How does electronic signing work?

Legal effect and acceptance are different questions

Federal E-SIGN law generally provides that a signature, contract, or record in interstate or foreign commerce is not denied legal effect solely because it is electronic. That general rule does not require every person or organization to accept an electronic record or signature, and the statute preserves other requirements and exceptions. State law, the document, and the organization using it can also matter.

Electronic signature, electronic record, and audit trail

An electronic signature is the act or process adopted with intent to sign. An electronic record is the document or other information in electronic form. A signing platform may also create an audit trail or completion record. Those are distinct things: an audit trail may describe a signing process, but it does not by itself determine whether the organization asking for it accepts the document.

Notarization and witnessing are add-on processes, not synonyms for e-signing

An electronic signature records an intent to sign. A witness observes a signing. A notary performs a legally defined notarial act. Remote online notarization can combine electronic records, electronic signatures, identity procedures, audiovisual communication, and a notarial certificate, but those pieces remain separate concepts.

Some documents remain subject to special rules or exclusions

Federal and state electronic-transactions law does not flatten every document category into one rule. Statutory exclusions, court rules, recording requirements, estate-planning rules, consumer protections, and specialized agency systems can create different treatment for particular records.

Primary sources

• U.S. Code — 15 U.S.C. § 7001
• U.S. Code — 15 U.S.C. § 7003 exceptions