Access rights lists, such as capacity or access control lists, are dynamically managed in a data processing element such as a smart card from an administrator server. To access an access rights list from the server, the list is signed in the server so that a signature can be transmitted to the card. The card compares the signature received from the server to signatures determined according to the access rights lists contained in the card and keys associated with those lists. Server access to an identified list is only authorized when it corresponds to a signature which is found among the determined signatures in the card and which is identical to the received signature.