Johannesburg, 07 Feb 2012
The business environment of today is very conscious of the need to be efficient, to contain costs and to ensure that it maintains a competitive edge at all times. In addition, the `digitisation of paper` is proceeding at a rapid rate. To address these issues, electronic signatures, rather than handwritten signatures, are being applied to data that is being transmitted electronically.
"Electronic signatures are functionally equivalent to handwritten signatures and have the same legal status," commented Maeson Maherry, Solutions Director at LAWtrust and a leading expert in South Africa on electronic signatures.
"However, the benefits of using electronic signatures are significant as, for instance, they can be verified automatically and quickly, i.e. before a third party suffers any loss as a result of a possible fraudulent transmission.
"A digital signature is an electronic signature that can be used to authenticate the identity of the sender of a message or the signer of a document, and ensure that the original content of the message or document that has been sent is unchanged. It involves cryptographic action," continued Maherry. "Digital signatures are easily transportable, cannot be imitated by someone else, and automatically include a time-stamp. The ability to ensure that the original signed message arrives unaltered means the sender cannot easily repudiate it later.
"Increasingly, digital signatures are being used in business and regulatory filings. For instance, being able to sign off board minutes or some other document needing multiple approvals, without having all the relevant individuals in one place, are but two examples," concluded Maherry. "The concept itself is not new, with common law jurisdictions having recognised telegraph signatures as far back as the mid-19th century and faxed signatures since the 1980s."
For further information, please contact Christi Peens; tel: (012) 676 9240; fax: (012) 665 3997; e-mail: christi@lawtrust.co.za.
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