Are electronic signatures legal in Hong Kong?

The Electronic Transactions Ordinance

The Electronic Transactions Ordinance (Cap. 553), enacted on January 7, 2000, sets two signature rules depending on who's involved:

• Between private parties (s. 6(1)). Where a rule of law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies it if the method identifies the signer and shows their approval of the information, is reliable and appropriate for the purpose, and the person receiving the signature consents to that method.
• Where a government entity is a party (s. 6(1A)). The signature must be a digital signature supported by a recognized certificate, generated within its validity and used in line with its terms.

Contracts aren't denied validity or enforceability solely because electronic records or signatures were used to form them (s. 17), and electronic records aren't inadmissible as evidence solely because they're electronic (s. 9). The Ordinance doesn't presume a plain electronic signature genuine, so the record behind it matters. The Commissioner for Digital Policy recognizes certification authorities (s. 21), and Hongkong Post is recognized by the Ordinance itself (s. 34).

What Schedule 1 excludes

Section 3 and Schedule 1 switch off the Ordinance's rules on writing, signatures and contract formation for these documents, so they need paper signatures:

• Wills, codicils and other testamentary documents.
• Trusts, other than resulting, implied or constructive trusts, and powers of attorney.
• Instruments that must be stamped or endorsed under the Stamp Duty Ordinance, apart from certain contract notes.
• Government leases and conditions of grant, deeds and other instruments under the Land Registration Ordinance that affect land, floating charges, and assignments, mortgages, legal charges and other contracts disposing of immovable property.
• Oaths, affidavits and statutory declarations.
• Judgments, court orders and warrants.
• Negotiable instruments, apart from cheques marked "not negotiable".

Schedule 2 separately keeps the Ordinance out of proceedings in listed courts and tribunals unless their own rules allow electronic records. An amending Ordinance in 2024 extended the writing rule to cases where a law permits, not just requires, writing, and widened electronic service of documents, but didn't shorten Schedule 1.

Where SignMaster fits in Hong Kong

SignMaster provides electronic signatures with an audit trail, not recognized-certificate digital signatures, so it's for private dealings outside Schedule 1: service agreements, quotes, employment contracts, NDAs and supplier terms. Section 6 turns on the recipient's consent, which SignMaster asks each signer for before they sign. Each completed PDF ends with a certificate of completion recording every signer's email, IP address and timestamps, with a SHA-256 fingerprint of each file.