Electronic Signature Law

Electronic signature law looks at laws and regulations that allow you to contract electronically. Signatures include handwritten, electronic, advanced electronic signatures, or digital signatures. Many organisations are taking processes and looking to see how they can do them electronically and automatically. We explore the laws and regulations that may or may not allow for this.

Sign Documents Quickly by doing it Electronically

To sign documents is often a time-consuming and frustrating business. It can take weeks to get a signature from each party on a document. This is often how it plays out: one party prints two copies of a document signs both [...]

Spring Forest Trading v Wilberry | Electronic signatures binding

Is it possible to cancel a contract and to sign it with just the use of emails? In the case of Spring Forest Trading v Wilberry, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal held that electronic signatures were binding and [...]

Electronic signatures and cryptography

Digital signatures, digital certificates, and advanced electronic signatures are all types of electronic signatures that use cryptography to authenticate the identity of the person signing and to secure their electronic signature. They are all very reliable, but they each [...]

By |2022-12-07T11:17:39+02:00January 14th, 2014|Categories: Electronic Signature Law|Tags: , |

Electronic Signature of Credit Agreements

The electronic signature of credit agreements is problematic! Electronic signatures are taking off across all kinds of industries in South Africa. The credit industry is often an early adopter of emerging technologies - and electronic signatures are no exception. Credit [...]

By |2022-12-07T11:13:58+02:00October 21st, 2013|Categories: Electronic Signature Law|Tags: , , |

Do I need the original signed version of agreements

People often ask me whether they need the original signed version of an agreement that they sign as a party to the agreement. The usual situation This is often the situation.  You email a written agreement to someone with whom [...]

By |2022-11-15T20:13:00+02:00January 31st, 2011|Categories: Electronic Signature Law|Tags: |

The role of the certification authority and the ECT Act

Many people have heard the term certification authority or "CA", but are not exactly clear on what it means or what a CA does. In information security and cyberspace, certainty over the identification and authentication of the parties to a [...]

How does the law recognise or define e-signatures?

The ECT Act defines an electronic signature as data attached to, incorporated in, or logically associated with other data and which is intended by the user to serve as a signature. The ECT Act recognises the contractual freedom of parties [...]

By |2019-08-24T11:47:07+02:00August 14th, 2008|Categories: Electronic Signature Law|Tags: |