Does the electronic contract have legal effect?

Can electronic contracts be used as judicial evidence?

If there is a dispute, how can the court certify the validity of the electronic contract?

Combined with the current national laws and regulations, reliable electronic signatures and electronic contracts not only have the same legal effect as handwritten signatures and paper contracts, but also can be used as court evidence.

But in the judicial decision of the court,

Not all "electronic signature documents" can be used as judicial evidence.

According to the relevant laws and regulations, the court must make a comprehensive evaluation and determination from the aspects of "the generation and signing process of the contract, the way of storage and transmission, and the integrity of the content." In the process of judgment, only electronic signature documents that meet the legal requirements can be used as judicial evidence.

Contract Lock has looked through a large number of court case materials since 20 18, and through the case analysis of "court refusal", it helps us sort out the common points of avoiding pits in electronic contracts:

Note: The following cases are from "China Judgment Document Network". You can view the case details by logging in to the website and searching for the corresponding case number.

1. If the original contract cannot be provided, the court will not recognize it.

(20 19) the Supreme People's Court No.950

The court of first instance held that during the trial, the key evidence "Warrant Agreement" submitted by Company A was a copy and failed to provide the original. Company A further explained that the agreement was signed electronically, but it did not provide relevant materials to prove its claim, so it did not recognize the authenticity of the agreement.

(2020) Chuan 0 1 Minzhong No.2834

The court found in the second instance that the two online loan contracts submitted by Cao were copies, and the contract acquisition process was not proved in the evidence exchange procedure, so the above evidence did not meet the requirements of the People's Republic of China (PRC) Electronic Signature Law for the original form of data message evidence.

Contract locking solution:

According to Article 15 of the Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Evidence in Civil Proceedings, if a party takes electronic data as evidence, it shall provide the original.

The contract lock electronic signature system can provide electronic file storage and encrypted transmission services for your signature, and the complete evidence chain can restore the file retrieval process. If there is a dispute, it can not only provide you with the original electronic document, but also help you prove the authenticity and integrity of the document.

2. It cannot be confirmed that it is really necessary to sign, and the court will not recognize it.

(20 19) Guifu No.72

There is no proof of identity of the lender in this case, and the authenticity of the lender cannot be verified. The information signed at the end of the loan agreement (version A) only has the printed words "Geng, Deng, Zhang, Lu and Yu", and there is no corresponding electronic data deposit certificate that can prove the identity of the lender and the borrower. Therefore, it is impossible to confirm that the signature in the loan agreement (version A) is my signature with the valid digital certificate issued by CA institution, and it is also impossible to confirm the authenticity of the electronic signature and whether it belongs to me.

(2020) No.70 Yumin Jurisdiction

Upon examination, it is found that the electronic contract signed between the original defendants in this case has not been authenticated by the state organs, and the electronic signature of the defendants has not been recognized by the state organs, resulting in the invalidity of the electronic contract. The defendants have no legal basis and agreement to occupy the loan issued by the plaintiff, so they should return the money to the plaintiff.

(20 18) Su 0 1 8 1 19

In this case, the trading network company did not provide evidence to prove that it authenticated Zhang's identity information and telephone number, and Zhang logged into its electronic signature platform and signed a contract. And the effective civil judgment (20 17) Jiangxi 1 1 minzhong 1540 also has no evidence to prove that Zhang registered the electronic signature platform and did not confirm the authenticity of the electronic contract involved. Therefore, the trading network company broke the contract in the process of electronic contract authentication, which caused the loss of B and should be compensated.

(2020) Liao 04 Zhi No.458

Our hospital can't confirm that the word "Zhang Moyin" in the supplementary agreement is the signature signed by the applied executor with a valid number and certificate issued by CA, and can't confirm the authenticity of the electronic signature and whether it is true or not.

(2023) Lu 10 Minzhong 84 1

In the first trial, the electronic "loan contract" provided by the parties as a PDF document did not show the reliable digital signature of someone holding his own digital certificate. Therefore, it cannot be determined that Chu signed a loan contract with the bank, nor can it be determined that the defendant bank issued a loan to Chu.

Contract locking solution:

According to the requirements of the Electronic Signature Law, a legal and effective electronic signature must meet the requirements of "true identity", "true will" and "content tamper prevention". In the process of signing an electronic contract, it is necessary to verify the true identity and willingness information of the signer to ensure the validity of the signing.

The electronic signature system of contract lock is supported by authoritative digital certificate, and integrated with face recognition and SMS verification code login technology, which is helpful to authenticate and determine the true identity of the signer and ensure that it is out of true will. At the same time, combined with the application of data storage, it is helpful to restore the authentication and verification process and provide credible evidence for judicial decisions.

3. The chain of evidence is incomplete, the process cannot be restored, and the court will not recognize it.

(2020) Xiang 0 1 Minzhong No.2973

The evidence provided by the appellant can only reflect the demonstration process of its background system, and can't prove conclusively that Wang or his agent participated in the electronic signature or received the leased vehicle involved, which can't achieve its purpose of proof. It did not provide sufficient evidence to prove that the electronic signature in question was reliable.

Contract locking solution:

In this case, because the evidence provided by the parties can not restore the whole signing process, it is impossible to determine whether the relevant parties really participated in the signing process as stated.

