Electronic Signatures: Are They Legal and How SMEs Can Leverage Them (Infographics)

Digitization has taken businesses worldwide by storm. We bet you’ve probably also already felt the pressure to move towards paperless solutions for your enterprise and this is not surprising. Digital signing is a tremendous opportunity for organizations to speed up their document signing process and overall close deals fasters.

The increase of electronic transactions around the world has generated a need for clear confirmation of engagement. Therefore, one of the most frequent questions we receive from our KeepSolid Sign users is “Are electronic signatures legal?”

Well, the answer depends on where you are doing business since every country has its own eSignatures laws. That’s why we decided to go deeper into this topic and conducted a research based on analysis of two most common types of electronic signatures: simple and digital.

These two terms are usually used to mean the same thing, however, this is incorrect as they have very different meanings. According to eIDAS (the electronic identification, authentication, and trust services regulation):

• Electronic signature is data in electronic form, which are attached to or logically associated with other electronic data and which are used by the signatory to sign.
• Digital signature is the type of electronic signature which verifies the identity of a signer by using cryptographic protocols and certificate-based digital ID.

Europe

North America

Asia

South America

Australia and Africa

Disclaimer: This information is based on publicly available sources. Our infographics is not a juridical document. If you are not sure about the accuracy of the aforementioned information, we suggest you apply to a legal specialist.

As you can see from our infographics, the legality of electronic signature can be divided into 2 groups. The first one consists of countries that recognize only digital signatures on a court level (Turkey, Indonesia, Peru, Malaysia, Philippines).

The countries from the second group allow any types of eSignatures, including electronic or ‘simple’ signature (United States, EU countries, Canada, Japan, China, India, Australia, etc.) Although, the second group obtains certain peculiarity and can be divided into two subtypes by an eSignature legal model: Open and Tiered.

The “open” countries have no special requirements for proving electronic Signature’s legality in court, which means that no additional evidence is required. Meanwhile, the situation with “tiered” model countries (such as Brazil, for example) is a little bit more complex since you may need extra evidence to support electronic signature in court. The good news is that these countries recognize Qualified Digital Signature (or other locally named equivalents) as a special form of validation proving which doesn’t call for any additional confirmation.

So, are electronic signatures legal?

Yes.

Despite each country has its’ own ins and outs, eSignatures generally have the same legal status as handwritten signatures. Moreover, they give you a great opportunity to accelerate your shift towards adopting digital business solutions.

Thanks to using eSignature technology you’re able to get all your contracts signed in minutes, initiate and close deals while on-the-go, enhance your collaboration with teams and ensure a strong security to all your documents. If you’re not yet taking advantage of digital contract signing, you’re missing a great chance to improve your workflow and increase your business efficiency.

Learn more about productivity and security tactics, tools and approaches for small business on our blog.