TIPS^®  Taiwan Intellectual Property Special

The Legislative Yuan has worked on the Enactment of the Electronic Signature Act

The European Union promulgated “Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 Dec. 1999 on the Community framework for Electronic Signatures” on January 19, 2000. The enactment of said Directive symbolized that the European Union has established a new legal framework to grant the electronic signature a EU-wide recognition and that the on-line transaction will be recognized.

The Executive Yuan passed the Draft of the Electronic Signature Act on December 23, 1999 and submitted the Act for review and mandate. The Legislative Yuan has actively worked on the review of the Act, which is anticipated to be enacted in this year session. So long as this Act is enacted by the Legislative Yuan, the electronic document and electronic signature will then have legal effect, and all authentication authorities will then implement relevant measures and facilities.

Pursuant to the Draft, all paper documentation can be substituted and reserved by electronic forms, legal acts can be made in electronic document, which will all be recognized as genuine document by law. In addition, the handwriting signature and seals can be made by electronic signature and shall enjoy the same legal effects.

The Draft also provides that regulations on the electronic authentication and the authentication authorities. The government will limit and regulate the authentication authorities in the minimum degree. One important provision of this Draft is that the authentication of the electronic signature will be dominated by the private sectors.