Emma RadmoreIn December 2017 the Law Commission confirmed that one of the projects it would be working on was addressing the absence of explicit case law and legislation that has given rise to uncertainty as to the validity of electronic signatures in some cases.
Consequently, the Law Commission has now published early conclusions from its review that confirm the status of electronic signatures as providing an effective means of signing all legal contracts.
The Law Commission is now seeking views on a number of ancillary issues, such as whether webcams could be permitted as a means of witnessing deeds. The consultation is open until 28 November 2018.
While seeking to be technology neutral, the consultation paper also contains a discussion of the practicalities of what should amount to an electronic signature for the purposes of signing legal contracts.