According to Article 11 of the Contract Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), written forms refer to contracts, letters, data messages (including telegrams, telexes, faxes, electronic data interchange and e-mails) and other forms that can tangibly express the contents.

According to Article 13 of People's Republic of China (PRC) Electronic Signature Law? An electronic signature shall be regarded as reliable if it meets the following conditions:

(1) When the electronic signature production data is used for electronic signature, it belongs to the exclusive rights of the electronic signer;

(2) When signing, the electronic signature production data is only controlled by the electronic signer;

(3) Any changes to the electronic signature after signature can be found;

(4) Any changes to the content and form of the data message after signature can be found.

The parties can also choose to use electronic signatures that meet their agreed reliable conditions.

Article 14 A reliable electronic signature has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature or seal.

Extended data:

Conditions to be met for an electronic contract to have legal effect:

According to Article 5 of People's Republic of China (PRC) Electronic Signature Law? A data message that meets the following conditions shall be deemed to meet the original form requirements stipulated by laws and regulations:

(a) It can effectively express the content and can be used 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.

Article 6? Data messages that meet the following conditions shall be deemed to meet the requirements for document preservation as stipulated by laws and regulations:

(a) It can effectively express the content and can be used at any time;

(2) The format of the data message is the same as that when it was generated, sent or received, or the format is different, but it can accurately represent the content originally generated, sent or received;

(3) Being able to identify the sender and receiver of the data message and the time of sending and receiving.

Article 7? A data message shall not be refused to be used as evidence just because it was generated, sent, received or stored by electronic, optical, magnetic or similar means.

China People's Congress Network-People's Republic of China (PRC) Contract Law

Baidu Encyclopedia-People's Republic of China (PRC) Electronic Signature Method