ICPBrasil

ICP-Brasil, or Infraestrutura de Chaves Públicas Brasileira, is the Brazilian Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) that provides digital certificates for authentication, digital signatures, and encryption of electronic documents and online services. It is administered by the Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia da Informação (ITI), a government body, and relies on a hierarchical chain of trust consisting of a root authority and subordinate authorities.

Established to enable secure electronic transactions, ICP-Brasil implements the Brazilian standards for digital signatures and other PKI services. Its creation followed legal provisions such as Provisional Measure 2.200-2 (2001), which set the framework for certification authorities, trust policies, and the use of identity verification for certificates used in government and commerce.

Digital certificates issued under ICP-Brasil include e-CPF for individuals and e-CNPJ for companies. They are used to sign and seal electronic documents, certify the authenticity and integrity of records, and enable secure access to government portals and e-services, including fiscal and administrative processes such as electronic invoices (NF-e) and SPED.

Operationally, ICP-Brasil is based on a network of Accredited Certification Authorities that issue certificates under a government-recognized policy. Users obtain certificates from these authorities, while ITI maintains the policy, root trust, and interoperability standards to ensure broad compatibility across public and private sector systems.