Does an electronic signature have legal force??

This question interests many users who receive or want to receive EDS.

Now let's try to consider in detail this problem and find out what gives legal force document signed electronic cryptographic signature.

Digital signature has become a tool, without which it is currently impossible to perform certain actions that have legal significance, for example:

• Carry out document flow with government agencies and counterparty organizations.
• Sign contracts and major contracts remotely.
• Confirm your authorship.
• Submit tax returns, accounting reports.
• Receive information from the site public services and etc.

Since legal force is a special property that is given to something by force law, then due to its special significance the electronic signature has legal force. In addition, legal force A digital document is given: its mandatory details, confirmation of the authority of the body that issued it, authenticity, authenticity.

Official digital documents sent remotely:

• Confirms a person's identity.
• Are unchangeable.
• They have special protection against information falsification.
• Signed with an electronic signature, which is issued by specialized bodies and organizations.

Select signature

Based on these features, it can be argued that a document signed with digital signature has legal force fully.

In accordance with Federal Law No. 63 documents that are signed electronic signature, have the same legal significance as paper, signed by hand by a person. That is, EDS is an analogue handwritten signatures remote signer document, That's why legal force of digital signature undeniable.

Electronic document confirmed EDS, will have force absolutely in any legal relationship, be it commercial, banking, accounting, financial, tax and other areas. Electronic signature and legal force– a connection that is inextricable, because it is established by current legislation Russian Federation.

Is an electronic signature valid? Of course, if it is obtained in accordance with all the rules established by law and has all the necessary features to recognize it as legally significant.

Electronic digital key used for e-nog O document flow and received in accordance with requirements law, does document V electronic form equivalent to paper signed handwritten signature person.

This is the main thing legal meaning of an electronic signature.

So, the legal meaning electronic signatures and recognition document equivalent to the paper version with handwritten signature is established (as stated above) by virtue of law or by agreement of the parties. Therefore, consideration should be given to what should be included in such a law or agreement.

So they should contain:

1. The procedure for verifying an electronic cryptographic signature.
2. The rules by which the signatory of an electronic digital document is determined.
3. Obligations of the person who creates the digital signature to comply with confidentiality conditions.

Legal value of electronic signature– characteristic that every e- signature. This is not a direct indication law, but such conclusions can be drawn by analyzing the legislation as a whole. For example, provisions law“About accounting” they don’t say what type EDS should be used for accounting documents so that they are legally significant. At the same time, there are no restrictions on this matter. Therefore, we can assume that any signature will be considered equivalent handwritten cryptographic signatures person in this area.

The Tax Code, on the one hand, recognizes only document, signed by a strengthened qualified CPU, on the other hand, when filing a declaration by individuals, they are recognized as significant documents, which are signed by unqualified EDS.

In general, if we talk about the normative regulation of relations that have developed during the conduct electronic document flow, you can see big problem. And it is practically unsolvable. In Russia there is no law, which would contain all the necessary information about electronic document and its significance. This is due to the fact that currently a whole lot of documents, not having a paper form. Paper document flow is more or less regulated due to the fact that for a long time practice has developed a large number of legislative acts regulating separately each type document. At the same time, there is no practice, laws, or by-laws that would specify the rules and operating procedure electronic digital document flow, would explain the significance of this or that document, signed electronic cryptographic signature.

Under legal force of any document is generally understood the ability of a material medium with information recorded on it, alone or in combination with other documents, to cause certain legal consequences. It is the legal force of a document that determines its legal significance and the ability to be used as evidence in court.

GOST R51141-98 "Office management and archiving. Terms and definitions" defines legal force document as property of an official document, given to it by the current legislation, the competence of the body that issued it and the established procedure for registration.

So, the legal force of the document is interpreted as:

• 1) place in the general hierarchy of normative legal acts
• (law, regulation, decree, instruction, etc.);
• 2) obligation based on the principle of legality;
• 3) the competence of the body that issued the act.

In addition, in all cases, the document must be drawn up in the prescribed manner, and also come from a person authorized to create it.

GOST 2.051-2006-ESKD "Electronic documents. General provisions", put into effect by order of Rostekhregulirovanie dated June 22, 2006 No. 119-st, established that an electronic document consists of two parts: meaningful And props. Moreover, additional details can be entered into the details part, taking into account the specifics of the use and circulation of the electronic document. The nomenclature of additional details and the rules for their certification are established by the regulatory documents of the enterprise itself.

In this regard, the requisite part of any document is of particular importance. Let's take a closer look at it.

Contents of the document and its legal form always linked to certain details, as a rule, characterizing the entities who compiled and certified the document and allowing them to be identified. The details, in turn, are linked to the external and internal shape presentation of the document. GOST R 51141-98 "Office management and archiving. Terms and definitions" defines the details of a document as a mandatory element of its official registration.

