⚠️ Important notice
This is not a government website. Certificado Digital Global is a Registration Authority accredited to the Certisign network, a brand of Kindness in Business Consulting Ltd (UK Company No. 10386293), serving clients from London. Issuance depends on identity validation, documentation and ICP-Brasil rules. Do not send CPF, passport or sensitive documents via WhatsApp or the initial form.
O que é
If you landed here because your accountant, bank or notary said “you need a digital certificate” and you don't quite know what that means, this page was written for you. We explain what an ICP-Brasil digital certifica…
Para quem
Explanation without technical terms · Guidance on first installation
Como resolve
Service in Portuguese and English · Certisign-accredited RA
Limite
Não é site do governo. Emissão sujeita a validação de identidade, documentação e normas da ICP-Brasil.
The first analogy: a digital passport
A passport proves who you are to a border officer who has never seen you. The ICP-Brasil digital certificate does the same for Brazilian systems — the Federal Revenue, the notary, the bank, the court — which have never seen you either: it proves, in a way a computer can check, that the person on the other end is you. Just as a passport is issued by the Federal Police after checking your documents, the certificate is issued by a Certificate Authority (in our case, Certisign) after a Registration Authority checks your identity live. The difference is that this “passport” lives on your computer, phone or a small device, and works for entering systems and signing documents without leaving home.
The second analogy: a signature with the notary built in
When you sign a paper and take it to a notary to have the signature authenticated, the notary attests that the signature is yours. When you sign a PDF with the digital certificate, something similar happens, only automatically: the file receives a mathematical mark that could only have been made with your key, and anyone can check that on a public government website. Brazilian law gives this signature special force: the document is presumed genuine in relation to the person who signed it. That's why the notary, the bank and the commercial registry accept the signed PDF — the “authentication” already comes inside the file.
Minimal glossary: six terms you'll hear
ICP-Brasil
The Brazilian public infrastructure that sets the rules for certificates, created by Provisional Measure 2.200-2/2001. Everything “ICP-Brasil” follows the same standard and is valid nationwide.
e-CPF and e-CNPJ
The e-CPF is the individual's certificate; the e-CNPJ is the company's, issued in the name of whoever runs it. See the difference between e-CPF and e-CNPJ.
A1 and A3
Two formats of the same certificate. A1 is a file installed on a computer or phone, valid for one year. A3 lives on a token, card or in the cloud, valid for up to three years.
RA and CA
The Registration Authority (RA) checks your identity; the Certificate Authority (CA) issues the certificate. We are the RA; Certisign is the CA.
Private key
The secret that stays only with you and that produces the signature. Nobody — not the RA, not the CA — has access to it or to your password.
Video validation
The check of your identity done by video call with an RA agent, showing the original document. It's what makes issuing from any country possible.
Scenario: the first time for someone who never needed one
Real case
Illustrative scenario. A Brazilian yoga teacher living in Lima gets a message from her accountant: “this year's income tax return only goes through with a digital certificate or gov.br silver”. She tries gov.br, the app asks for facial validation and the Brazilian database doesn't recognise her, because her driving licence expired years ago. She searches what a digital certificate is, reads about keys and tokens and nearly gives up. On WhatsApp she asks only: “does this work for my return and for signing the lease on the flat I rented out in Rio?”. The answer is yes to both, with an e-CPF A1 installed on her laptop. Video validation takes one conversation; installation is done with guidance over a shared screen. — Understanding the basics was enough to decide; the rest was guided
Before you decide
“I don't understand technology.”
You don't need to. Installation is done with you over a shared screen, and everyday use is clicking “sign” and typing the password.
“I'm afraid someone could use it in my place.”
Only someone with your password can sign. Never share it; if you suspect anything, the certificate can be revoked immediately and stops being valid.
“My ID has expired.”
We need a valid Brazilian photo ID — passport, RG or CNH. Any of the three works.
“Isn't it better to just go to Brazil?”
Validation is by video, at your time, and the certificate comes from the same CA that serves people in Brazil. The trip adds nothing to the result.
Transparent pricing
For beginners, the most common choice is the one-year e-CPF A1, the table's starting point. Guidance for installing and signing for the first time comes with the issuance.
The exact figure depends on A1 or A3 and on validity; we explain the options in plain language on WhatsApp.
Issue my first certificate