Laws Governing eSignatures in Pakistan: An Overview

Abstract

Living in a tech-oriented world, we witness that technology plays a crucial role at each stage of our lives. Within commercial spheres also, technology occupies a prominent place due to its potential, inter alia, to improve efficiency and provide security. In the same vein, electronic signatures (eSignatures) have become an ordinary part of and are being used frequently in commercial transactions. In 2002, legislation for digitization of the conduct of business and regulation of eSignatures was adopted under the title ‘The Electronic Transactions Ordinance, 2002’. This law validated the use of eSignatures in Pakistan. Following doctrinal research methodology, this article examines the legislation governing eSignatures in Pakistan. It analyses the documents that can be eSigned and the documents that cannot be, followed by an in-depth evaluation of the admissibility of eSignatures and advanced eSignatures in the court and an analysis of the threshold of validity of each respectively. It, then, discusses the distinction between eSignatures and advanced eSignatures. Finally, it assesses the risks and challenges arising from reliance on eSignatures.