Many states and

legal jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the Right, legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple l ...

s have adopted

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

concerning the validity and effects of

electronic signature An electronic signature, or e-signature, is data that is logically associated with other data and which is used by the signatory to sign the associated data. This type of signature has the same legal standing as a handwritten signature as long as ...

s, including cryptographic digital signatures. Article 7 of the

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) (French language, French: ''Commission des Nations Unies pour le droit commercial international (CNUDCI)'') is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly, U.N. Gene ...

's ''Model Law on Electronic Commerce'' addresses electronic signatures, providing wording intended to harmonise legal provisions in their field in order to promote international trade, and the Commission's ''Model Law on Electronic Signatures'' (2001) is a strong influence in this field. Examples of legislation by state or jurisdiction include:

Argentina

Ley Nº 25.506
(B.O. 14/12/2001).

(B.O. 20/12/2002).

(B.O. 13/06/06).

(B.O. 03/11/14).

Bermuda

eSignature technology and electronic document solutions

Brazil

- 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 another PKI and the concerned parties agree as to the validity of the document.

Canada

*Under the

Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act The ''Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act'' (PIPEDA; ) is a Canadian law relating to data privacy. It governs how private sector organizations collect, use and disclose personal information in the course of commercial bu ...

2000 (PIPEDA), Canadian law distinguishes between the generic "electronic signature" and a "secure electronic signature". Federa
secure electronic signature regulations
make it clear that a secure electronic signature is a digital signature created and verified in a specific manner. *Canada'
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. This law was revised on 23 April 2019 with immediate effect. The revision involves the deletion of the reference to land conveyancing transactions in Article 3, which provides for types of transaction exempted from the law. Accordingly, land conveyancing agreements can now be executed electronically.

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.Decree 333 of 2014
regulates accreditation procedures for Certification Entities, who certify digital signatures.

European Union and the European Economic Area

Before eIDAS

European Union (EU) Directive establishing the framework for electronic signatures:
Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 13 December 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures. This Directive was repealed on 1 July 2016 and superseded by the

eIDAS The eIDAS Regulation (for "electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services") is an regulation (European Union), EU regulation with the stated purpose of governing "electronic identification and trust service provider, trust service ...

regulation (see its article 48).
Commission Decision 2003/511/EC
adopting three CEN Workshop Agreements as technical standards presumed to be in accordance with the Directive * Implementing laws: Several countries have already implemented the Directive 1999/93/EC. ** Austria **
Signature Law, 2000
** Belgium **
Signature Law, 2001
** Czech Republic **
Act on Electronic Signatures, 227/2000
** Denmark **
Lov om elektroniske signaturer
** England, Scotland and Wales (see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...

) ** Estonia *** Digital signature in Estonia **
Digital Signature Law, 2000
(in Estonian). **

** Finland *** ttps://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2009/617 Laki vahvasta sähköisestä tunnistamisesta ja sähköisistä allekirjoituksista, 2009(in Finnish) ** France **
Articles 1363-1368 of the Civil Code
(French) ** Germany **

** Greece **
Presidential Decree 150/2001
(in Greek) ** Hungary **
Hungarian Act on Electronic Signatures 2001
** Iceland **

** Ireland, Republic of **

** Italy **
Decreto legislativo 7/3/2005, n. 82 (Codice dell'Amministrazione Digitale)
** Latvia **
Electronic Documents Law, 2002
**
Electronic Documents Law, 2002 (in Latvian)
** Lithuania **
Law on electronic signature, 2014 (in Lithuanian)
**
Law on electronic signature, 2002 (in English, not relevant in law)
** Luxembourg **
Loi du 14 août 2000 relative au commerce électronique, 2000
(in French) ** Malta **
Maltese Electronic Commerce Act 2001, last amended 2005
**Netherlands *

** Norway **

(in Norwegian). **Poland *
act_on_eSignature.pdf
**Portugal ***Directive 1999/93/EC on electronic signatures was implemented by Portuguese Decree-Law 62/2003 of 3 April 2003. This Decree-Law amended Decree-Law 290-D/99 of 2 August 1999, the previous law governing electronic signatures. ** Romania **

**

(unofficial translation) ** Slovakia **
Act no.215/2002 on electronic signature (in Slovak)
** Slovenia **
Electronic Business and Electronic Signature Act (in Slovene)
** Spain **
Ley 6/2020, de 11 de noviembre, reguladora de determinados aspectos de los servicios electrónicos de confianza (in Spanish)
** Sweden *
Qualified Electronic Signatures Act (SFS 2000:832) (in Swedish)
*
SFS 2000:832 in English translation

eIDAS

The

regulation. 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 The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

on 23 July 2014. It became effective on 1 July and repealed the

Electronic Signatures Directive The Electronic Signatures Directive 1999/93/EC was a European Union directive (European Union), directive on the use of electronic signatures (e-signatures) in electronic contracts within the European Union (EU). It was repealed by the eIDAS r ...

