I act as an intermediary in the PPE trade and I always make any suppliers wanting to connect with buyers via my organisation sign an affidavit digitally stating who they are and that they have the capacity to supply what any prospective buyers are looking for. As mentioned, this is signed digitally and I use SignRequest or DocuSign to get this done. The question is: are these affidavits valid? If not, how do I legitimise them as cheaply as possible?
yes a digital signature is the equivalent of a handwritten signature
There are countries where digital signature is valid. Let us look at them one by one. But before that remember that except these countries it is NOT valid.
Countries in Europe
1. Austria
2. Belgium
3. Bulgaria
4. Croatia
5. Cyprus
6. Czech Republic
7. Denmark
8. Estonia
9. Finland
10. France
11. Germany
12. Greece
13. Hungary
14. Iceland
15. Ireland
16. Italy
17. Israel
18. Latvia
19. Lithuania
20. Luxembourg
21. Malta
22. Montenegro
23. Netherlands
24. Norway
25. Poland
26. Portugal
27. Romania
28. Russia
29. Serbia
30. Slovakia
31. Slovenia
32. Spain
33. Switzerland
34. Sweden
35. Turkey
36. Ukraine
37. United Kingdom
Countries in Asia
1. China
2. Hong Kong
3. India
4. Indonesia
5. Japan
6. Kazahstan
7. Malaysia
8. Phillipines
9. Singapore
10. South Korea
11. Sri Lanka
12. Thailand
13. United Arab Emirates
14. Vietnam
Countries in Africa
1. Cameroon
2. Egypt
3. Nigeria
4. South Africa
Countries in Americas
1. Argentina
2. Brazil
3. Canada
4. Chile
5. Colombia
6. Costa Rica
7. Ecuador
8. Guatemala
9. Mexico
10. Panama
11. Peru
12. United States
13. Uruguay
14. Venezuela
Countries in Oceania
1. Australia
2. New Zealand
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Most jurisdictions accent digitally signed affidavit's. Some require that you first receive a copy of the person's ID and then see them on a recorded video conference in which they 'swear in' (swear that they've been warned to tell the truth and know that there are penalties if they lie.
An alternative and fairly cheap option is to have these people sign in front of local lawyers in their area.
* Disclaimer: each jurisdiction is different, and this field is only now evolving due to covid. You should be able to contact the local Lawyer's Bar association and ask them for the current guidelines.
Good luck
