The certificate has more value if it is signed as in some contexts, the signature shows that the certificate is an official document. This is particularly important for the first page of the certificate (the so-called 'confirmation of participation'). Where possible, we advise the legal representative of the organisation to sign the certificate, to increase the value of the signature. In bigger and established organisations, it is also possible to have the signature signed by a person responsible for the project (rather than the legal representative) and indicate the role of the signing person at the certificate generation step.
Note: In cases where the project is not organised by an organisation but by an informal group, the certificate could be signed by a support person, such as a coach, mentor, consultant etc. If this is not possible, an organisation or structure that benefited from the activities of the project can be asked to sign the certificate (such as the coordinator of a local library where the promotional activities took place).
For the certificates of 2021-2027 Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps programmes, it is possible to sign the first page of the certificate digitally. The signature on the second part of the certificate (the so-called 'self-assessment' part) cannot be signed digitally and would need to be signed by hand, if needed.
For the previous EU youth programmes (such as the Erasmus+: Youth in Action 2014-2020 and European Solidarity Corps 2018-2020), Youthpass certificates need to be printed and signed by hand as the digital signature is not enabled for these projects in the tool.