Section 2 in The Digital Signature (End entity) Rules, 2015
2. Definitions.
(1)In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-(a)"Act" means the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000);(b)"canonicalisation", in relation to a xml digital signature, means the process of converting electronic record that has more than one possible representation into a 'standard', 'normal', or 'canonical form' in which the variations in representation of electronic record shall be standardised by applying consistent rules, primarily as part of the xml digital signature creation and verification processes;(c)"counter signature" means a signature on a previous signature in a series of signatures, affixed after the verification the signature on electronic record and subsequent signatures on previous signatures serially;(d)"detached signature" means the signature that is stored independent of electronic record being signed;(e)"digest method element", in relation to a xml digital signature, means the digest algorithm to be used for the original data object or transformed, if any 'xml transforms' exists;(f)"digest value element" means the value of the digest;(g)"end entity" means the subscriber or system on behalf of the subscriber in whose name the Electronic Signature Certificate is issued;(h)"end entity signature" means authentication of any electronic record by an end entity by means of a digital signature, electronic method or procedure in accordance with the provisions of sections 3 or 3A of the Act;(i)"enveloped signature" means enveloping of the signature and the initial electronic record into another electronic record;(j)"enveloping signature" means a signature over a electronic record that is referenced and contained within the signature element;(k)"initial electronic record", in the context of xml digital signature process, means canonicalised and transformed form of signed info;(l)"key info element" means an element that enables key information to be packaged along with the signature element;(m)"long term signature" means a signature element that is made verifiable for a long term by implementing measures to enable the detection of unauthorised alterations of signature;(n)"manifest element", in relation to a xml digital signature, means a structure to carry a list of reference elements processing model defined by the application;(o)"object element" means an optional element of xml digital signature, which is used for enveloping signature where the data object being signed is included in the xml;(p)"ocsp responder" means an online service that provides revocation status of a digital signature certificate;(q)"online certificate status protocol" means an online certificate-revocation checking protocol that enables relying-parties to determine the revocation status of an identified digital signature certificate;(r)"parallel signatures" means one or more independent signature over the same electronic record in which the ordering of the signatures is not important;(s)"reference element", in relation to a xml digital signature, means an element that carries a references to data objects, an optional list of transforms to be applied prior to digest (xml transforms), digest method and digest value value of referenced data objects;(t)"signed info", in relation to a xml digital signature, means an element that contains a set of information to be signed for creating an xml signature, where it shall contains references to the data object that includes the canonicalisation and signature algorithms;(u)"signature" means digital signature or xml digital signature;(v)"signature value" means an element that the actual value of the digital signature;(w)"signature method " means an element that contains the algorithm used for signature generation and this algorithm identifies all cryptographic functions involved in the signature generation;(x)"signature properties" means an element that provides a way to carry additional information about the signature, such as a time stamp or any other information which are defined by application;(y)"time stamp" means a notation that indicates the correct date and time of an action and identity of the person or device that sent or received the time stamp and is enforced using time stamp token;(z)"time stamp token " means a cryptographically secure confirmation generated by applying digital signature of a time stamping service provider that includes the time when the confirmation was generated;(za)"time stamping service provider " means a trusted entity authorised to generate time stamps;(i)with xml, content and presentation are separate;(i)xml digital signature element shall exist as a standalone document or envelop the data object that it signs;(i)should be used for a particular purpose where as a schema describes the structure of an xml document and provides specification of element names that indicates which elements are allowed in an xml document, and in what combinations; and(ii)should provide extended functionality such as data types, inheritance, and presentation rules and default values for attributes;(zg)"xml transform" means an element that specify an optional ordered list of processing steps applied to the data objects before it was digested where the transforms include canonicalization, encoding or decoding, extensible style sheet language transformations, xpath filtering, and xml schema validation;(zh)"xml name space" means a uniform resource identifier (uri) reference where the mechanisms described in the specification are used in xml documents as element types and attribute names and also to use various xml vocabularies without having name collision.(ii)xml digital signature element shall have signed info, signature value, key info, object and has id attribute of type child elements in order in which they appear;(zd)"xml digital signature" means the digital signature on xml electronic record;(ze)"xml document" means a document with xml logical and physical structure that is used to carry data elements, composed of declarations, elements, comments, character references, and processing instructions and a physical structure composed of entities, starting with the root, or document entity;(zf)"xml schema" means a set of pre-defined or user defined keywords and their attributes arranged in a structured manner, shall satisfy the following,-(ii)the structure of xml data in a particular context is described using either xml schema or a document type definition;(iii)xml schema or a document type definition are stored separately from the xml document itself and can be used to validate a given xml document for conformance;(zc)"xml digital signature element" means an element that defined by standard xml schema for capturing the result of a digital signature operation applied to arbitrary data in xml format, shall satisfy the following,-(zb)"xml" means Extensible Markup Language that provides a standard methodology with formal syntax to identify elements of information, describe the structure of data and also to store data in an independent manner, shall have the following properties,-(2)Words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Act shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the said Act.
