Federal ESIGN over state UETA. No statutory tiers.
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country listed
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no statutory tiers
Two instruments operate together. The federal ESIGN Act (2000) provides that a signature, contract or record may not be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form, and applies to transactions in interstate or foreign commerce. UETA, a uniform act drafted by the Uniform Law Commission (1999), has been enacted in 49 states; New York instead has its own Electronic Signatures and Records Act. ESIGN preempts inconsistent state law but yields to a state's enactment of UETA. Neither instrument grades signatures into tiers — the question is whether the signature was executed with intent to sign and is attributable to the signer, which is proved by the surrounding record rather than by the signature's technical form. Both carve out categories including wills, testamentary trusts, and certain family-law and Uniform Commercial Code matters.
Neither ESIGN nor UETA grades electronic signatures into tiers. Enforceability turns on intent and attribution, evidenced by the record surrounding the signature.
Every statement above traces to one of these. Open any of them.
Placement follows the published source named on each entry, not a reading of every national statute. A country moves to a more specific family only once its own law has been sourced.
Countries with a gold outline have a full page of their own.
General information — not legal advice
This page summarizes electronic signature legislation drawn from primary legal sources and international bodies including UNCITRAL and UNCTAD. It is not legal advice and creates no solicitor–client or attorney–client relationship. Laws change, and how they apply depends on the transaction, the parties, and the document type. Before relying on electronic signatures for a regulated, high-value, or cross-border transaction — or for any document type listed as excluded — take advice from qualified counsel in the jurisdiction whose law governs that transaction. That is a separate question from the governing law of your agreement with SignForge, which is set out in our Terms of Service.
Last reviewed: 10 August 2026