And for this to apply, the UETA requires that the parties to the transaction must have agreed in a clear manner that they both intend for this transaction to be completed electronically. Therefore, if a document sent in an email is to be considered legally signed with an electronic signature then the document must be associated with a higher level of electronic signature-often alongside an express declaration that the mark or sound included with the transmission is intended to serve as a valid and enforceable electronic signature. And among these rules are the highly important condition that a signature related to a document is valid and enforceable only if the signer truly intended to sign it. The UETA was not designed to undermine the rules underlying the formation of contracts as they have come down to us through hundreds of years of common law.

Even if they have what is commonly referred to as an “electronic signature” at the bottom of the email text, which are often auto-filled-these two things are not equivalent under law. “Record,” in case you’re wondering, includes “contract.”īut it should be noted: just because someone uses email to send a document or to communicate does not mean that these electronic signature requirements have been fulfilled. section 44-7002(8), an electronic signature can be any “electronic sound, symbol or process that is attached to or logically associated with a record and that is executed or adopted by an individual with the intent to sign the record.” What is an electronic signature? It’s a broader category than you may realize: under A.R.S. This Act, published in 1999 by the Uniform Law Commission, was designed with the express intention of giving the same effect previously given to handwritten signatures under the statute of frauds to electronic signatures. Like 46 other states (as well as DC, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands), the state of Arizona has adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (“UETA”). Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution.BOARD CERTIFIED SPECIALIST IN REAL ESTATE LAW.

Uniform electronic transactions act