“…that’s a fancy way of saying the signature is valid and cannot be disputed”

E-Signing is legal! On June 30, 2000 the ESIGN Act was signed and on October 1, 2000 it went into effect. That means we’ve been legally able to use and accept signatures for a decade. Even better, the law makes it illegal to for someone to not accept a valid electronic signature simply because it is electronic. At the very beginning of the law it states in Section 101 (a)(1):

“(1) a signature, contract, or other record relating to such transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form;”

(Taken from ESIGN Act)

That means you can legally sign your documents with an e-signature! The question from most people then is how to prove the signature is legal. For most of our customers the discussion around electronic signature over the past 8 years has centered around their internal compliance and legal ability to prove the validity of the signature. A proper e-signature will have an audit trail, document encryption and security, and will be non-repudiable (that’s a fancy way of saying the signature is valid and cannot be disputed).

One of our business partners, DocuSign, has done a great job providing all the information anyone would need in order to make a sound decision about implementing,using and accepting electronic signatures. Here are some of their resources,plus our new white paper on the topic. Contact me if you need more information.

Legality of Electronic Signature – WP_Legality_of_E-Signatures.pdf

E-Sign Vendor Selection Checklist – eSign_Comparison-Checklist.pdf

White Paper: Make Work Flow With E-Signatures - Make_Work_Flow_With_ESign.pdf