Are electronic signatures legal in Australia?

The test in section 10

Section 10 of the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) says a requirement under a Commonwealth law for a person's signature is met for an electronic communication when:

1. a method is used to identify the person and indicate their intention about the information communicated;
2. the method is as reliable as appropriate for the purpose, in light of all the circumstances and any agreement, or is proven in fact to have done those things;
3. if the signature goes to a Commonwealth entity, the entity's information technology requirements are met; and
4. if it goes to anyone else, that person consents to the method.

Each state and territory has its own Electronic Transactions Act applying a similar test to its own laws, with its own exemptions. Most everyday contracts are governed by state law, so the state act is usually the one that matters for a lease, a building contract or a sales agreement.

Company documents and deeds

Companies used to rely on temporary pandemic relief to sign electronically. The Corporations Amendment (Meetings and Documents) Act 2022 made it permanent from 23 February 2022: documents a company executes under sections 126 and 127 of the Corporations Act, including deeds, can be signed in wet ink or electronically. A 2024 statutory review for Treasury recommended keeping those rules.

What the Commonwealth act leaves out

• Courts and tribunals. The signature rules don't apply to the practice and procedure of a court or tribunal (s. 7B(1)).
• Evidence law. The act doesn't change the Evidence Act 1995 or the state equivalents (s. 7B(2)).
• Anything exempted by regulation, which can switch off all or part of the act for listed transactions or laws (s. 7A).

Wills, powers of attorney, statutory declarations and land transfers follow their own state and territory rules on signing and witnessing, and those rules change more often than the electronic transactions acts. Check the current requirement in your state before sending one of these electronically.

Where SignMaster fits

SignMaster is built around the section 10 test. The signer is identified by the email link (plus an access code if you set one), shows intention by agreeing to sign electronically and then signing, and the certificate of completion records their email, IP address and every timestamp. A SHA-256 fingerprint shows whether the PDF changed afterward. It's a simple electronic signature, not a digital certificate, so documents that need a witness or a specific government platform go elsewhere.