Article 1 
1. The Official Journal shall be published in electronic form, in accordance with this Regulation, in the official languages of the institutions of the European Union. 2. Without prejudice to Article 3, only the Official Journal published in electronic form (hereinafter ‘the electronic edition of the Official Journal’) shall be authentic and shall produce legal effects.
Article 2 
1. The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall bear an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and created with a secure-signature-creation device, in accordance with Directive 1999/93/EC. The qualified certificate and renewals thereof shall be published on the EUR-Lex website in order to make it possible for the public to verify the advanced electronic signature and the authentic character of the electronic edition of the Official Journal. 2. The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall display information regarding its publication date. 3. The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall be made available to the public on the EUR-Lex website in a non-obsolete format and for an unlimited period. Its consultation shall be free of charge.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 216/2013 1 , the Official Journal of the European Union is published in electronic form. In order to guarantee the authenticity, integrity and inalterability of this electronic publication, Article 2(1) of this Regulation states that ‘the electronic edition... shall bear an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and created with a secure-signature-creation device, in accordance with Directive 1999/93/EC’. Directive 1999/93/EC of 13 December 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures was repealed by Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market 2 , which came into force on 1 July 2016. In addition to the electronic signature and the advanced electronic signature already provided for by Directive 1999/93, Regulation No 910/2014 introduced the possibility of authenticating a document with an electronic seal or an advanced electronic seal based on a certificate for an electronic seal. The main difference between the (advanced) electronic signature and the (advanced) electronic seal is that, in the former case, the signatory is a natural person (Article 3, points 9 and 14 of Regulation No 910/2014), whereas in the latter case, the signatory is a legal person (Article 3, points 24 and 29 of Regulation No 910/2014). The use of this advanced electronic seal would make it possible to automate the electronic signature and accelerate the procedure for publication on EUR-Lex. Since authentication by an electronic seal rather than an electronic signature is not merely a different electronic system but makes an actual difference in legal terms (in the case of a signature, the authentication method is based on the involvement of a specific natural person; where a seal is used, it is created by the legal person with no indication of who, within the legal person, was responsible for authenticating the document), Regulation No 216/2013 should be amended to allow the Official Journal to be authenticated by an advanced electronic seal. 
Revised version (Article 2 ):
1. The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall bear a qualified electronic signature defined in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 ), or a qualified electronic seal defined in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014. Qualified certificates for electronic signature or for electronic seal and renewals thereof shall be published on the EUR-Lex website to allow the public to verify the qualified electronic signature or qualified electronic seal and the authenticity of the electronic edition of the Official Journal. 2. The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall display information regarding its publication date. 3. The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall be made available to the public on the EUR-Lex website in a non-obsolete format and for an unlimited period. Its consultation shall be free of charge.
Article 3 
1. Where it is not possible to publish the electronic edition of the Official Journal due to an unforeseen and exceptional disruption of the information system of the Publications Office, the information system shall be restored as soon as possible. The moment at which such a disruption occurs shall be established by the Publications Office. 2. Where it is necessary to publish the Official Journal when the information system of the Publications Office is not operational pursuant to a disruption as referred to in paragraph 1, only the printed edition of the Official Journal shall be authentic and shall produce legal effects. Once the information system of the Publications Office is restored, the corresponding electronic version of the printed edition referred to in the first subparagraph shall be made available to the public on the EUR-Lex website for information purposes only and shall contain a notice to that effect. 3. Once the information system of the Publications Office is restored, the EUR-Lex website shall provide information on all printed editions that are authentic and that produce legal effects in accordance with the first subparagraph of paragraph 2.
Article 4 
1. With regard to the electronic edition of the Official Journal, the Publications Office shall be responsible for: (a) publishing it and guaranteeing its authenticity; (b) implementing, managing and maintaining the information system producing the electronic edition of the Official Journal, and upgrading that system in line with future technical developments; (c) implementing and extending the technical facilities to ensure accessibility for all users to the electronic edition of the Official Journal; (d) setting up internal security and access rules with regard to the information system producing the electronic edition of the Official Journal; (e) preserving and archiving the electronic files and handling them in line with future technological developments. 2. The Publications Office shall exercise the responsibilities set out in paragraph 1 in accordance with Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 216/2013 1 , the Official Journal of the European Union is published in electronic form. In order to guarantee the authenticity, integrity and inalterability of this electronic publication, Article 2(1) of this Regulation states that ‘the electronic edition... shall bear an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and created with a secure-signature-creation device, in accordance with Directive 1999/93/EC’. Directive 1999/93/EC of 13 December 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures was repealed by Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market 2 , which came into force on 1 July 2016. In addition to the electronic signature and the advanced electronic signature already provided for by Directive 1999/93, Regulation No 910/2014 introduced the possibility of authenticating a document with an electronic seal or an advanced electronic seal based on a certificate for an electronic seal. The main difference between the (advanced) electronic signature and the (advanced) electronic seal is that, in the former case, the signatory is a natural person (Article 3, points 9 and 14 of Regulation No 910/2014), whereas in the latter case, the signatory is a legal person (Article 3, points 24 and 29 of Regulation No 910/2014). The use of this advanced electronic seal would make it possible to automate the electronic signature and accelerate the procedure for publication on EUR-Lex. Since authentication by an electronic seal rather than an electronic signature is not merely a different electronic system but makes an actual difference in legal terms (in the case of a signature, the authentication method is based on the involvement of a specific natural person; where a seal is used, it is created by the legal person with no indication of who, within the legal person, was responsible for authenticating the document), Regulation No 216/2013 should be amended to allow the Official Journal to be authenticated by an advanced electronic seal. 
Revised version (Article 4 ):
2. The Publications Office shall exercise the responsibilities set out in paragraph 1 in accordance with Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom.
Article 5 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the first day of the fourth calendar month following its adoption.