Electronic signatures and law

Worldwide, legislation concerning the effect and validity of electronic signatures, including, but not limited to, cryptographic digital signatures, includes:

Argentina

• Ley Nº 25.506 (B.O. 14/12/2001).
• Decreto Nº 2628/02 (B.O. 20/12/2002).
• Decreto N° 724/06 (B.O. 13/06/06).
• Decisión Administrativa N° 927/14 (B.O. 03/11/14).

Bermuda

• Electronic Transactions Act 1999
• Certification Service Providers (Relevant Criteria and Security Guidelines) Regulations 2002

Brazil

• Medida provisória 2.200-2 (Portuguese) - Brazilian law states that any digital document is valid for the law if it is certified by ICP-Brasil (the official Brazilian PKI) or if it is certified by other PKI and the concerned parties agree as to the validity of the document.

Canada

• PIPEDA - Canadian law distinguishes between the generic "electronic signature" and the "secure electronic signature". Federal secure electronic signature regulations make it clear that a secure electronic signature is a digital signature created and verified in a specific manner. Canada's Evidence Act contains evidentiary presumptions about both the integrity and validity of electronic documents with attached secure electronic signatures, and of the authenticity of the secure electronic signatures themselves.

China

• Electronic Signature Law of the People's Republic of China (Chinese/English) - The stated purposes include standardizing the conduct of electronic signatures, confirming the legal validity of electronic signatures and safeguarding the legal interests of parties involved in such matters.

Colombia

• LEY 527 DE 1999 (agosto 18) por medio de la cual se define y reglamenta el acceso y uso de los mensajes de datos, del comercio electrónico y de las firmas digitales, y se establecen las entidades de certificación y se dictan otras disposiciones.
• DECRETO 2364 DE 2012 (Noviembre 22) por medio del cual se reglamenta el artículo 7° de la Ley 527 de 1999, sobre la firma electrónica y se dictan otras disposiciones.

European Union and the European Economic Area

The eIDAS regulation.^[1][2][3]

In the EU, electronic signatures and related trust services are regulated by the Regulation (EU) N°910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS Regulation). This regulation was adopted by the Council of the European Union on 23 July 2014. It became effective on 1 July and repealed the Electronic Signatures Directive 1999/93/EC. At the same date, any laws of EU member states that were inconsistent with eIDAS were also automatically repealed, replaced or modified. In contract to the aforementioned directive (which allowed the EU member states to interpret it and transpose it to their own law) the eIDAS Regulation is directly effective in all member states.

Ghana

• The Electronic Transactions Act of Ghana, Act 772 of 2008

Guatemala

• Ley para el Reconocimiento de las Comunicaciones y Firmas Electrónicas (in Spanish)

India

• Information Technology Act, 2000

Indonesia

• Pasal 12 Undang-undang No.11 Tahun 2008 Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik (in Indonesian)

Japan

• Law Concerning Electronic Signatures and Certification Services, 2000 (in Japanese)

Korea

• Digital Signature Act in english (PDF), 1999-2008
• Digital Signature Act in Korean

Malaysia

• Digital Signature Act (Act 562), 1997 (in Bahasa Malaysia).
• Digital Signature Act (Act 562), 1997 (in English).
• Digital Signature Regulations (P.U.(A) 359), 1998 (in Bahasa Malaysia).
• Digital Signature Regulations (P.U.(A) 359), 1998 (in English).

México

• Law of Electronic Signatures (LFEA), 2012 (in Spanish)

Moldova

• Lege cu privire la documentul electronic şi semnătura digitală, July 15, 2004 (in Romanian)
• Law about Electronic Document and Digital Signature (in Russian)

New Zealand

• Electronic Transactions Act 2002, sections 22-24

For an overview of the New Zealand law refer: - The Laws of New Zealand, Electronic Transactions, paras 16-18; or - Commercial Law, paras 8A.7.1-8A.7.4. (these sources are available on the LexisNexis subscription-only website)

Peru

• Ley Nº 27269. Ley de Firmas y Certificados Digitales (28MAY2000) (in Spanish)

Philippines

• Electronic Commerce Act of 2000

Russian Federation

• Federal Law of Russian Federation about Electronic Signature (06.04.2011)

Singapore

• Electronic Transactions Act

South Africa

• Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (PDF)

Switzerland

• Federal Law on Certification Services Concerning the Electronic Signature, 2003

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

• UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Signatures (2001), a strong influence in the field.

United States

• Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
• Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN), at 15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq. The law permits the use of electronic signatures in many situations, and preempts many state laws that would otherwise limit the use of electronic signatures.

Uruguay

Uruguay laws include both, electronic and digital signatures:

• Concerning passwords or adequate information technology gestures
• Concerning electronic and digital signature and PKI

Turkey

Turkey has an Electronic Signature Law TBMM.gov.tr since 2004. This law is stated in European Union Directive 1999/93/EC. Turkey has a Government Certificate Authority - Kamu SM for all government agents for their internal use and three independent certificate authorities all of which are issuing qualified digital signatures.

• Kamu Sertifikasyon Merkezi (Governmental Certificate Authority) Kamusm.gov.tr (in Turkish)
• E-Güven (owned by Turkish Informatics Foundation) E-guven.com (in Turkish)
• Turktrust (owned by Turkish Military Force Solidarity Foundation) Turktrust.com.tr (in Turkish) ^[4][5][6][7]
• E-Tugra E-tugra.com (in Turkish)

References

• In re Piranha, Inc. WL 21468504 (N.D. Tex. 2003). Google Scholar.
• Cloud Corp. v. Hasbro, Inc. 314 F. 3d 289 (US: Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, 2002). Google Scholar.
• Legal framework (France: Chambersign France).

Further reading

• Srivastava Aashish, Electronic Signatures for B2B Contracts: Evidence from Australia (Springer, 2013).
• Lorna Brazell, Electronic Signatures Law and Regulation, (Sweet & Maxwell, 2004).
• J. Buckley, J. Kromer, M. Tank, R. Whitaker, The Law of Electronic Signatures, 2014-2015 Edition (Thomson Reuters, 2014).* Dennis Campbell, editor, E-Commerce and the Law of Digital Signatures (Oceana Publications, 2005).
• Stephen Mason (2016). Electronic Signatures in Law (4th ed.). Institute of Advanced Legal Studies for the SAS Humanities Digital Library, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Free PDF download.
• M. H. M Schellenkens, Electronic Signatures Authentication Technology from a Legal Perspective, (TMC Asser Press, 2004).