Electronic Signatures Directive

The Electronic Signatures Directive 1999/93/EC was a European Union directive on the use of electronic signatures (e-signatures) in electronic contracts within the European Union (EU).

It was repealed by the eIDAS regulation on 1 July 2016.

Contents
The central provision of the directive is article 5, which requires that electronic signatures are regarded as equivalent to written signatures.

Legal effects of electronic signatures
 * 1) Member States shall ensure that advanced electronic signatures which are based on a qualified certificate and which are created by a secure-signature-creation device:
 * (a) satisfy the legal requirements of a signature in relation to data in electronic form in the same manner as a handwritten signature satisfies those requirements in relation to paper-based data; and
 * (b) are admissible as evidence in legal proceedings.

Related acts

 * COM(2008) 798 final – Not published in the Official Journal
 * COM(2006) 120 final – Not published in the Official Journal
 * Official Journal L 175, 15/07/2003 P. 0045 - 0046
 * Official Journal L 289, 16/11/2000 P. 0042 - 0043