The electronic signature platform of contract lock can provide users with full link data storage service, and can completely record the signer, identity authentication information, signed contract and file modification and editing process. It can be used as effective judicial evidence at any time to help restore the signing process in the case of disputes, which is undeniable and authentic.

If it is uncertain whether the contract is complete and has not been tampered with, the court will not recognize it.

(20 19) Jing 0 105 Early Republic of China 8 152

The defendant signed the plaintiff's electronic contract, but the two parties did not form a paper contract, and the data message of the electronic contract was controlled and kept by the plaintiff. It can be seen from the Notice of Examination and Approval Results that the collateral provided by the defendant to the bank is two houses, which is inconsistent with the collateral contained in the entrustment contract. The plaintiff should prove that the contract is complete and unchanged, but the plaintiff can't copy the above contract from the background of the database now, so the court will not accept the house mortgage entrustment contract submitted by him.

Contract locking solution:

In this case, the parties have been unable to copy the original contract, and there is a deviation between the contract provided by the defendant and the contract provided by the bank, which cannot prove that the contract has not been tampered with after signing, so the court cannot confirm the authenticity of the contract.

In view of the authenticity of the contract content, the electronic signature system of contract lock is supported by CA digital certificate to ensure that the document content can be identified once it is tampered with, and the contract content will be invalidated immediately; At the same time, encrypted transmission is adopted to ensure that the file cannot be modified during transmission and extraction, and the whole process is tamper-proof and the content is complete and credible.

5. The authenticity and uniqueness of the signature cannot be determined, and the court will not recognize it.

(2020) Xiang 1 1 Zhi No.207

In this case, the supplementary agreement submitted by the parties only has an electronic seal with the words "Mao Mouyin" at the signature, and the font on it is ordinary printing font, so it cannot be regarded as exclusive, exclusive, reliable electronic signature or Mao himself's signature.

(2020) at 0 1 12 in the early Republic of China1149.

In this case, the defendant and the borrower were told that there was a legal relationship, and it should be proved that both parties agreed to borrow money. The electronic contract seal in the printed loan agreement provided by the plaintiff could not verify whether it belonged to the defendant company, and the plaintiff failed to provide other evidence to prove that the two parties agreed to borrow money.

(2020) No.819 of Shaanxi 09 Minzhong

The Appellant advocated that the Appellee should conduct electronic insurance through the Internet, and only provided the system-generated insurance application form, notification form and face recognition photos, which the Appellee refused to recognize. Because the appellee's signature on the insurance application form and the notification form is obviously different from the appellee's signature on the corresponding legal documents during the litigation in this case, the appellee does not recognize the authenticity of the signature on the insurance application form and the notification form.

Contract locking solution:

The focus of controversy in such cases is nothing more than the lack of evidence to prove that the signature was signed by the same person; In addition, the seal on the printed electronic contract is only the seal pattern, and it is not certain whether it is the seal held by the company.

The electronic signature of the contract lock binds the electronic seal and signature with the real identity of the user through the trusted CA digital certificate to ensure its uniqueness, personalization and authenticity. In addition, signed electronic documents support online verification. Click on the electronic seal pattern to obtain deposit information and understand the authenticity of the seal.

6. The exemption clause is not clearly marked and prompted, and the court will not recognize it.

(2020) Yu min Shen No.6661

From the specific process of electronic insurance, check the "I have read" box on the left side of the title of "Disclaimer" at the bottom of the electronic insurance page to enter the next link of insurance, and the specific content of reading the disclaimer needs to be opened separately. After opening, only the titles such as "Part I Exemption Clause" and "Motor Vehicle Third Party Liability Insurance" are displayed in bold, and the relevant cases involve the exemption of driving escape, that is, the circumstances stipulated in Article 24 of the exemption statement.

Based on the above situation, whether the defendant's property insurance company has made enough tips to attract the attention of the insured and whether it should be exempted from liability for compensation remains to be further ascertained. The original trial found that the defendant insurance company did not bear the liability of third party liability insurance, and the basis was insufficient.

Contract locking solution:

According to Article 10 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the General Principles of Contract Compilation of the Civil Code of People's Republic of China (PRC), which came into effect on February 5, 2023, the party providing the standard clauses has the obligation to remind the other party of the abnormal clauses with significant interests through obvious signs such as words, symbols and fonts that can attract the other party's attention.

The electronic contract signing platform of contract lock supports "pop-up window of signing instructions" and "bold display of sensitive words", which can provide supervision services for institutions on "compliance of contract terms".

1) Automatically identify and display sensitive words in the contract text in bold;

For some sensitive words in the contract text, such as "final interpretation right, refund, compensation, etc." Users can directly add sensitive words that need to be detected when configuring the signing process, and the contract lock system will help you automatically identify the corresponding sensitive words when signing later, and mark them in bold, without manual reading, to prevent unequal terms.

2) Support signing instruction prompt and contract point pop-up reminder:

For the key clauses of "rights and responsibilities, risk warning, safety precautions, etc.", in the contract, you can make a significant reminder through the contract lock signing notice pop-up window to prevent the contractor from not knowing the contract content because of omission or not reading it carefully, and to protect the contractor's right to know.