app, users log in and follow a customised workflow to capture certified photos or videos. For each photo or video taken, the app automatically records the geolocation and timestamp. Once the photo is validated, a tamper-proof certificate is generated, electronically sealed and then stored. This process guarantees the legal validity of the captured photo or video.
The certificate includes the photo, the date and time (ISO 8601), the GPS coordinates of where it was taken, the SHA cryptographic fingerprint, the timestamp token and the device metadata (model, IP address, app version), as well as the company name. It is issued in PDF/A-3b format, bears Certificall's electronic seal and is stored on secure servers.
Certificates are available as soon as they are validated in the mobile app. You can retrieve them:
- by email (if configured in the administration settings),
- via the Certificall administration interface,
- or through a secure direct link.
Each certificate is stored and remains accessible at any time throughout the contractual retention period (up to 10 years), which meets ten-year construction liability insurance (assurance décennale) requirements for construction site monitoring.
Yes. Certificall provides an API for direct integration into your business tools (CRM, ERP, industry-specific software). You can also use parameterised deep links to launch the Certificall app from a third-party system with pre-filled data (case number, custom reportId, etc.), making it easier to use our technology at scale.
Yes, an internet connection is required to complete certification: sending the data, generating the certificate and archiving it. However, the app can work in temporary offline mode for taking photos. As soon as the connection is restored, the certificates are automatically timestamped and generated. For full transparency, an "offline" notice will appear on these certificates.
Yes, Certificall provides dedicated technical support to help users with any problem or question about using the app and managing certified photos.
Privacy, retention and GDPR compliance
Certificall rigorously protects your data and your evidence. This section answers questions about retention, access and GDPR compliance.
Certificates are stored for up to 10 years, depending on business needs (ten-year construction liability insurance, for example). They are stored redundantly on our France-based cloud platform. This architecture ensures secure retention in compliance with the GDPR and French evidence law.
Yes. Certificall strictly applies GDPR rules: only the necessary data is collected, with explicit consent. Data is encrypted, stored in France and not transferred outside the EU. You can exercise your rights of access, rectification and erasure of your personal data at any time.
Only authorised administrators within the customer's organisation can access certificates. Users can view the evidence they have generated themselves. Certificall never uses your data for commercial purposes. Access is secured by authentication, and certificates can be made available only with authorisation.
No. To ensure legal reliability, certified digital evidence cannot be modified once validated. This guarantees its integrity and enforceability. However, access to or sharing of the certificate can be restricted or revoked, depending on the administration rights of your company account.
Generating and using certificates
Learn how to generate, use and secure your certificates, and how Certificall can meet the specific needs of your business, whatever its size.
If you lose access to your Certificall account, you can contact technical support for assistance. Identity verification measures will be applied to ensure the security of the account and its data.
Yes. Certificall is designed to adapt to a wide range of business use cases: construction site monitoring, property condition reports, damage reports, technical interventions, regulatory compliance and more. With customisable workflows and an API that integrates with your systems, the solution adapts to your internal processes to generate legally reliable digital evidence, whatever your industry.
Limits depend on the subscription plan you choose. Certificall offers a range of plans tailored to your use cases and to the volume you need for collecting evidence: photos, videos and document analysis.
Absolutely. Certificates issued by Certificall are legally admissible and can be used to:
- document an insurance claim,
- prove the condition of a construction site or a piece of equipment,
- demonstrate a delay, a defect or compliance.
They are very useful in contractual relationships, disputes and insurance procedures.
Quota system
All questions and answers about the quota system are grouped in a dedicated section:
-> See the quota FAQ