Practice Tip: <B>Electronic & Digital Signatures in Word</b>

On June 30, 2000, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN Act), which became effective throughout the U.S. on October 1, 2000 (for a copy go to http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_bills&docid=f:s761enr.txt.pdf). The E-SIGN Act implemented a national standard for all electronic transactions that broadly encouraged the use of electronic signatures, contracts and records by providing legal validity for these instruments as long as the signatories complied with the standards of the Act. The E-SIGN Act does not mandate any specific method of technology be used in order for business to conduct electronic transactions. It simply provides a framework within which parties can conduct business electronically with the assurance that their signed documents are legally valid and enforceable. Since the E-SIGN Act is so broad in scope, a “signed” electronic transaction can comprise anything from a simple e-mail exchange to a complex public key/private key authentication procedure.

Although E-SIGN is the most highly publicized piece of legislation concerning electronic signatures, other laws have been equally influential in encouraging their use. For example, the Government Paperwork Act, passed in October 1998, requires that by October 2003 all federal agencies allow any individual or organization the option of submitting information to them electronically. The Social Security Administration is working with a 3rd-party digital certificate provider to allow employers to file their wage-reporting forms electronically. On the pharmaceutical side, companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb are using electronic signatures to comply with federally mandated training regulations. An online example of an electronic signature is when you click on the “I Agree” button when purchasing a product online with a credit card.