Much can be found regarding the best e-signature online app. However, many individuals and companies are still confused about the legality of electronic documents and the legal impact of using an electronic signature. Therefore, we would like to discuss electronic signature online solutions. Moreover, we will also focus on the effectiveness of the best E-signature online app to make the documents legally binding.
Everything in this world has been digitalized, and people love to use technology while performing their routine tasks. It means that technology is the new norm of the modern world. Automation of business functions, online shopping, and IoT have changed the whole concept of living on this earth. Everything around us is digital, and we can estimate that the future belongs to it. One of the most appreciated technologies that have become popular is to utilize digital signature online PDF and Word documents to prepare contracts and present them in courts as legal proof.
However, many people think that easiness while preparing these documents online creates concerns in the minds of individuals and companies. If they find such documents, they raise questions immediately. To address all these concerns, we have planned to discuss the legal status of the thee-signature online app.
So, let us start!
Explaining e-signature
Just like the wet and conventional signatures, you can also use the option of signing documents online to sign documents. In this way, you only need to click a few times or implement your signatures on a digital document via a keyboard and mouse. In this way, sometimes, the documents become legal. However, the chances are there that the weakness of the app may become a hurdle to make these documents legally binding. It depends on some specific factors that we are discussing in detail here:
What makes digital signature online legal?
The above discussion has definitely create some doubts about the legality of electronic signatures online. It is good. The reason is that only customized and standard E-Signature solutions help you achieve the target of legalization. It will help you select only those digital signature online solutions that can make the document legal.
According to the statistics, you can use the best online signature app in the United States, Canada, more than 30 European countries, and many Asian countries without any confusion. These signatures are consider equal to conventional inked signatures in all the courts in these specific countries. However, the legal status of these solutions depends on some specific elements. These elements are those that you need to prove in courts.
Here are all these three elements!
#1 WHO: It means that you need to answer who has signed the documents
It is a must to verify the identity of the signers in the courts. Digital signature solution providers use several techniques to verify the individual’s identity. Here, it is necessary to mention that only digital signature online solutions can address court concerns more effectively. For that, these solutions use cryptographic technology, electronic ID, SMS, and email verifications to validate the documents. We also want to mention that stricter solutions can provide higher security. Therefore, these solutions keep you secure legally as well.
Top electronic signature solutions also offer an audit trail feature. It helps verify the timings, location, device, and intent of the signer. For that, it collects all the data during the signing process by recording everything related to the signing process. Some may say that these identifications cannot be 100% accurate. Still, these records are authentic and can make your documents legal in the eyes of the courts and arbitrators.
#2 WHAT AND INTENT: It is the confirmation that the signer has intent and information about what he is signing
Another important aspect in this regard is to check the intent of the signers. It means that the signers must be inform about the document content and are intentionally signing the document. He knows what is in the document and has the intent to accept the document. He must also inform that this document is legally binding.
It is the time when we want to mention that contract content and signers’ intent matter a lot in making the document legally binding. Content has great value in this regard. The reason is that the change in content means that a new contract has been developed. It means that the new wording will be considered a new contract, and the signers of the previous document will need to sign the document again after reading the content. If you have not follow this system, you may face legal circumstances that can damage you financially. The best E-signature online app have fulfill this gap by intimating all the stakeholders if there is any change in the document during the signing process. We recommend using these apps to keep the contract content intact and unchange during the signing process.
#3 INTEGRITY: The documents must not be tempered or changed once the signing process is complete
Document integrity becomes more important at the final stage. It is because this stage determines the legality of documents that are electronically signed. It means that the document must be intact after the signing process, and no one must try to temper or modify it.
Using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the most significant aspect of digital signature online solutions. The reason is that PKI improves the integrity and security of electronically signed documents. In this way, your documents get hashed by using a key feature of asymmetric encryption key pair. These solutions consider this hash value as your fingerprint for your electronically signed documents. These hashed documents are unique that helps protect document integrity.
Once someone tries to change the content even slightly, the best e-signature online app will create a totally new hash value. It is the confirmation that someone has change the content, and this document cannot be consider an electronically signed document. So, even a slight change in the form of placing or removing a comma and change the spacing can create questions on the sanctity of the document.
What are the qualifications to make the documents legally binding by using an e-signature?
The above discussion has confirm that all electronic signatures do not qualify for making the contract legally binding. It means that only taking a picture of your wet signatures or signing on screen cannot resolve the issue. The reason is that these types of signatures do not provide any legal evidence to the courts. Any unauthentic person can use your signature after making a picture of it.
Legally, you need to provide proof through which you can confirm that the signers are genuine people, and no one change the document after signing.
Laws and regulation defined by the governments for electronic signatures
Here, it is necessary to mention that electronic Identification, Authentication, and Trust Services (eIDAS) are the regulations that the European Union has develop after deep consideration and research. The same level of laws has also been implement in the United States with the ESIGN Act. Both these acts are considered the best ones to follow and implement with slight changes according to the local and regional requirements. The United States of America, the United Kingdom, around 30 European countries, and about 70 more countries of Latin America, Asia, Australia, and Africa have develop these laws and regulations. In this way, you can use electronic signature online solutions to prepare contracts while working with multinational and local companies in almost all the major countries globally.
