Are electronic signatures legal in Germany?

The BGB's three forms

• Schriftform, written form (§ 126). A document signed by hand. It may be replaced by electronic form unless a law says otherwise (§ 126(3)).
• Elektronische Form (§ 126a). The signer adds their name and a qualified electronic signature. For a contract, each party signs an identical document that way.
• Textform, text form (§ 126b). A readable declaration naming the person, on a durable medium such as an email or PDF. A simple e-signature meets it easily.

Where no form is prescribed, which covers most sales, service and supply contracts, the parties can agree in any way, and a simple electronic signature is good evidence of that agreement. Germany's Vertrauensdienstegesetz (VDG, 2017) supplements the EU's eIDAS Regulation for trust service providers; under eIDAS article 25 a qualified electronic signature has the legal effect of a handwritten one throughout the EU.

Where electronic form is ruled out

• Ending employment. Termination notices and termination agreements need written form, and electronic form is expressly excluded (§ 623 BGB).
• Guarantees. A Bürgschaft declaration must be given in writing, and giving it in electronic form is excluded (§ 766 BGB).
• Independent promises and acknowledgments of debt (§§ 780, 781 BGB) also exclude electronic form.

What needs a notary or a handwritten page

• Real estate. A contract to transfer or acquire land must be notarized (§ 311b BGB).
• Wills. A private will must be handwritten and signed by the testator (§ 2247 BGB).
• Fixed-term employment contracts. The fixed term needs written form to be valid (§ 14(4) TzBfG), which electronically means a qualified signature.

Recent moves toward text form

Germany has loosened some rules. Employers can now record the essential terms of employment under the Nachweisgesetz in text form and send them electronically, if the employee can access, save and print the document and the employer asks for an acknowledgment of receipt (§ 2(1) NachwG). For commercial leases, § 578(1) BGB now asks for text form rather than written form when a lease runs longer than a year. Residential leases still use written form for that rule (§ 550 BGB).

Where SignMaster fits

SignMaster provides simple electronic signatures, not qualified ones, so it fits form-free contracts and anything that needs only Textform: quotes (Angebote), service agreements, purchase orders, NDAs and supplier terms. It can't meet Schriftform. Each signed PDF ends with a certificate of completion listing every signer's email, IP address and timestamps, with a SHA-256 fingerprint so any later edit is detectable.