Are electronic signatures legal?

01 · Read the governing law

Read the governing law

Start with the law the parties named, or the law that applies if they named none. A United States commercial agreement, a European public filing, and an Australian deed can follow different texts. The country guides on this site quote the public rule they cover. They are not a complete map of every exception.

02 · Separate recognition from form

Separate recognition from form

A statute can recognize electronic signatures in general and still require a writing, a witness, or a registry form for one class of document. Wills, some family documents, and some filings are common examples. If the exception applies, do not send that PDF for a standard signature and call the exception solved.

Legal everywhere is not a setting in the product. It is a conclusion about one document under one law.

03 · Do not borrow another country's label

Do not borrow another country's label

Qualified, advanced, and standard are not interchangeable words. A standard signature in the product is the signature a person applies to the PDF in the workspace. It is not a qualified electronic signature, and it is not an ICP-Brasil certificate. Those are different signatures.

• ✓Which law governs this document?
• ✓Does that law allow an electronic signature for this act?
• ✓Is a special form, witness, or notary still required?
• ✓Will we keep the PDF and the completion record together?

04 · Keep the record with the file

Keep the record with the file

If a dispute asks what was signed, the completed PDF and the completion record are the artifacts. The record includes a SHA-256 hash of the final file. This page cannot tell you that a court will accept them. Counsel can explain what the forum usually looks at.

05 · Ask before the first send

Ask before the first send

Have counsel read the document, the parties, and the country guides that match the law you named. Then upload the PDF, place the fields, and send it. Changing the method after people have signed is a new document, not a silent upgrade.