Legal aspects

In accordance with Art. 14 para 2bis Code of Obligations, only qualified electronic signatures associated with a qualified time stamp are deemed equivalent to a handwritten signature in terms of legal effects.

In the case of legal transactions with no formal requirement, electronic signatures serve as subsequent evidence that an electronic document has not been altered and that the statement of intent contained therein can be attributed to specific persons. If a time stamp is included, the evidential function also extends to the time of the statement of intent of each signatory.

Art. 34 para. 1bis of the Federal Act of 20 December 1968 on Administrative Procedure (Administrative Procedure Act, APA; SR 172.021) only states that decisions issued in electronic form must have an electronic signature in accordance with the Federal Act of 18 March 2016 on Electronic Signatures (ESigA, SR 943.03) and that the Federal Council shall set out the type of signature to be used (at the level of an ordinance).