Signing electronically explained - the new era

Some time ago, we released our article Signing Electronically Explained, which considered signing electronically during the pandemic and the efforts that each State and Territory in Australia was making to permit the execution of important documents electronically. This was, of course, to avoid the need for physical meetings with witnesses, finding scanning facilities, postage and handling.

Significant steps forward have been made since then, and it is now time to provide an update outlining what the position is now, which will likely be the situation for some time going forward.

The key takeaways are:

1. There is a difference between exchanging a document that has been signed in wet ink electronically (for example by fax or email) and signing using an electronic signature or digital signature.