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

*Electronic Transactions Act, 2008, sections 10-14, Act 772 of the Ghanaian Parliament.

Guatemala

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

India

Information Technology Act, 2000 The Information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as ITA-2000, or the IT Act) is an Act of the Indian Parliament (No 21 of 2000) notified on 17 October 2000. It is the primary law in India dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce. Secon ...

Indonesia

Art. 12 Law No.11/2008 on Electronic Informations and Transactions
, for general purposes.
Art. 97B Law No. 13/2022 in regards of Second Amendment of Law No. 12/2011 on Law Formulation
(in Indonesian), for government purposes.

Israel

* Electronic Signature Law, 5761–2001

Japan

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

Korea

Digital Signature Act, Act No. 17354, jun. 9, 2020 (in English)
For reference only. No legal or official effect.
Digital Signature Act (in Korean)

Malaysia

(in Bahasa Malaysia).

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

Maldives

Electronic Transactions Act 2/2022
(in Dhivehi)

México

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

Moldova

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

New Zealand

*For an overview of the New Zealand law, see: ::- ''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 th
LexisNexis
subscription-only website)

Peru

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

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

Switzerland

Ukraine

Law On Electronic Digital Signature, 2003
(in Ukrainian), valid until 7 November 2018.
Law On Electronic Trust Services, 2017
(in Ukrainian), valid since 7 November 2018.

United Kingdom

Directive 1999/93/EC on electronic signatures, Commission Decision 2003/511/EC and the

regulation (see

above Above may refer to: *Above (artist) Tavar Zawacki (b. 1981, California) is a Polish, Portuguese - American abstract artist and internationally recognized visual artist based in Berlin, Germany. From 1996 to 2016, he created work under the ...

) applied whilst the UK was a

member state of the European Union The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of Lists of member states of the European Union, 27 member states that are party to the EU's Treaties of the European Union, founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and ...

. Domestic legislation includes:
Electronic Communications Act, 2000

The Electronic Signatures Regulations 2002
A

Law Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

report in 2019 confirmed that the law in England and Wales allows the use of electronic signatures, "both where there is a statutory requirement for a signature and where there is not".

United States

Legislation

Uniform Electronic Transactions Act The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) is one of the several United States Uniform Acts proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL). Forty-nine states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin ...

(UETA) *

Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN, , ) is a United States federal law, passed by the U.S. Congress to facilitate the use of electronic records and electronic signatures in interstate and foreign commerce. T ...

(E-SIGN), a
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.

Case law

Court decisions discussing the effect and validity of digital signatures or digital signature-related legislation: *''In re Piranha, Inc.'', 2003 WL 21468504 (N.D. Tex) ( UETA does not preclude a person from contesting that he executed, adopted, or authorized an electronic signature that is purportedly his). *''Cloud Corp. v. Hasbro'', 314 F.3d 289 ( 7th Circuit, 2002
EMLF.org
( E-SIGN does not apply retroactively to contracts formed before it took effect in 2000. Nevertheless, the

statute of frauds The Statute of Frauds ( 29 Cha. 2. c. 3) (1677) is an act of the Parliament of England. In its original form it required that certain types of contracts, wills, and grants, and assignment or surrender of leases or interest in real property mu ...

was satisfied by the text of E-mail plus an (apparently) written notation.) *''Sea-Land Service, Inc. v. Lozen International'', 285 F.3d 808 (

9th Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

, 2002
Admiraltylawguide.com
(Internal corporate E-mail with signature block, forwarded to a third party by another employee, was admissible over hearsay objection as a party-admission, where the statement was apparently within the scope of the author's and forwarder's employment.)

Uruguay

Uruguay's laws include both electronic and digital signatures:
Concerning passwords or adequate information technology gestures

Concerning electronic and digital signature and PKI

Turkey

Turkey has had an electronic signature Law since 2004. This law is stated in European Union Directive 1999/93/EC. Turkey has
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
* E-Güven (owned by Turkish Informatics Foundation
E-guven.com
* Turktrust (owned by Turkish Military Force Solidarity Foundation
Turktrust.com.tr
* E-Tugr
E-tugra.com

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''
{{Webarchive, url=https://archive.today/20130701153831/http://www.chambersign.fr/en/Legal-framework/ , date=1 July 2013 (France: Chambersign France).