ESIGN Act

The ESIGN Act, formally the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, is a US federal law enacted in 2000 that says a signature, contract or record cannot be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form. It is codified at 15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq. and applies to transactions in or affecting interstate and foreign commerce, which in practice covers a very wide range of business.

The law does not tell you which technology to use. It defines an electronic signature broadly as an electronic sound, symbol or process attached to or logically associated with a record and adopted with intent to sign. That neutrality is why typed names, drawn signatures and click-to-sign flows can all be valid under the ESIGN law.

One section matters a great deal for businesses dealing with consumers. When another law requires information to be given to a consumer in writing, ESIGN allows electronic delivery only if the consumer has affirmatively consented, has been told about their rights (including the right to receive paper and to withdraw consent), and has reasonably demonstrated they can access the electronic format. Skipping these steps is a frequent compliance gap.

Think of a property manager renting apartments across several states. Under ESIGN, a lease signed online is generally as enforceable as a paper one, provided the manager can show the tenant intended to sign and can produce an accurate copy of the signed lease. If the lease also includes disclosures that must be given in writing under consumer law, the consumer consent rules come into play.

A common misconception is that ESIGN makes every document signable online. It lists exclusions, including wills and testamentary trusts, many family-law matters, certain court documents, notices of utility shutoff, and some notices about foreclosure, eviction or insurance cancellation. Another misunderstanding is that ESIGN replaces state law. It works alongside UETA, which most states have adopted, and generally defers to a state's enactment of UETA where it is consistent.

eSignSimple is built around the kind of evidence ESIGN cares about: signers adopt a signature intentionally, and each completed document comes with an audit trail, a certificate of completion and a SHA-256 hash you can check on our /verify page. We provide simple electronic signatures and do not offer legal advice about whether a specific document is excluded.

Our take: ESIGN is the reason e-signatures became ordinary in the US, and its technology-neutral approach has aged well. The part people underrate is record retention. Being able to produce the signed document and its history years later matters as much as the signing moment itself.