- Definition and formal requirements of written legal statements or legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form
- Examples for legal statements and contracts where written form is required
- Are there special legal provisions for digital archiving and storage of electronic documents? If yes, please describe them
- Main and relevant court practices
- In which cases are documents only with wet ink signatures accepted?
- List of the relevant national legislation
- Are the following use cases deemed as written legal statements / legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form in your jurisdiction?
jurisdiction
1. Definition and formal requirements of written legal statements or legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form
A contractual transaction (i.e. contract) shall be considered as concluded in writing, if its substance is fixed in one or several documents, letters, or telegrams exchanged by the parties and it is signed by the party or parties.
Contracts in electronic form signed with QES are equal to written agreements signed with a wet-ink signature, while advanced electronic signature, advanced biometric signature, standard electronic signature, scanned versions of the wet-signed contract, signing through online platforms, click-on agreements are acceptable only if the parties have explicitly agreed to this in writing in an initial agreement and attach the example of their handwritten signatures.
2. Examples for legal statements and contracts where written form is required
As a main rule, all contractual transactions between legal entities, contractual transactions between a legal and a natural person (except for in some exceptions), contractual transactions of natural persons between themselves for the amount exceeding 20 times the non-taxable minimum income (ca. EUR 11) of citizens (except for certain cases) must be in writing.
3. Are there special legal provisions for digital archiving and storage of electronic documents? If yes, please describe them
Electronic documents must be stored by the holder(s) (authors, signatories etc.) of the documents themselves, or there should be an arrangement for the storage of electronic documents, stored with an archive organisation operating in Ukraine.
Documents must be stored in such a way that it ensures opportunity to verify their integrity.
Electronic documents must be stored for the same period as paper based documents (the legal requirement is that depending on the type, documents must be stored during tenure and this ranges from 3 years to 75 years; some documents are required to be stored until the necessity exists).
4. Main and relevant court practices
Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine in case No. 910/361/14 held that documents that are only signed with an e-signature, in this case a contract of adhesion (to obtain a bank loan), are deemed to be legally valid and binding.
The Supreme Court in case No. 922/788/19 held that, under the law of Ukraine, an email could not be considered as an electronic document, "On electronic documents and electronic documents flow" requiring that electronic document must be signed with e-signature.
5. In which cases are documents only with wet ink signatures accepted?
According to the legislation the following documents must be signed with wet ink signatures and be paper based:
- certificates of heirship;
- other documents which can exist in original copy only (except for instances of existence of the storage of originals via electronic documentation);
- agreements that are subject to notarisation;
- in some other special instances stipulated by law.
6. List of the relevant national legislation
- Civil Code of Ukraine No 435-IV dated 16.01.2003
- Commercial Code of Ukraine No 436-IV dated 16.01.2003
- Law of Ukraine On Electronic Trusted Services No 2155-VIII dated 5 October 2017
- Law of Ukraine On Electronic Documents and Electronic Document Flow No 851-IV dated 22 May 2003
7. Are the following use cases deemed as written legal statements / legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form in your jurisdiction?
1. Electronic document signed with qualified electronic signature (QES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) and with a time stamp | Yes |
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2. Electronic document signed with qualified electronic signature (QES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) without a time stamp | Yes |
3. Electronic document signed with advanced electronic signature (AdES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) and with a time stamp | Yes (with conditions*) |
4. Electronic document signed with advanced electronic signature (AdES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) without a time stamp | Yes (with conditions*) |
5. Electronic document signed with advanced biometric signature | Yes (with conditions*) |
6. Electronic document signed with a simple, standard electronic signature (SES) | Yes (with conditions*) |
7. Scanned electronic version of the original paper-based document with handwritten signature sent as an attachment in ordinary e-mail without an electronic signature, but with standard e-mail signature panel | Yes (with conditions*) |
8. Legal statement sent as a text of an ordinary e-mail without an electronic signature, but with a standard e-mail signature panel | No |
9. Legal statement sent in an SMS | No |
10. Electronic document with a copy-pasted image of a handwritten signature, sent as an attachment of an ordinary e-mail | Yes (with conditions*) |
11. Electronic document with the typed name of the signer and sent as an e-mail attachment | No |
12. Electronic legal statement sent in a social-media message sending application (e.g. Messenger, Viber, LinkedIn, Facebook message, etc.) | No |
13. Electronic legal statement sent in a chat application | No |
14. Electronic document created on an electronic platform ensured by the other party requesting the legal statement (without an electronic signature) by another party whom the operator of the platform granted access | Yes (with conditions*) |
15. Electronic document signed in DocuSign/Adobe Sign with a simple standard electronic signature (no QES or AdES) | Yes (with conditions*) |
16. Electronic document signed with a qualified electronic seal as defined in the eIDAS Regulation | Yes (with conditions*) |
17. Agreements accepted by the other party online, by ticking a checkbox or by clicking on a button ("click on agreements") | Yes (with conditions*) |
7.1 Remarks/Comments to use cases (if yes/no answer is not sufficient):
* If the document is not subject to notarisation and if the parties have explicitly agreed the use of such signature, in writing, in an initial agreement and attach the example of the handwritten signatures.
