New Zealand

From eSignatureLegalWiki.org

New Zealand
Legislation:	Electronic Transactions Act
Status:	Enacted
Year Enacted:	2002
Require Smart Cards:	No
Require Time-Stamping:	No
Excluded Documents:	None
Case Law:	None

Contents 1 History 2 Overview 3 Legislation Definitions & Excerpts 3.1 Electronic Signature Definitions 3.2 Requirements Pertaining to Electronic Signatures 3.3 Excluded Documents 4 Case Law 5 References

History

In 2002, New Zealand adopted the Electronic Transactions Act.

Overview

The Act has been described as "technologically neutral", in that it doesn’t require any particular technology to be used. Instead the signature must simply meet the functional requirements explained below.

Legislation Definitions & Excerpts

Electronic Signature Definitions

Requirements Pertaining to Electronic Signatures

Electronic signature will meet a legal requirement of the New Zealand Electronic Transactions Act for a document to be signed if the electronic signature:

• adequately identifies the person signing and adequately indicates that that person approves the accompanying information, and
• is as reliable as is appropriate given the purpose and circumstances of the signature

Further, if the legal requirement for a signature relates to information that is legally required to be given to someone, the person receiving it must have consented to receiving an electronic signature. A senior analyst from the Ministry of Economic Development has said that an electronic signature might cover anything from a hand-written signature at the bottom of a fax, to biometric methods of confirming identity (such as fingerprint scanning), to an electronic authentication provided by a certification authority using encryption technology (the Independent, 30 October 2002, p 4). The law presumes that an electronic signature is sufficiently reliable if:

• the means of creating the signature is linked to the person signing and no-one else, and
• the means of creating the signature was under the control of the person signing and no-one else, and
• any subsequent changes to the signature are detectable, and

any subsequent changes to the accompanying information are detectable (if the purpose of the signature requirement is to assure the integrity of that information)

Excluded Documents

Case Law

• Unknown

References

• [1]: Link to New Zealand’s law (English).