Are electronic signatures legal in Austria?

The Signatur- und Vertrauensdienstegesetz

The Signatur- und Vertrauensdienstegesetz (SVG, BGBl. I Nr. 50/2016) replaced Austria's older Signature Act when eIDAS began to apply. Section 4(1) is the key rule: a qualified electronic signature fulfils the legal requirement of writing within the meaning of § 886 of the Civil Code (ABGB). Other form requirements, especially those that call for a notary or lawyer to be involved, and form agreements between the parties stay unaffected.

Where the law doesn't require written form, which covers most commercial and consumer contracts, any electronic signature can record agreement. eIDAS article 25 bars a court from refusing it only because it's electronic or not qualified; its weight depends on the evidence of who signed.

What § 4 SVG keeps off-limits

• Wills. Testamentary dispositions (letztwillige Verfügungen) can't be validly made in electronic form.
• Family and inheritance declarations that require written form or a stricter form are valid electronically only if the document includes a notary's or lawyer's confirmation that they advised the signer of the legal consequences of signing.
• Guarantees by private individuals. The same confirmation is needed for a guarantee declaration (§ 1346(2) ABGB) given outside the guarantor's business or profession.

Protection for consumers

Section 4 also protects consumers. In contracts between a business and a consumer, a term saying a qualified electronic signature doesn't satisfy a written-form requirement isn't binding for notices or declarations the consumer gives to the business or a third party, unless the business shows the term was individually negotiated or a comparably simple electronic method was agreed.

Where SignMaster fits

SignMaster provides simple electronic signatures, so it fits Austrian agreements with no written-form requirement: quotes (Angebote), service contracts, purchase orders, freelance agreements and NDAs. It can't meet § 886 ABGB written form, which needs a qualified signature, and it isn't for wills or the declarations above. Each completed envelope produces a certificate of completion with every signer's email, IP address and timestamps, and a SHA-256 fingerprint of the PDF.