1. What is an electronic signature?
In daily life, we often encounter situations where a signature is required. A traditional signature refers to a person writing on a document with his or her hand. Name or leave a mark, seal or other special symbol to identify the signer and show that the signer approves the contents of the document. With the rapid development of the Internet, electronic signature technology continues to mature. Article 34 (4) of the Electronic Signature Law stipulates that electronic signature production data refers to data such as characters and codes used in the electronic signature process to reliably link the electronic signature to the electronic signer.
2. The development history of electronic signature
The development of electronic signature has gone through three stages: embryonic period, development period and mature period.
Emerging stage
In 2004, the National People's Congress passed the "Electronic Signature Law of the People's Republic of China", stating that "reliable electronic signatures have the same legal effect as traditional signatures and seals." The enactment of this law legalized electronic signatures. Electronic signatures have begun to provide services in a few fields such as government affairs, medical care, and banking. For example, City Card Company completes remote recharge and remote card opening services.
Image source: China National People’s Congress website
Development stage
In 2015, Internet finance gradually developed. Internet finance is an organic combination of Internet technology and financial functions. Relying on big data and cloud computing, Internet finance has formed a functional financial format and corresponding service system. The emergence of a large number of P2P businesses has increased the demand for electronic signatures, and the popularity of electronic signatures has reduced the cost of using electronic signatures. At the same time, the rise of SaaS in China has brought new development directions to the industry. A large number of electronic signature platforms have emerged to provide customers with more convenient and faster services.
Mature stage
In 2018, with the continuous development of the digital economy, electronic signature technology has obvious advantages in supporting identity authenticity verification, information cannot be tampered with, and the entire process can be traced back. With the support of policies and the mature development of technology, electronic signatures are widely used in various fields such as finance, supply chain, tourism, FMCG, real estate, logistics, personnel, etc.
3. Advantages of electronic signatures
Electronic signatures have unparalleled advantages over offline signatures in terms of efficiency, security performance and cost.
High efficiency
When traditionally using paper signatures to sign documents offline, the signing cycle is long. Not only does it need to go through multiple approvals, but also needs to be printed and stamped offline after the approval is completed. After scanning and archiving, one party to the contract needs to express it offline to the other party after stamping, and then express it back again after stamping. The delivery cycle is long and the cost of express delivery is high. If electronic signatures are used to sign electronic contracts, parties to the contract can sign online through electronic devices, making the office more efficient.
Low cost
Electronic signatures are highly efficient in signing and easy to store, avoiding processes such as printing and mailing, and saving the cost of paper and express delivery. At the same time, labor costs, time costs, and storage costs are far lower than paper contracts.
High security
Contracts signed with traditional signatures may be stolen or lost due to poor storage. At the same time, the information in the paper contract may also be tampered with; Contracts signed with electronic signatures will be saved in the form of electronic data and will be stored in the cloud of a third-party electronic signature platform. The possibility of being stolen or lost will be much smaller. The electronic signature platform uses hash values ??to ensure that the content is not tampered with, improving Legal security.
4. Reliable electronic signatures
Electronic signatures are becoming more and more popular, but not all electronic signatures are reliable.
The law stipulates that an electronic signature is deemed to be a reliable electronic signature if it meets the following conditions at the same time: when the electronic signature production data is used for electronic signature, it is exclusive to the electronic signer; the electronic signature production data is only controlled by the electronic signer when signing; Any changes to the electronic signature can be discovered; any changes to the content and form of the data message after signing can be discovered;
Only when an electronic signature is signed through a reliable electronic signature platform can the interests of the signer be effectively protected. Electronic Contracting is an electronic signing platform hatched by the massive engine of the digital marketing service platform. Contracts signed through the electronic contract platform must include company seals, personal signatures, signing timestamps, digital certificates and tamper-proof signatures to ensure the uniqueness of the contract. At the same time, the electronic contract platform cooperates with the Hangzhou Internet Notary Office to notarize the entire contract data record in real time, giving it extremely high judicial effectiveness and ensuring the legal effect of the contract. Electronic Contract is committed to creating efficient, sophisticated and user-friendly contract signing solutions for its partners. It is an electronic contract service expert who better understands customer needs.