What is an e-signature?

Courts and regulators care less about the technology than about whether the act reliably records the signer's intention and links them to the document. What a good e-signing process adds is evidence: the signed document itself, an audit trail recording the signer's identity, timestamps, IP and device data and each action taken, and authentication steps such as email confirmation, an SMS one-time code or identity verification against ID documents. Tamper-evidence, such as a sealed PDF, shows the document was not altered after signing.

Simpler methods (a typed name, a scanned signature) create little of this metadata. Advanced methods add authentication and an audit trail, and certificate-based digital signatures add cryptographic proof. The sensible approach is to match the evidence to the risk: a routine purchase order can use a simple e-signature, while finance contracts, security documents and deeds call for an advanced or certificate-based method.

The Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) and matching state and territory laws broadly allow information and signatures to be given electronically, so a transaction is not invalid simply because it was done electronically. The Evidence Acts govern how electronic records are admitted and weighed in court. Statute removes the formal barriers, but the ordinary rules of contract (offer, acceptance, intention) still decide whether a signed document is binding.

For an e-signature to hold up, four things need to be true: the parties consented to dealing electronically (expressly or by their conduct), the signer intended to be bound, the method was reliable for the type of transaction, and the document's integrity was maintained afterwards. Where those elements are present, courts generally enforce e-signed contracts, and an audit trail, identity verification records and tamper-evidence strengthen the position in any dispute.

Some statutory and sector-specific rules still require physical signatures or specific witnessing: wills and probate documents in some jurisdictions, powers of attorney, certain conveyancing instruments and land registry forms, negotiable instruments, some court filings and affidavits, and some deeds and statutory declarations. Where a sector rule differs from the general electronic transactions framework, the sector rule prevails, so the registry, court or agency rules for that document need to be checked first.

Signed contracts and their audit logs also need to be kept for the statutory retention periods that apply to tax and corporate records, and for as long as a claim could arise. That means storing integrity markers, encrypting records, limiting access, handling identity documents and biometric data in line with privacy law, and keeping logs of who accessed or exported a document. Retention periods come from the tax and corporate record keeping rules the ATO and ASIC administer, and credit licensees have their own record keeping obligations, so check what applies to the document.