The guideline for the correct execution of documents and the inclusion of the necessary attributes in their content is GOST 6.10.4-84 “Giving legal force to documents on computer media and a machine diagram created by computer technology. Basic provisions”, approved by Decree of the USSR State Standard of October 9, 1984 No. 3549. Among the details, this GOST names registration number document; registration date; signature (code) of the person responsible for producing the document or approving the document; contents of the document; name of the organization that created the document; location of the organization, etc. It should be noted that GOST 6.10.4-84 also allows for the introduction of additional details into a document on computer media.

Exists permanent part of the props document (an unchangeable part of the document applied during its production) and variable part of the props(changeable part of the document details entered when filling it out).

The absence of one or more details entails the nullity or invalidity of the electronic document. If the content or details of a document are distorted, the document may be falsified. Such a false document in a number of cases entails adverse consequences for its originator or bearer. For example, if falsification or forgery of such a document is detected, negative legal liability arises for the persons who committed such actions. In particular, administrative liability is provided for by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in Art. 14.13 (falsification of accounting and other accounting documents); Art. 19.23 (forgery of documents, stamps, seals or forms, their use, transfer or sale); Criminal liability follows from Art. 186.187, 233, 292, 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Details of traditional documents. The legal force of an official document ensures the availability of the necessary details. Mandatory details for some types of documents are the presence of the text itself, signature, date of production (drafting), name of the organization - the author of the document, code of the organization according to the national classifier of enterprises and organizations (OKPO), title of the document, date, index, text, visas, signature of officials persons, a note on the execution of the document and sending it to the file. Depending on the type of document and the procedure for its preparation and execution, the composition of the details may be very different.

Electronic document details. The electronic document must have more than wide range details called metadata, compared to traditional paper documents. This is because modern technologies allow you to make changes to the text without leaving any traces on the machine medium, therefore, to ensure the reliability of the electronic document, additional legal and technical protection mechanisms are needed. Let's name just a few of them:

• 1) supply of the document with an electronic signature;
• 2) the presence of another analogue of a handwritten signature, for example an EGP, which is an electronic analogue of traditional seals, stamps, handwritten signatures (facsimiles). In particular, the EGP can be immediately inserted into a text and graphic document in the Word editor, without requiring additional printing and scanning of the document. Thus, a document signed by an EGP is additionally protected from editing and illegal copying;
• 3) calculation of the control characteristics of the file using certain algorithms (calculation of the hash function).

The details, together with the content, give the document some certainty and carry Additional information. Thanks to these attributes, the document is given a strong-willed orientation; this happens, for example, at the moment the parties sign a network agreement. The details serve as proof that the information included in the content of the document was prepared and recorded on a medium by the person on whose behalf the document was signed and released into civil circulation.

The analysis showed that the signs of the legal force of the document are:

• 1) identification of the person who signed (drew up) the document;
• 2) availability of details (signatures, seals, other imprint);
• 3) the possibility of using the document as evidence in court; a document with details is capable of certifying certain facts, which does not allow it to be uncontrolledly changed or deleted.

So, the legal force of an electronic document is determined by the presence of the necessary attributes and the execution of the necessary legal procedures for their execution. At the same time, an electronic document also has its own specific features, due to a different technology for its production and circulation. The main difference between an electronic document is that it is impossible to sign in or on it in writing.

• GOST 2.051-2006-ESKD. Electronic documents. General provisions. M.: Standartinform, 2006.
• GOST 6.10.4-84. Giving legal force to documents on computer media and typographs created by computer technology. Basic provisions. M.: IPK Publishing House of Standards, 2001.

Good evening, Evgeniy.

Yes, a document signed with an electronic signature will have legal force.
Below I quote you the regulatory materials:

1. “Civil Code of the Russian Federation”,

Part one, Article 160, paragraph 2, which states:

“Use when making transactions... digital signature... is permitted in cases and in the manner provided for by law, other legal acts or by agreement of the parties»;

Part one, Article 434, paragraph 1

"If the parties agreed conclude an agreement in a certain form, it is considered concluded after giving it the agreed form, at least the law did not require such a form for contracts of this type.”

Part one, Article 434, paragraph 2

"Agreement in writing may be concluded...by exchanging documents through postal, telegraphic, teletype, telephone, electronic or other communications, allowing to reliably establish, What the document comes from a party to the contract";

2. Federal Law “On Information, Informatization and Information Protection”,

Chapter 2, Article 5, clause 3

"Legal force of the document, stored, processed and transmitted using automated information and telecommunication systems, can be confirmed electronically digitally signature.

Legal force electronic digital signature is recognized in the presence of in an automated information system software and hardware that ensures signature identification, and compliance with the established regime for their use";

3. Official materials of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation:

“The Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation considers it possible to accept as evidence in cases under consideration documents certified with an electronic signature [seal] of the “LAN Crypto” type;

"In the event that the parties have prepared and signed an agreement using electronic computing technology, which uses a digital (electronic) signature system, they can submit to the arbitration court evidence on a dispute arising from this agreement, also certified by a digital (electronic) signature .

