U radu autori istražuju hrvatski zakonodavni okvir koji se odnosi na elektroničko poslovanje te ga stavljaju u kontekst sličnog zakonodavnoga okvira u zemljama Europske unije. Zbog boljeg razumijevanja problema koji se pojavljuju u rješenjima hrvatskoga zakonodavca autori identificiraju ključne elemente infrastrukture javnoga ključa (PKI) koji su značajni za elektroničko poslovanje. Autori tumače pojmove infrastruktura javnog ključa, digitalni certifikat, kvalificirani certifikat, certifikacijska služba, registracijski autoritet, neporecivost, pouzdana arhivska služba, vremenski žig, pouzdani vremenski žig, elektronički potpis, napredni elektronički potpis, te PDF/A. Potom analiziraju postojeća zakonodavna ograničenja u Hrvatskoj koja sprječavaju širu primjenu elektroničkoga poslovanja u praksi. Pritom provode komparativnu analizu s Direktivom 1999/93/EC, identificiraju problematične segmente postojećih zakona te predlažu njihova konkretna poboljšanja. Konačno, autori se osvrću ulogu arhivista u dugoročnom očuvanju elektronički potpisanih dokumenata.The authors analyse Croatian legal framework covering e-business and compare it to the legal framework in the EU countries. Firstly, in order to better explain the problems that they detect in the Croatian legislation, the authors identify and explain the key elements in the public key infrastructure (PKI) concept which are relevant for e-Business. Therefore, the concepts of public key infrastructure,digital certificates, qualified certificates, certification authority, registration authority, non-repudiation, trusted archival service (TAS), time stamp, trusted digital time stamp, electronic signature, advanced electronic signature, and PDF/A are explained. Further, the authors analyse the existing constraints in Croatian legislation that make wider application and usage of e-Business rather complicate. By comparatively analysing the Croatian legislation and the “Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures” they identify the problematic segments of the existing legislation and suggest how they could be improved. Finally, considering the results of the research, the authors reflect on the role of archivists in the long-term preservation of digitally signed documents
