With the advancement in technology, the document has been signing quite an at ease. Even if you are living a world apart, signing a document is not a hassle anymore. How ? well, electronic signatures have got your back for this question. E-signatures are now widely accepted to finalize a document in Australia, as it has made work more efficient, quick, and streamlined.
How does electronic signature work?
In Australia, an electronic signature is usually used to sign documents electronically rather than using pen and paper, which is also known as wet signatures. Parties who have to sign then mutually decide whether it’s appropriate to sign the document electronically or not.
The electronic signature has the following requirements:
- It should represent a person’s name or mark.
- It should represent the person’s agreement to the terms and conditions in the document
- It must be in the appropriate place on the document
But legal enforceability of electronic signatures is still a question. The Electronic Transaction Act 1999 (ETA) in Australia ensures that E-signatures are considered valid in the eyes of the law. ETA refers to the law made by or that comes under the authority of the Australian Government Parliament. But it also has some exceptions. Here are some of the essential things that need to know regarding the legal binding of electronic signatures.
The validity of E-signatures:
E-signatures are recognized under the international and Australian law as having the same effect as a wet signature when they subject to the following qualifications given by the Electronic Transactions (Queensland) Act 2001:
- There should be consent by the recipient to receive information electronically.
- The sender and receiver must identify their identities.
- The method should be reliable and appropriate for electronic communication. Signor’s identity must be self-evident in some manner or the other.
Exceptions to the validity of E-signatures:
There are some exceptions to the Electronic Transactions Act, which are outline in the Electronic Transactions Regulations 2000 and these exceptions include the documentation regarding citizenship and immigration, Power of attorney, court documents, wills, or some real estate transactions. However, a typical business transaction does not usually consider any of these exceptions, making E-signatures acceptable. Modern Electronic signatures have encoding and encryption for security, along with a platform to track the signature or identity of the signee.
How can grabsign help you?
Grabsign is an Australian Electronic and Digital signature solution provider that provides e-signatures customer services around Australia. As we are well aware of electronic signatures rules all over Australia, we give software services for electronic signatures. Security and compliance is the foremost requirement for any work to happen efficiently. Grabsign has an infrastructure that ensures, e-signature is aligning with Australian law.