AS4 spec clarification on receipts

[Timothy Bennett <timothy@drummondgroup.com>]

Hey folks,

Would like everyone's thoughts on the following clarification needed from the AS4 profile:

From Section 2.1 on the ebHandler Conformance Profile:

“Use of the ebbpsig:NonRepudiationInformation element (as defined in [ebBP-SIG]) is REQUIRED as content for the eb:Receipt message, i.e. when conforming to this profile a Receiving MSH must be able to create a Receipt with such a content, and a Sending MSH must be able to process it.”

Further, in Section 5.2.1, the spec suggests a usage:

“For non-repudiation, the eb:Receipt element must contain a well-formed ebbpsig:NonRepudiationInformation element. This is indicated by the new P-Mode parameter:· PMode[1].Security.SendReceipt.NonRepudiation : value = ‘true' (to be used for non-repudiation of receipt), value = 'false' (to be used simply for reception awareness).”

So, here's my couple of questions:

1. Is setting PMode.Security.SendReceipt.NonRepudiation = false a non-conformant configuration with respect to the ebHandler conformance profile?  In other words, does the ebHandler profile effectively require the sending of signed user messages and the return of a signed receipt containing a populated ebBP-SIG infoset, or does the ebHandler profile just mean that ebBP-SIG infoset is required in the receipt even if it is empty (either because the user message was unsigned or because the PMode non-repudiation parameter = false)?
2. What would the XML of the receipt look like for a Pmode non-repudiation parameter = false look like?

Would it be just an empty eb3:Receipt infoset (like below), or would it also contain an empty ebbpsig:Non-RepudiationInformation infoset?

<eb3:Messaging S12:mustUnderstand="true" id="ValueOfMessagingHeader">
<eb3:SignalMessage>
<eb3:MessageInfo>
<eb3:Timestamp>2009-11-06T08:00:09Z</eb3:Timestamp>
<eb3:MessageId>orderreceipt@seller.com</eb3:MessageId>
<eb3:RefToMessageId>orders123@buyer.com</eb3:RefToMessageId>
</eb3:MessageInfo>
<eb3:Receipt>
</eb3:Receipt>
</eb3:SignalMessage>
</eb3:Messaging>