The legal effect of electronic signature is clarified. The Electronic Signature Law clearly stipulates that "the parties may agree to use or not use electronic signatures and data messages in contracts or other documents and vouchers in civil activities. A document in the form of electronic signature or data message agreed by the parties shall not be denied its legal effect just because it is in the form of electronic signature or data message. " In this way, the electronic signature has the same legal effect as the handwritten signature or seal, and the electronic document has the same legal effect as the written document, so that the existing civil and commercial law can be applied to the electronic document. The technical and legal conditions required for electronic signature are clarified. An electronic signature can only be regarded as a reliable electronic signature if it meets certain conditions, such as "when electronic signature data is used for electronic signature, it belongs to the electronic signer", "when signing, the electronic signature data is only controlled by the electronic signer", "after signing, any changes to the electronic signature can be found" and "after signing, any changes to the content and form of the data message can be found". This clause provides strict and operable legal provisions to ensure the security and accuracy of electronic signatures and prevent fraud. Provisions have been made on e-commerce certification bodies and behaviors. E-commerce needs a third party to authenticate the identity of the electronic signer. This third party is called an electronic certification service organization. The reliability of certification bodies plays a key role in the authenticity of electronic signatures and the security of electronic transactions. Considering that China's social credit system is not perfect at present, in order to ensure the safety and reliability of electronic transactions, the electronic signature law stipulates the market access system of certification services, clarifies the government's qualification management system for certification institutions, and puts strict restrictions on the personnel, funds, technology and equipment of electronic certification services. The rights, obligations and behavior norms of both parties to e-commerce transactions and certification bodies in electronic signature activities are clarified. For example, the time and place of sending and receiving data messages in an electronic contract, the procedure for an electronic signer to apply for electronic signature authentication from an electronic authentication service provider, the principles for the electronic authentication service provider to provide services, and the legal obligations and responsibilities that the electronic signer or the authentication institution should bear respectively are clearly defined.
legal ground
People's Republic of China (PRC) electronic signature method
Article 2 The term "electronic signature" as mentioned in this Law refers to the data contained in a data message to identify the identity of the signer and show that the signer approves its contents. The term "data message" as mentioned in this Law refers to information generated, sent, received or stored by electronic, optical, magnetic or similar means.
Article 3 In civil activities, the parties may agree on the use or non-use of electronic signatures and data messages in contracts or other documents and documents. A document in the form of electronic signature or data message agreed by the parties shall not be denied its legal effect just because it is in the form of electronic signature or data message. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to the following documents: (1) Personal relations such as marriage, adoption and inheritance are involved; (two) involving the cessation of water supply, heating, gas supply and other public utilities services; (3) Other circumstances in which electronic documents are not applicable as stipulated by laws and administrative regulations.
Article 4 A data message that can tangibly express its contents and can be retrieved for reference at any time shall be regarded as a written form that meets the requirements of laws and regulations.
Article 5 A data message that meets the following conditions shall be deemed to meet the requirements of the original form stipulated by laws and regulations: (1) It can effectively express the contents and can be retrieved for future reference at any time; (2) It can reliably ensure that the content remains complete and unchanged from the time it is finally formed. However, adding endorsements to data messages and changing forms in the process of data exchange, storage and display do not affect the integrity of data messages.