Are electronic signatures legal in France?

Articles 1366 and 1367 of the Code civil

Article 1366 says an electronic writing has the same probative force as a paper one, provided its author can be identified and it's drawn up and kept in a way that guarantees its integrity. Article 1367 defines a signature as what identifies the author of a legal act and shows their consent to its obligations. When it's electronic, it consists of a reliable identification process that guarantees its link to the act. Both articles date from the 2016 reform of contract law, which renumbered rules France first adopted in 2000.

The 2017 decree and the three levels

Under article 1367, reliability is presumed, until proven otherwise, when the conditions set by decree are met. Décret n° 2017-1416 du 28 septembre 2017 grants that presumption only to a qualified electronic signature: an advanced signature meeting article 26 of eIDAS, created with a qualified device (art. 29) and based on a qualified certificate (art. 28). eIDAS article 25 separately prevents any signature from being refused as evidence because it's electronic.

• Simple: valid, but if the other side disputes it, you prove the process was reliable.
• Advanced: valid and harder to dispute, because it's uniquely linked to the signer and tamper-evident, but still without the presumption.
• Qualified: presumed reliable, so the person disputing it carries the burden.

Acts that can't be electronic

Article 1174 lets a writing required for a contract's validity be drawn up and kept electronically. Article 1175 makes the exception: acts under private signature relating to family law and successions, unless they're agreements countersigned by lawyers in the parties' presence and deposited with a notary under articles 229-1 to 229-4 or 298, as in a divorce by mutual consent. A second exception for personal and real securities was removed with effect from 1 January 2022 (Ordonnance n° 2021-1192).

• Holographic wills must be entirely written, dated and signed by the testator's own hand (Code civil art. 970).
• Real estate sales are completed by an authentic act before a notary so they can be published in the land registry. Notaries can draw up that act electronically, but the e-signature doesn't replace them.

Where SignMaster fits

SignMaster provides a simple electronic signature, not a qualified one, so it doesn't get the 2017 presumption. It suits devis (quotes), service contracts, purchase orders and supplier terms. Signers can switch the signing page into French, and the evidence you'd use to show reliability comes with every envelope: a certificate of completion with each signer's email, IP address and timestamps, and a SHA-256 fingerprint of the signed PDF.