Are electronic signatures legal in Australia?

What does the Electronic Transactions Act require?

The Commonwealth Act (No. 162 of 1999) applies to requirements under Commonwealth law, and each state and territory has a matching Act for its own laws, such as the Electronic Transactions Act 2000 (NSW) and the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000. They follow the same model, so section 10 of the Commonwealth Act is a fair guide.

Under section 10(1), a legal requirement for a person's signature is met by an electronic communication if three conditions hold:

• A method is used to identify the person and to indicate their intention in respect of the information communicated
• The method is either as reliable as appropriate for the purpose, in light of all the circumstances, or proven in fact to have identified the person and shown their intention
• The person to whom the signature is required to be given consents to that method

Companies, deeds and section 127

Section 127 of the Corporations Act 2001 lets a company execute a document, including a deed, by two directors, or a director and a company secretary, or a sole director who is also the sole secretary. The Corporations Amendment (Meetings and Documents) Act 2022 made permanent the rules allowing those officers to sign electronically and to sign separate copies, which had first been introduced as temporary pandemic measures.

Deeds signed by individuals are a state matter. Some states have changed their property or electronic transactions laws to allow electronic deeds and remote witnessing, others have not, and the rules differ on whether a witness can attend by video. Check the law of the state that governs the deed.

Wills, land and other documents with their own rules

The Electronic Transactions Acts do not override the formal rules in other statutes, and the Electronic Transactions Regulations 2020 exempt specific Commonwealth provisions. The documents that most often need something more than a simple e-signature are:

• Wills, which each state's succession law requires to be signed before two witnesses
• Powers of attorney and enduring guardianship documents, under state law
• Land transfers and mortgages, which are lodged through an electronic lodgment network by verified subscribers, usually lawyers or conveyancers, under the Electronic Conveyancing National Law
• Statutory declarations and affidavits, which follow Commonwealth or state witnessing rules
• Documents a court or tribunal requires to be filed in a set form

What have Australian courts said?

Australian courts take a practical view of electronic documents. In Re Yu [2013] QSC 322 the Supreme Court of Queensland accepted an unsent note typed on an iPhone as a valid will under the court's power to dispense with formal requirements. That was an exceptional case decided on its facts, not a reason to make a will on a phone, but it shows courts look at intention.

For contracts, the usual dispute is who signed and whether they meant to. Section 10's test of a reliable method, or one proven in fact, invites exactly that evidence.

• The signed PDF, sealed against later edits
• How each signer was identified and when
• Consent from each party to sign electronically
• IP address, device and timestamps

Where Sign PDF fits

Sign PDF records the method section 10 asks about. Each signer confirms a six-digit code sent to their email, agrees to sign electronically, and signs in the browser. The certificate of completion lists name, email, IP address, approximate location, device and UTC times, with a SHA-256 fingerprint of the original and a hash-chained audit trail; the file is sealed with an independent DigiCert timestamp.

Use it for employment contracts, NDAs, contractor agreements, residential tenancy agreements where the state's tenancy rules allow electronic signing, sales contracts and company documents under section 127. We are not an electronic lodgment network, we do not provide remote witnessing, and wills or powers of attorney should follow state formalities. This page is general information, not legal advice; check state-specific rules with an Australian lawyer for deeds, property and estates.