Legal Web Page Certification | Certified Web Content

Web Page Certification with International Legal Validity – Admissible in EU, USA, UK, Canada and Australia Courts

When online published content must serve as evidence in judicial or extrajudicial contexts (civil, criminal, employment, intellectual property, digital reputation), it is fundamental to certify the web page before it is modified, deleted, or becomes contestable. With forensic web content certification, the page is acquired through verifiable technical methodologies and transformed into an opposable, intact, and timestamped evidentiary package, compliant with the legal requirements of the European regulatory framework.

The service can be performed remotely for clients in any European and non-European country. We certify websites, social media pages, marketplaces, online reviews, articles, forums, and any publicly accessible content on the Internet, preserving its forensic integrity and evidentiary value.

Certifiable Web Content

Forensic web page certification can include:

• websites and landing pages: corporate pages, e-commerce, blogs, articles, information portals;
• social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube posts with comments and metrics;
• marketplaces and e-commerce: Amazon, eBay, Etsy listings, product ads with prices and descriptions;
• online reviews: Google Reviews, TripAdvisor, Trustpilot, Yelp, product reviews;
• forums and communities: discussion threads, comments, Reddit posts, thematic forums;
• archives and cache: deleted content recoverable from Wayback Machine, Google cache, web archives;
• profiles and public pages: social profiles, business pages, biographies, public information;
• advertisements and advertising: online advertising campaigns, banners, sponsored content, paid ads.

European Legal Framework: eIDAS, CoE Guidelines, and Evidentiary Admissibility

To make digital evidence solid and opposable at the European level, we rely on the main regulatory and technical references:

• • eIDAS Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014: governs electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market. In particular, it establishes that an electronic signature shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings solely on the grounds that it is in electronic form (Art. 25). The qualified time stamp enjoys a presumption of accuracy of the date/time indicated and integrity of the associated data, a central element when the opposing party contests the timing and manner of content publication.
  • Council of Europe Guidelines on Electronic Evidence (adopted on January 30, 2019): the first international instrument providing practical guidance for handling electronic evidence in civil and administrative proceedings. The Guidelines emphasize that electronic evidence cannot be excluded solely because it is in digital form and establish principles on authenticity, integrity, chain of custody, and metadata.
  • Cryptographic Integrity (Hash): we generate digital fingerprints (e.g., SHA-256) of the complete web page (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, metadata) and evidentiary package, allowing any party to mathematically verify whether anything has been modified after acquisition.
  • Certified Timestamping: we apply a time stamp compliant with recognized standards (e.g., RFC 3161, ETSI EN 319 422 standard) to fix in time the existence of the certified content with legal validity.
  • Qualified or Advanced Electronic Signature: delivery documentation and reports are signed with a signature compliant with the eIDAS framework, guaranteeing authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation of the evidentiary package. Upon request, we can extend the certification level for international uses.
  • FEDIS Declaration (Forensic Evidence Digital Integrity Statement): a document that formally attests to the integrity and authenticity of the evidentiary package according to international digital forensics standards. The FEDIS makes the certification admissible in courts of the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other jurisdictions with equivalent legal frameworks for electronic evidence.

These technical-legal elements ensure that digital evidence is admissible in European and extra-European judicial proceedings, reducing the risk of formal challenges regarding authenticity, temporal integrity, and chain of custody of the evidentiary material.

Case Law and International Recognition

Online Permanence Certification: Demonstrating Temporal Continuity

Operational Modalities: Forensic Acquisition of Web Content

What You Receive After Certification: The “Lawyer-Ready” Evidentiary Package

Upon completion of the acquisition and certification process, we provide a complete and structured documentary package, ready for filing with judicial authorities, lawyers, insurance companies, or extrajudicial use:

• • Certified PDF Report containing high-resolution screenshots, complete URL, date/time of acquisition, description of relevant content;
  • Complete Source Code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) in readable and verifiable text format;
  • Extracted Multimedia Files (images, videos, attached PDFs) organized and referenced with individual hash;
  • Technical Metadata: HTTP headers, DNS information, SSL certificates, IP geolocation;
  • Cryptographic Fingerprints (Hash) of the entire evidentiary package (SHA-256 or higher) as provided by the FEDIS protocol, for independent integrity verification by any expert or judicial authority;

• • Qualified Time Stamp compliant with eIDAS/RFC 3161 standards for opposable timestamping;
  • Technical Acquisition Report describing the forensic methodology applied, tools used, digital chain of custody, and acquisition limitations (written in clear language for lawyers and judicial authorities);
  • Permanence Timeline (if requested): complete timeline of multiple acquisitions with evidence of continuity/modifications over time;
  • eIDAS Qualified Electronic Signature (standard for the EU);
  • Electronic Signature Compliant with Specific Jurisdiction (optional): upon request, we can apply electronic signatures compliant with the legal requirements of specific countries outside the EU for cross-border disputes.

GDPR Compliance and Personal Data Protection

Web content may contain personal data of third parties. We manage the acquisition, processing, and retention of material in full compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), applying the principles of data minimization, purpose limitation (acquisition for documented evidentiary purposes), technical and organizational security, access traceability, and time-limited retention.

The acquisition of publicly accessible content on the Internet for evidentiary purposes constitutes a legitimate interest pursuant to Art. 6, par. 1, let. f) GDPR. Upon request, we can agree on selective redaction procedures for data not relevant to the dispute (e.g., data of uninvolved third parties) for court production, while maintaining the evidentiary integrity of relevant content.

When to Activate Web Page Certification

• if you are a victim of online defamation, fake reviews, smear campaigns and need evidence for legal action;
• if you detect counterfeiting, copyright infringement, unauthorized trademark use on websites or marketplaces;
• if you need to document misleading advertising, unfair competition, false claims by competitors;
• if you need to crystallize contractual terms, policies, sales conditions before they are modified;
• if you need proof of online permanence to demonstrate that harmful content remained public for weeks/months;
• if you need to collect evidence for criminal proceedings (threats, fraud, online crimes) before they are deleted;
• if you operate in international contexts and need evidence compliant with European or extra-European standards;
• if you need to document retroactive modifications of web content relevant to ongoing disputes.

Technical Note: Web page certification is performed on publicly accessible content. For login-protected content, an access mandate is required. Acquisition captures the state of content at the time of certification; complex JavaScript-generated dynamic content may require specialized methodologies. Permanence certification requires multiple scheduled acquisitions over time. During the quote phase, we precisely indicate what is technically acquirable, operational limitations, and available options for the specific case.