The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN, ) is a United States federal law passed by the U.S. Congress to facilitate the use of electronic records and electronic signature

Electronic signature

An electronic signature, or e-signature, is any electronic means that indicates either that a person adopts the contents of an electronic message, or more broadly that the person who claims to have written a message is the one who wrote it . By comparison, a signature is a stylized script...

s in interstate and foreign commerce by ensuring the validity and legal effect of contract

Contract

A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

s entered into electronically. In 2010, both Houses of Congress passed a resolution at the request of industry leaders, recognizing June 30 as "National ESIGN Day."

Although every state has at least one law pertaining to electronic signature

Electronic signature

An electronic signature, or e-signature, is any electronic means that indicates either that a person adopts the contents of an electronic message, or more broadly that the person who claims to have written a message is the one who wrote it . By comparison, a signature is a stylized script...

s, it is the federal law that lays out the guidelines for interstate commerce. The general intent of the ESIGN Act is spelled out in the very first section(101.a), that a contract or signature “may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form”. This simple statement provides that electronic signatures and records are just as good as their paper equivalents, and therefore subject to the same legal scrutiny of authenticity

Authentication

Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...

 that applies to paper documents.

Sections from the ESIGN Act

ESIGN Act Sec 106 definitions:

(2) ELECTRONIC- The term `electronic' means form; and

(2) a contract relating to such transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because an electronic signature or electronic record was used in its formation.

Consumer Disclosure

Section 101 of the ESIGN Act, sub-section (b), preserves the rights of individuals to NOT USE electronic signatures. Here the law provides that individuals reserve the right to use a paper signature. Sub-section (c) is in direct support of (b) by requiring a “Consumer Disclosure” that the signatory has consented to use an electronic format.

Section 101(c)(1)(C) states that the consumer also "consent electronically, in a manner that reasonably demonstrates that the consumer can access information in the electronic form that will be used to provide the information that is the subject of the consent"

Retention of contracts and records

Section 101(d) provides that if a law requires that a business retain a record of a transaction, the business satisfies the requirement by retaining an electronic record, as long as the record "accurately reflects" the substance of the contract and is "accessible" to people who are entitled to access it "in a form that is capable of being accurately reproduced for later reference, whether by transmission, printing or otherwise."

See also

• Browse wrap
  Browse wrap
  Browse-wrap is a term used in Internet law to refer to a contract or license agreement covering access to or use of materials on a web site. Specifically, a browse-wrap license is expected or assumed to have been agreed to before a user browses the website...
  
  
• Clickwrap
  Clickwrap
  A clickwrap agreement is a common type of agreement often used in connection with software licenses. Such forms of agreement are mostly found on the Internet, as part of the installation process of many software packages, or in other circumstances where agreement is sought using electronic media...
  
  
• Electronic signature
  Electronic signature
  An electronic signature, or e-signature, is any electronic means that indicates either that a person adopts the contents of an electronic message, or more broadly that the person who claims to have written a message is the one who wrote it . By comparison, a signature is a stylized script...
  
  
• SAFE-BioPharma Association (SAFE)
• Shrink wrap contract
  Shrink wrap contract
  Shrink wrap contracts are license agreements or other terms and conditions of a contractual nature which can only be read and accepted by the consumer after opening the product. The term describes the shrinkwrap plastic wrapping used to coat software boxes, though these contracts are not limited...
  
  
• Title 21 CFR Part 11
  Title 21 CFR Part 11
  Title 21 CFR Part 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations deals with the Food and Drug Administration guidelines on electronic records and electronic signatures in the United States...
  
  
• Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
  Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
  The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act is one of the several United States Uniform Acts proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws . Since then 47 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted it into their own laws...
  
  

External links

• The eSign effect (dead link).Archive.org copy
• Consumer Consent Provision