Are E Signatures Legal in the Uk

This guide examines the electronic signature laws of England, Wales and Northern Ireland ( English law). There is a separate legal regulation for electronic signatures in Scotland. Adobe has published a guide to Scottish law, available at (helpx.adobe.com/sign/using/legality-scotland.html). You can find more information about QES on our blog Sign worldwide with digital signatures. Another change in the new regulation is that electronic signatures can now only be used by individuals (previously, electronic signatures could be used by both natural and legal persons). Yes, electronic signatures are allowed in court. The electronic signature itself shows the intention to accept the contents of the document. They can also provide additional evidence of an « intent » that handwritten signatures cannot provide. In the case of handwritten signatures, validity is established by comparing copies of the signature with testimonies from handwriting experts or witnesses to the signature. Thanks to the electronic signature audit trail, which includes information such as IP address, location and timestamp, determining the authenticity of an electronic signature is easier, faster and more cost-effective. Qualified electronic signatures offer the same signatory authentication and integrity validation as advanced electronic signatures, as well as additional security considerations: electronic signatures have been 100% legally binding since 2000 with the introduction of the Electronic Communications Act. Since 2016, they have also been taken into account in European law by the eIDAS Regulation.

Nevertheless, uncertainty about the legality of electronic signatures remained. In 2019, the Law Commission intervened to remove this remaining ambiguity and confirm the validity and legality of electronic signatures in the execution of documents, even if there is a legal obligation to sign. Given that the UK`s eIDAS Regulation sets minimum, not maximum, standards for electronic signatures, it has only a limited impact on existing UK law, given the already broad definition of electronic signatures adopted by the European Court of Auditors. Legal requirements and the legality of electronic signatures have not changed during the coronavirus pandemic, but « work from home » provisions and physical distancing requirements have made it difficult to obtain traditional signatures on paper and ink. As a result, businesses and governments in the UK (as in many other countries around the world) have increasingly used electronic signatures for digital transactions. At the same time, the Law Commission recognized that if a public registry only accepted wet ink signatures, the parties would not be able to issue documents electronically, regardless of the legal situation. It did not object to HM Land Registry`s position in its response to the earlier Legal Commission`s consultation paper that a registration authority « must have control over the means of enforcement used for documents that are to be registered, in particular if a security of title is offered ». There may also be complications in the testimony of electronic signatures that make them inappropriate in certain circumstances. When in doubt, it is best to ask the recipient if they accept an electronically signed document. In its report on electronic execution of documents (2019), the UK Law Commission concluded that electronic signatures « are valid for the vast majority of business transactions and legal processes ».

However, the report also highlighted various problems and uncertainties related to the use of electronic signatures that may have discouraged some parties from adopting them. To address this, the report recommended the formation of a multidisciplinary group of economic, legal and technical experts to find possible solutions and create a framework for best practice guidelines. Despite the Law Commission`s 2019 report and strong support for electronic signatures, there are use cases where it may not be appropriate to use electronic signatures: we take a security-focused approach to electronic signatures to ensure that all audit trails, certificates of completion, and customer documents passing through DocuSign Agreement Cloud remain secure and unchanged before and after signing. Proponents of the parties are advised to keep a copy of the certificate of completion or audit report created by the platform at the end of the signing process with their transfer file. Such a certificate or report must include an audit trail of the signature, including the time and date of the signatures, the email addresses to which the document was sent, the one-time password (OTP) method used, the fields filled in, and the IP addresses of the devices used. When it comes to actual business transactions, the parties need more trust and certainty that the signing process is tamper-proof. Advanced electronic signatures ensure the unique identification and authentication of the signer and verify the integrity of the signed contract. For more information on the legal validity of electronic and digital signatures in a particular country, please contact your legal advisor.

The Committee on Legal Affairs was concerned that legal uncertainties would hamper the use of electronic signatures and electronic signature platforms. In September 2019, after a long period of consultation, the Legal Affairs Committee published a report on the electronic execution of documents (s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lawcom-prod-storage-11jsxou24uy7q/uploads/2019/09/Electronic-Execution-Report.pdf) (Report 2019). The report`s findings were endorsed by the UK government in March 2020. The answer will vary from country to country, but in the UK, electronic signatures are legal, permitted and enforceable in court. Many people think that electronic signatures are simply a digital image of a handwritten signature, but this is not the case. An electronic signature indicates a person`s intention to accept the terms of a document and creates a binding and enforceable agreement. In addition to eIDAS in the UK, electronic signatures are governed by the Electronic Communications Act (ECA 2000), the Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions Regulations 2016 and case law. While you certainly don`t need special software to use simple electronic signatures from a legal point of view, high-value transactions must have high-quality electronic signatures. Electronic signature software tools offer: « Simple » electronic signatures range from scanned handwritten signatures to elements of the website`s user interface such as checkboxes and buttons selected with the text « I agree » (or similar). In English law, if even an « X » character in wet ink is considered a valid signature, simple electronic signatures will withstand the legally valid standard. Overall, Brexit will have no impact on the English law on electronic signatures, which favours electronic signatures.

The UK passed the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 to ensure legal certainty and continuity of EU laws under UK law, including eIDAS. The legal framework for electronic signatures in the UK is derived from the EU legislator. Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services in the internal market (commonly known as the eIDAS Regulation) was adopted in the EU Member States on 23 July 2014 to replace its predecessor, the Electronic Signature Directive. The Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions Regulations 2016 implements the eIDAS Regulation in the UK and sets out specific provisions on the impact, monitoring and enforcement of the Regulation. The report concludes with a recommendation framework for the future analysis and reform of existing UK legislation on the enforcement of electronic signatures. According to the group, the government should « now take steps to adopt the use of electronic signatures in its transactions with third parties, whether they are suppliers of goods or services to the government or the public. » By doing so, and by acting as an « early adopter », the government will be able to promote the widest possible use of electronic signatures within society. In July 2020, the HM Land Registry (HMLR) announced that it would accept electronic signatures on transmissions and other recordable documents, provided they meet the practice requirements of the HMLR.