Skip to content
PDFBetter
Upload

E-signature legality

Are electronic signatures legal? Mostly — with exceptions.

In most countries an electronic signature is valid for everyday contracts. Wills, some property and family documents, and court filings are common exceptions. Each country page names the law, links to it, and lists what it excludes.

Close-up of a hand signing on the signature line of a printed agreement

14 jurisdictions

Pick a country

Evidence, from the signer's side

What a signer sees when you send with PDFBetter

Before the document opens, the signer can be asked for a code emailed to them, then reads the full consumer disclosure and agrees to use electronic records — or chooses paper or declines. Their signature goes only into the fields assigned to them, their own key, created in their browser and never leaving their device, signs a statement of exactly what they entered, and each step is recorded in the audit trail.

Real screens on a phone. Sample content; names are fictional.

Three levels

Simple, advanced and qualified signatures

Most laws accept the first level for ordinary agreements. The EU's eIDAS Regulation (No 910/2014) defines all three; other countries use similar ideas under different names.

  1. 1

    Simple electronic signature (SES)

    Any electronic mark that shows you agree: a typed name, a drawn signature, a click on “I agree”. In the US (ESIGN Act, UETA) and the EU (eIDAS) it can’t be refused just because it’s electronic. Its weight in a dispute depends on the evidence of who signed and when.

    What PDFBetter provides

  2. 2

    Advanced electronic signature (AdES)

    An EU category (eIDAS art. 26): the signature is uniquely linked to and identifies the signer, is under their sole control, and is bound to the document so later changes are detectable. PDFBetter signature requests are designed to these technical requirements: a unique key per signer, under their sole control, linked to the document so any change is detectable. Signers are identified by email (and an optional emailed code), not by ID documents or SMS.

  3. 3

    Qualified electronic signature (QES)

    An advanced signature made with a qualified signature-creation device and a qualified certificate from a trust service provider on an EU trusted list. Under eIDAS it has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature in every EU member state.

    Not offered by PDFBetter

What PDFBetter records

Every signer’s own key. Every PDF sealed.

Every signer signs with their own cryptographic key: their browser generates a key that never leaves the device and signs a statement binding the document’s SHA-256 fingerprint to exactly what they entered, and PDFBetter’s certificate authority certifies it. Every completed PDF and its certificate of completion are digitally sealed and independently time-stamped, so changing one byte shows in PDF readers. The evidence — signed statements, device signatures, certificates and a hash-chained audit trail — is built into the file and kept for 7 years.

Signature requests are designed to the technical requirements of an advanced electronic signature (eIDAS art. 26): a unique key per signer, under their sole control, linked to the document so any change is detectable. Signers are identified by email (and an optional emailed code), not by ID documents or SMS, phone or knowledge-based questions. They are not qualified electronic signatures, and the seal comes from PDFBetter’s own certificate authority, which Acrobat does not yet trust by default (change detection still works). If a document legally requires a qualified signature, a notary or wet ink, use that instead.

Request signaturesHow the audit trail works