Odoo Adds Qualified Electronic Signatures via itsme: What It Changes for Your Contracts

On September 30, 2026, Odoo announced on its official blog (odoo.com/blog) a partnership with itsme, a Belgian digital identity platform, to integrate Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) directly into the Odoo Sign app. Until now, Odoo Sign only offered simple electronic signatures — this new tier changes the legal weight of documents signed from Odoo.

Simple vs. Qualified Signature: A Legal Difference, Not a Cosmetic One

The EU's eIDAS regulation distinguishes several levels of electronic signature. The Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) is the highest level: it is explicitly recognized as equivalent to a handwritten signature across the entire European Union. A simple signature — what Odoo Sign offered until now — remains valid for most everyday business uses, but its evidentiary weight can more easily be challenged in a dispute, particularly on high-stakes documents (HR contracts, acts requiring stronger authentication, regulated documents).

How the Technical Integration Works

The signer authenticates through the itsme app already installed on their smartphone, via NFC, facial recognition, or a personal code. That already-verified identity is then linked to a certificate issued by a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP), producing a signature that is qualified under eIDAS in under a minute, without leaving the Odoo interface.

• ✓No new tool to learn: the signer stays in Odoo Sign
• ✓No new registration to manage: itsme reuses an identity the user already verified
• ✓Certificate issued on the fly by a QTSP, unique to each signature

Who This Is Immediately Relevant For

itsme is a Belgian digital identity platform, built on the Belgian eID (and, in some cases, identity documents from other European countries). The most direct use case is therefore companies contracting with Belgian or Luxembourg partners through Odoo. But the scope extends beyond Belgium: under eIDAS, a qualified signature produced via itsme carries the same legal value in every EU member state — a French SMB receiving a contract signed this way by a Belgian supplier or customer doesn't need to question whether it holds up in France.

Availability

The feature is announced for Odoo 20, with general availability still expected mid-October 2026; it does not exist on Odoo 19. Odoo had not communicated any specific pricing for this option at announcement time — check odoo.com/pricing once the feature ships.

If you regularly sign high-stakes contracts (HR, suppliers, partnerships) and the legal weight of the signature matters to your business, contact us to find out whether qualified signing applies to your case — response within 24h.