A method for certifying the authenticity of digital copies of original documents at a data certification server, the method comprising: receiving, from a client application running on an electronic device of a user, a digitally signed data payload and a corresponding digitally signed electronic document associated with an original document, wherein the digitally signed electronic document comprises a digital copy of an original document containing one or more pages and a generated digital signature of the electronic document, wherein the digitally signed data payload comprises the digital signature of the electronic document, data items associated with the original document, and a generated digital signature of the data payload calculated based on the digital signature of the electronic document and the data items associated with the original document; and certifying and storing the received digitally signed data payload and the corresponding digitally signed electronic document by performing the steps of: re-calculating the corresponding digital signatures for the digitally signed data payload and electronic document and comparing the re-calculated signatures with the digital signatures of the electronic document and the data payload applied at the client application; and in response to determining that the digital signatures of the electronic document and the data payload match: authenticating the electronic document and corresponding data payload by applying an authentication certificate, which is retrieved from a certification database of the certification server; generating, in a portion of a trusted database associated with the user and/or user organisation linked to the client application, a data record (247_1-n) comprising the authenticated electronic document and associated data items obtained from the authenticated data payload; and returning a unique identification number and a timestamp associated with the generation of the data record (247_1-n). receiving, from a client application running on an electronic device of a user, a digitally signed data payload and a corresponding digitally signed electronic document associated with an original document, wherein the digitally signed electronic document comprises a digital copy of an original document containing one or more pages and a generated digital signature of the electronic document, wherein the digitally signed data payload comprises the digital signature of the electronic document, data items associated with the original document, and a generated digital signature of the data payload calculated based on the digital signature of the electronic document and the data items associated with the original document; and certifying and storing the received digitally signed data payload and the corresponding digitally signed electronic document by performing the steps of: re-calculating the corresponding digital signatures for the digitally signed data payload and electronic document and comparing the re-calculated signatures with the digital signatures of the electronic document and the data payload applied at the client application; and in response to determining that the digital signatures of the electronic document and the data payload match: authenticating the electronic document and corresponding data payload by applying an authentication certificate, which is retrieved from a certification database of the certification server; generating, in a portion of a trusted database associated with the user and/or user organisation linked to the client application, a data record (247_1-n) comprising the authenticated electronic document and associated data items obtained from the authenticated data payload; and returning a unique identification number and a timestamp associated with the generation of the data record (247_1-n). re-calculating the corresponding digital signatures for the digitally signed data payload and electronic document and comparing the re-calculated signatures with the digital signatures of the electronic document and the data payload applied at the client application; and in response to determining that the digital signatures of the electronic document and the data payload match: authenticating the electronic document and corresponding data payload by applying an authentication certificate, which is retrieved from a certification database of the certification server; generating, in a portion of a trusted database associated with the user and/or user organisation linked to the client application, a data record (247_1-n) comprising the authenticated electronic document and associated data items obtained from the authenticated data payload; and returning a unique identification number and a timestamp associated with the generation of the data record (247_1-n). authenticating the electronic document and corresponding data payload by applying an authentication certificate, which is retrieved from a certification database of the certification server; generating, in a portion of a trusted database associated with the user and/or user organisation linked to the client application, a data record (247_1-n) comprising the authenticated electronic document and associated data items obtained from the authenticated data payload; and returning a unique identification number and a timestamp associated with the generation of the data record (247_1-n).