Integração de soluções de assinatura eletrônica e conformidade fiscal (Document and Reporting Compliance — DRC) em ambientes SAP S/4HANA globais: uma abordagem histórica, técnica e evolutiva

Abstract

This article analyzes, from a historical and evolutionary perspective, the integration between electronic signature solutions and digital fiscal compliance mechanisms — particularly SAP Document and Reporting Compliance (SAP DRC) — within corporate environments based on SAP S/4HANA operating across multiple jurisdictions. It is assumed that the digitalization of ancillary tax obligations and the consolidation of public key infrastructures (PKI) are convergent processes whose trajectory dates back to the earliest e-commerce statutes of the 1990s and extends to contemporary Continuous Transaction Controls (CTC) models adopted by tax authorities in dozens of countries. This bibliographic and documentary study examines international regulatory evolution (UNCITRAL, eIDAS, ESIGN Act/UETA) and Brazilian regulation (Provisional Measure No. 2,200-2/2001, Law No. 14,063/2020, the ICP-Brasil trust model), correlating it with the architectural evolution of SAP electronic-document solutions, from the discontinued SAP NF-e to the current eDocument Framework and the SAP Document and Reporting Compliance platform on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). Technical digital-signature standards for electronic documents (XAdES, PAdES, CAdES), integration models via the Application Interface Framework (AIF) and SAP Cloud Connector, and the principal technical, legal and information-security challenges faced by multinational corporations in reconciling global standardization with local compliance are discussed — a principle summarized by SAP as "standardize globally, comply locally". The study concludes that mature integration between electronic signature and DRC in S/4HANA depends on modular, API-oriented architectures capable of absorbing frequent regulatory change without compromising the integrity and traceability of electronic fiscal transactions.