ESIGN Act · Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act
The US federal statute making e-signatures legally equivalent to ink.
What it is
The federal law that gives electronic signatures the same legal effect as handwritten signatures across interstate and international commerce. Combined with state-level UETA adoption (49 states + DC), it makes e-signing the default for almost all commercial transactions in the US.
Scope
All US federal courts and state courts. ESIGN-exempt categories: wills, codicils, family law (adoption, divorce), court orders, certain product-recall notices, foreclosure notices. Almost everything else commercial is in-scope.
What letssign.now does
Every signature we produce satisfies ESIGN's four requirements: (1) intent to sign, (2) consent to do business electronically, (3) clear association of the signature with the record, (4) record retention. Our audit trail captures all four with timestamps and IPs.
Deeper detail
ESIGN's four requirementsExpandClose
Intent to sign (captured by the 'Sign' button click event). Consent to electronic transactions (consent screen presented to every signer). Association (the PAdES envelope binds the signature to the exact bytes of the document). Retention (signed PDF + audit trail stored in the workspace's chosen region).
Interaction with UETAExpandClose
ESIGN is federal; UETA is the state-level cousin (Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, adopted in 49 states + DC). Where UETA has been adopted, it generally controls. ESIGN preempts state laws that don't satisfy ESIGN's baseline.
Related standards
The frameworks above interlock. Each linked page covers one in full.
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