Many countries around the world have enacted and legally recognized e-documents, e-signatures, and e-contracts. eformsign is a global e-contract service that supports three languages (English, Japanese, and Korean) and can be used all around the world. eformsign proudly serves customers in more than 98 countries worldwide. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that e-contract and e-signature laws differ across nations. For this reason, we strongly advise seeking the guidance of a legal professional specialized in the relevant country and industry before using our e-contract service.
💡 International E-signature Laws
Below, we’ve outlined the e-signature laws in key countries where eformsign serves its customers. It’s crucial to understand that, even within the framework of a specific e-signature law, there are nuances. Some types of contracts may not hold legal recognition, while others mandate specific processes and technologies. Hence, when engaging in contracts in a country, it’s crucial to familiarize yourself with the specific e-signature laws and regulations of that jurisdiction, ensuring compliance and smooth transactions across borders. This is because the documents users send for signature requests are important business documents such as contracts, applications, and agreements.
1. United States
In the United States, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) of 1999 and the Electronic Signature in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) of 2000 established the legal validity of electronic signatures that meet specific criteria, equating them to traditional wet-ink signatures. While there are exceptions for documents like deeds and wills, e-signatures hold the same recognition to wet-ink signatures at both federal and state levels.
2. European Union
Since 2016, the European Union has embraced electronic signatures as legally valid through the Electronic Identification and Trust Services (eIDAS) regulation. This milestone empowers EU member states to utilize e-signatures for critical documents like contracts, facilitating seamless international transactions without the burden of extensive verification processes.
3. China
China has established legal recognition for e-signatures through the Electronic Signature Law of the People’s Republic of China. This has fueled a swift expansion in the e-signature market, supported by government initiatives to integrate e-signatures into administrative processes and public websites. However, the reliance on traditional paper documents persists. To ensure the legal enforceability of a contract, concrete proof is essential. It’s crucial to exercise caution when utilizing e-signatures, as they may not carry the same weight as handwritten signatures in the eyes of the Chinese law.
4. Hong Kong
Electronic signatures hold legal validity in Hong Kong, governed by the Electronic Transactions Ordinance. They wield equivalent legal power to traditional handwritten signatures in both business and consumer contracts. However, it’s important to note that specific circumstances or government-related transactions may necessitate a notarized signature or proof of contract from a recognized certificate authority.
5. Japan
Since 2000, Japan has legally recognized the use of electronic signatures through the Electronic Signatures and Certification Business Act. The government actively promotes e-signatures to drive digital transformation and treats them as equivalent to traditional handwritten signatures in most contexts. However, exceptions exist for specific scenarios such as government transactions, notarizations, wills, and real estate dealings.
6. Singapore
In Singapore, the Electronic Transaction Act (ETA) firmly establishes that information is not denied of its validity merely because it is in the form of an electronic record. The government actively promotes the adoption of e-transactions, e-documents, and e-signatures by businesses. However, it’s crucial to exercise caution when utilizing e-signatures. They must adhere to specific criteria to validate one’s identity. It’s worth noting that e-signatures are not legally recognized for wills, real estate contracts, and similar documents.
In addition to the above, many countries around the world recognize the legality of e-signatures. Customers around the world have adopted eformsign as the e-contract service of their choice and use it for documents that require signatures both inside and outside the company.
However, since the legal effects and regulations of e-signatures in each country are changing rapidly, we recommend that you consult a legal expert before using eformsign for contracts for cross-border transactions.
💡 What Makes eformsign Stand Out
What sets eformsign apart, attracting customers from 98 diverse countries? We went straight to our customers for the answers. The primary factors that led them to choose eformsign were our unique features, unavailable elsewhere, and our competitive pricing.
eformsign goes beyond collecting signatures for documents and storing them on the Cloud. Drawing on 27 years of expertise in the e-document industry, it offers a seamless and user-friendly e-contract service.
1) Microsoft Add-in and Excel Functions Integrations
In addition to creating e-documents and utilizing e-signature features online, eformsign has the advantage of being able to create e-documents directly within MS Office programs. After downloading and installing the Microsoft Office add-in, you can design forms and add fields in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word which can be transformed into electronic documents with just a few clicks.
Many of our customers around the globe highly value our Microsoft Office add-in. It offers a significant advantage, enabling them to effortlessly edit documents, add fields, and seamlessly integrate with Excel functions and formulas.
As many of the formulas and functions in Excel can be used in creating e-documents in eformsign, it makes transforming complex documents into e-documents a breeze, improving work productivity.
| Excel formulas and functions supported in eformsign Formulas: Arithmetic and sign, cell references, etc. Functions : Logical, trigonometric, statistical, string manipulation, search, and matrix functions (IF, SUM, LEFT, MID, RIGHT, MATCH, VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP) |
2) Handwriting Feature
The handwriting feature is powered by the OZ e-Form technology, which is the engine eformsign is built on. It’s a very convenient way for users looking to handwrite electronically, as the AI technology automatically recognizes handwritten input and converts it to text.
*This is a premium feature that requires template development and is only offered to premium customers. Please contact us to use this feature.
One of eformsign’s customers, a non-profit organization in Singapore, has gone beyond the traditional paper documents by transforming intake applications and consultation logs into e-documents, all while filling them in by hand as you would with paper documents using eformsign’s handwriting feature. This resulted in improved employee productivity and satisfaction as they can now create, submit, store, and manage documents with just a tablet.
3) Price Competitiveness
Compared to competing e-contract services, eformsign offers a lot of features at a reasonable cost. eformsign provides all users with advanced features that other services only offer in their premium plans. As well, API integrations are free to use with any of eformsign’s team plans, whereas other companies charge extra.
Moreover, unlike competing services who only offer monthly subscription plans, eformsign offers prepaid top-up plans, in addition to monthly subscription plans. This allows customers whose usage fluctuates month to month with the ability to choose a plan that makes sense for their needs.
Above all, when compared to competing services, eformsign is a more reliable e-contract service with international certifications such as ISO27001 and a holder of the AWS Certified Software Badge.
FORCS is a prominent e-document company based in Korea, making strides in its global expansion, with established offices in Japan and Singapore. Stay tuned as we bring you a range of informative content on e-documents and e-signatures in the coming months!
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