Are electronic signatures legally binding?

Yes, for most business agreements in the UK, the European Union and the United States: each has a law that stops a signature being refused just because it is electronic. Each also has exceptions, documents that need a witness, a notary or a particular kind of signature, and they differ, so they are listed below for each.

The UK

The law.

• The Electronic Communications Act 2000, section 7. An electronic signature, and a certificate about it, "shall each be admissible in evidence in relation to any question as to the authenticity of the communication or data or as to the integrity of the communication or data." Read section 7.
• The UK's version of the eIDAS Regulation, Article 25. "An electronic signature shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings solely on the grounds that it is in an electronic form or that it does not meet the requirements for qualified electronic signatures." A qualified electronic signature "shall have the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature." It came into UK law through the Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions Regulations 2016 and stayed after the UK left the EU. Read Article 25.
• The Law Commission's report, Electronic Execution of Documents (Law Com No 386, 2019). "An electronic signature is capable in law of being used to execute a document (including a deed) provided that (i) the person signing the document intends to authenticate the document and (ii) any formalities relating to execution of that document are satisfied." Read about the report.

What needs more in England and Wales.

• Deeds. A deed signed by an individual must be signed "in the presence of a witness who attests the signature" (Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, section 1). The Law Commission's view is that the witness must be physically present, even when both people sign electronically.
• Wills. A will must be signed or acknowledged "in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time" (Wills Act 1837, section 9). The temporary rule that allowed witnessing by video ended on 31 January 2024.
• Lasting powers of attorney. GOV.UK says of the forms: "They cannot sign copies or use digital signatures." Make a lasting power of attorney.
• Land Registry documents. HM Land Registry accepts electronically signed deeds only through a conveyancer's signing platform, with a one-time code and a witness physically present, or with qualified electronic signatures (Practice Guide 82).

The Law Commission's report covers England and Wales. The 2000 Act and the eIDAS rules apply across the UK, but Scotland has its own rules on formal documents, so check what your document needs if you are signing under Scots law.

The European Union

The law. The eIDAS Regulation, Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, Article 25, uses the same words as the UK's version: an electronic signature "shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings solely on the grounds that it is in an electronic form", and a qualified one "shall have the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature." The 2024 amendments to eIDAS left those two paragraphs as they were.

Three levels. Article 3 defines them:

• Simple: "data in electronic form which is attached to or logically associated with other data in electronic form and which is used by the signatory to sign." A typed name, a drawn signature or a click. This is what Paraph provides.
• Advanced: a signature that meets the requirements of Article 26: uniquely linked to the signer, capable of identifying them, made with data under their sole control, and linked to the document so that a change is detectable.
• Qualified: an advanced signature made with a qualified signature creation device and based on a qualified certificate from a trust service provider.

Where each country decides. eIDAS "does not affect Union or national law related to the conclusion and validity of contracts, other legal or procedural obligations relating to form" (Article 2(3)). So each member state still sets its own form rules for some documents. The e-Commerce Directive, Article 9(2), lists the kinds of contract member states may keep out of electronic contracting: contracts that create or transfer rights in property (except rentals), contracts that by law need a court, a public authority or a notary, guarantees given by consumers, and family and succession law. Check the rules of the country whose law governs your document.

The United States

The law. The federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN), 15 U.S.C. § 7001, says a signature, contract or other record "may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form." Every state except New York has also adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), which says much the same in state law; Illinois, the last before New York, did so on 25 June 2021 (Public Act 102-0038, SB2176). New York has its own statute instead, the Electronic Signatures and Records Act: "The use of an electronic signature shall have the same validity and effect as the use of a signature affixed by hand" (New York State Technology Law, section 304).

What ESIGN leaves out. 15 U.S.C. § 7003 excludes:

• wills, codicils and testamentary trusts;
• adoption, divorce and other family law matters;
• the Uniform Commercial Code, other than sections 1-107 and 1-206 and Articles 2 and 2A;
• court orders, notices and official court documents;
• notices of cutting off utility services; of default, foreclosure or eviction on someone's home; of cancelling health or life insurance; and of product recalls that risk health or safety;
• documents that must travel with hazardous materials.

State law can add its own requirements, so check the state whose law governs your document.

What Paraph provides

Paraph provides simple electronic signatures, the kind all three recognise for most business agreements. It doesn't provide advanced or qualified signatures, and it doesn't check anyone's identity: it checks that each signer controls the email address the document was sent to.

What it does provide is the evidence. Every document gets an audit trail of who was asked to sign, when each person opened the link, agreed to sign electronically and signed, and from which IP address and browser, and a completion certificate that prints a SHA-256 fingerprint of the signed file so anyone can check it hasn't changed. What an audit trail proves, and what it doesn't explains both.

Related

• When do you need a wet signature or a witness?

• What an audit trail proves, and what it doesn't

• How to check a signed PDF hasn't been changed