Electronic Signature Validity

Australia · Version 1 · August 2026 · Effective date: 26 August 2026 · Applies to Office Vault EasySign, operated by Office Vault Technology (Pty) Ltd

In short. Australia is technology-neutral: the law does not prescribe a particular signing technology, and there is no accredited signature tier to buy. An electronic signature made through EasySign satisfies a signature requirement for the large majority of business documents, provided the three statutory conditions in section 1 are met — but not for a handful of document types that sit outside the electronic transactions legislation or require a witness.

1. The law

The Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) governs Commonwealth matters, and each State and Territory has a mirroring Act — in New South Wales the Electronic Transactions Act 2000 (NSW), and equivalents in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. The provisions are substantially uniform.

Section 10 of the Commonwealth Act sets three conditions. Where a law requires a signature, an electronic method satisfies it if:

Identification. The method identifies the person and indicates their intention in respect of the information communicated.
Reliability. The method was as reliable as appropriate for the purpose, in the light of all the circumstances — or is proven in fact to have identified the person and indicated their intention.
Consent. The person receiving the signature consents to it being given electronically.

The reliability test is contextual, not a checklist. A signature is not stronger because it is on paper; it is stronger because you can show who signed, when, and that the document has not changed since. That is what the evidence attached to an EasySign document is for.

Companies executing documents under section 127 of the Corporations Act 2001 may do so electronically — the amendments made permanent in 2022 confirm it, including split execution, where each signatory signs a separate copy.

2. What EasySign produces

EasySign creates an ordinary electronic signature, supported by:

a unique, random signing link sent to the recipient's email address;
a recorded consent to sign electronically, shown before signing — which is the section 10(1)(c) condition, captured rather than assumed;
an audit trail of when the document was sent, opened and signed, with IP address and device information, and optional approximate location where the signer allows it;
a SHA-256 hash of both the original and the final sealed document, printed on a certificate of completion attached to the signed PDF; and
a sealed PDF, so that any later alteration is detectable.

That evidence is what answers the reliability question in section 10(1)(b) if the signature is ever disputed.

3. Where an ordinary electronic signature may not be enough

Some documents sit outside the electronic transactions legislation, and some require a witness. Do not use EasySign — or any ordinary electronic signature — for:

Wills and codicils. Governed by State and Territory succession legislation, with formal witnessing requirements.
Powers of attorney and enduring powers of attorney. Requirements differ by jurisdiction and generally involve witnessing, and often a prescribed form.
Statutory declarations and affidavits. Commonwealth statutory declarations can be made electronically through the approved process; State and Territory rules vary, and an affidavit generally requires an authorised witness.
Court documents and migration documents. Follow the filing rules of the court or the Department; several are excluded from the electronic transactions regime by regulation.
Land dealings. Transfers, mortgages and most dealings in land go through the electronic conveyancing system in each State, not through a general-purpose signing tool.
Anything a statute says must be witnessed, attested or registered, unless that jurisdiction expressly permits remote witnessing and you follow its procedure.

Remote witnessing has changed more than once. Several States introduced audio-visual witnessing as a temporary measure in 2020 and have since made it permanent, amended it, or let it lapse — and they did not all land in the same place. If a document you want to sign needs a witness, check the current position in the relevant State or Territory rather than relying on what was true during the pandemic, or on what a colleague in another State tells you.

4. There is no accredited tier to buy

Australia does not operate an accreditation scheme that confers a higher statutory class of electronic signature. There is no Australian equivalent of an EU qualified signature or a South African advanced electronic signature, and any vendor implying otherwise is describing a product, not a law.

What does exist is a practical difference in evidence. A certificate-based digital signature — issued against a verified identity by a certificate authority, and validated automatically by the trust lists built into Adobe and the major PDF readers — proves identity to a higher standard and makes tampering detectable in the reader itself. EasySign is adding this as a paid add-on. Until it appears in your account as available, treat every signature made through EasySign as an ordinary electronic signature.

5. Getting the most out of an electronic signature

Send to a business email address the signer controls, not a shared mailbox.
Do not forward someone else's signing link — each link identifies one signer.
Keep the completed PDF with its certificate page; that is where the evidence lives.
Where the transaction is significant, consider identity verification and, when available, a certificate-based signature.
If the counterparty is a company, record which section 127 pathway was used — two directors, a director and a secretary, or a sole director.

6. Not legal advice

This page explains how EasySign works and summarises the legislation in general terms. Requirements differ between the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories, and they change. This is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor-client relationship. For advice on a specific document or transaction, consult an Australian legal practitioner admitted in the relevant jurisdiction.