Glossary
Electronic signature
Also called: e-signature, eSignature
An electronic signature is data attached to or logically associated with a document that indicates the signer's approval of it. The legal weight it carries depends on the jurisdiction and, in the European framework, on which of three tiers of assurance it meets.
Electronic signature explained
The three eIDAS tiers
Simple. Any data indicating approval — a typed name, a drawn mark, a click. Admissible in most European jurisdictions for ordinary commercial contracts.
Advanced. Uniquely linked to the signer, capable of identifying them, created using means under their sole control, and linked to the data such that any subsequent change is detectable.
Qualified. An advanced signature created with a qualified signature creation device and backed by a qualified certificate from a trust service provider. Legally equivalent to a handwritten signature across the EU.
The American position
The ESIGN Act and UETA take a broader, more technology-neutral approach: an electronic signature is valid if the parties intended to sign and consented to do so electronically. There is no tier system, and intent plus consent does most of the work.
What actually makes a signature defensible
In practice, disputes turn on evidence rather than on tier. What matters is that you can show who signed, when, from where, what they were shown, and that the document has not changed since — which means the signature must be bound to a specific version and the request history retained.
A simple signature with a complete audit trail is frequently more defensible than an advanced one with poor records.
FAQ
Electronic signature: common questions
Do we need qualified signatures?
Rarely. Specific instruments in specific jurisdictions require them — certain property, succession and formal notarial acts. For ordinary commercial contracts a simple signature with good evidence is generally sufficient, but take local advice.
Is a scanned wet signature an electronic signature?
It can satisfy the definition, but it is weak evidence: an image can be copied from one document to another, which is exactly the linkage problem the advanced tier addresses.
Related terms
- Approval workflowAn approval workflow is a configured path a document must clear before it can be relied on, defining the steps, the approvers and the order.
- Document generationDocument generation produces a finished document by merging structured data into an approved template.
- e-FormAn e-form captures structured data through defined fields with validation, rather than collecting it as text inside a document.
- EscalationEscalation is the automatic reassignment or notification that occurs when a workflow step is not actioned within a defined period.
- Policy acknowledgementPolicy acknowledgement is a recorded attestation that a named individual has read a specific version of a specific policy, at a given time.
Last reviewed: 28 August 2026. Browse the full glossary.