Every business owner signs various commercial documents each year. Twenty years ago, most contract signatures occurred on a physical document sent to the other party by post. Nowadays, however, an increasingly large number of commercial agreements involve using an electronic signature and email delivery. This article will explore the increasing trend of electronic signatures within commercial contracts and whether these signatures are legally binding on the parties involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A commercial contract is a written agreement between businesses recording the terms of a commercial deal. The more complex and valuable the commercial arrangement, the longer the document will likely need to be. Naturally, it is vital to ensure that any commercial contract is correctly signed as they are only binding absent a valid signature in limited circumstances under English law. Let us consider how electronic transactions work and whether electronic signatures create legally binding commercial contracts in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The broad definition would be a digital signature, including any signatures entered through an electronic device. So, for reference, a scanned version of a printed document with a physical signature is not an electronic signature (but a scanned version of a physical copy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There tend to be three main methods of electronic signatures:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a personal level, the author tends to sign documents through an electronic signature platform on a smartphone. Some tablets and smartphones enable you to use a stylus to sign simple contracts more naturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Continue reading this article below the form\n <\/i>\n<\/a>\n