If a dispute arises between the parties about the existence of an agreement and other documents signed with a digital (electronic) signature, the arbitration court should request from the parties an extract from the agreement, which indicates the procedure for reconciling disagreements, which party bears the burden of proving certain facts and reliability signatures.

Taking into account this procedure, the arbitration court verifies the reliability of the evidence presented by the parties. If necessary, the arbitration court has the right to order an examination of controversial issue, using the procedure provided for in the contract.

If such an agreement does not contain a procedure for reconciling disagreements and a procedure for proving the authenticity of the agreement and other documents, and one of the parties disputes the existence of a signed agreement and other documents, the arbitration court has the right not to accept as evidence documents signed with a digital (electronic) signature.

An arbitration court resolving such a dispute should evaluate the agreement concluded in this way, comprehensively consider the question of whether the parties voluntarily and knowledgeably included in the agreement a procedure for considering disputes and proving certain facts, and whether it was imposed on the party by the other party for the purpose of ensuring only one’s own interests and infringing on the interests of the other party, and taking into account this assessment, make a decision on a specific dispute."

Letter dated June 7, 1995 No. S1 / OZ-316, which reproduces the provisions of Article 5 of the Federal Law “On Information, Informatization and Information Protection” (see above), and also adds:

“It should be borne in mind that if the specified conditions are met, including when the legal force of the document is confirmed by an electronic digital signature, this document can be recognized as evidence in a case considered by the arbitration court.”

What can you advise if you want to prove that your addressee definitely received your messages and responded to you, but suspicions have already arisen that he refuses to confirm this information in the future? It can be recommended that in the paper version of the letter you refer to previously sent emails and those received as a response, and refer to them, by the way, not as the main subject of the letter. Do not forget that not only you may need to provide email as evidence, you should not take correspondence lightly on your part, including with candidates for a position, and not just with employees. The author of this article encountered the following example in practice. Employee personnel service rejected an applicant for the position, lawyer M., based on such a discriminatory parameter as gender. The manager wanted to work with a male lawyer, but a woman sent her resume.

Giving legal force to documents on electronic media

For simple solutions Usually no specialized systems are needed; any scanning or recognition program is sufficient. For larger volumes, consider using a professional system designed to capture document images, such as Kofax's Accent Capture or ActionPoint's InputAccel. These systems allow for mass input of documents with the organization of separate workstations for various types of work, with dedicated servers for processing, converting and recognizing images.
The algorithms built into them allow you to obtain high-quality images at maximum speed. They are focused on the use of industrial flow scanners. The prices of such systems range from several thousand to several tens of thousands of dollars.

Giving an electronic document legal force

Therefore, many experts believe that it is necessary to separately determine the procedure for providing and evaluating electronic means of evidence. The draft law on electronic commerce proposes to assume that all copies of electronic documents signed in the manner prescribed by law are originals. An electronic document cannot have an electronic copy.

But this provision remains a draft. Today, in order to be examined in court, electronic documents must be converted into written form, i.e. printed. Quoting the law: Art. Art. 59 “Relevance of evidence”, 60 “Admissibility of evidence”, Art. 67 “Assessment of evidence” of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation So, an electronic document is given legal force by: - ​​mandatory details; — confirmation of the creator’s authority; - authenticity and authenticity.

Features of storing, protecting and giving legal force to electronic documents

All copies of an electronic document signed with the same electronic analogue of a signature (electronic digital signature) have equal legal significance, subject to confirmation of their authenticity in accordance with the requirements of Federal laws. 2. An electronic document signed with an electronic analogue (electronic digital signature) has the same legal force as a written document and can be presented as judicial evidence. 3. A copy of an electronic document on paper has legal significance if it is signed with an electronic analogue of a signature (electronic digital signature), as well as if it is certified by a person authorized to authenticate in accordance with the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation.

Legal force of an electronic document and its mandatory attributes

Giving legal force to documents on computer media and typographs created by computer technology. Basic provisions". This Standard establishes requirements for the composition and content of the details that give an electronic document legal force, and also establishes the procedure for making changes to them. The electronic document must contain: — registration number; — registration date; — signature (code) of the person responsible for the correct production of the document or who approved the document; — contents of the document; — name of the organization that created the document; — location of the organization that created the document or postal address.
It is possible to use additional details, the main thing is that the required ones can be clearly identified.

33.. giving legal force to documents on computer media

Since if you store orders for personnel in in electronic format, and separately the employee’s receipt for familiarization in paper form, then if a conflict arises, the employee can say that he was not familiarized with the document that was properly stored in the organization. And it will be impossible to prove the opposite. We can make an unambiguous conclusion that at this stage A complete transition to electronic personnel document management is impossible. E-mail as evidence Using e-mail as evidence causes enormous difficulties, first of all, in identifying the person who sent from his mailbox an email with some information.
Moreover, if the contents of an e-mail are disclosed without the consent of the author of the message, then the letter can be excluded from evidence, because it was obtained in violation of the law.

Legal force of an electronic document

Another problem is the need to ensure the legal validity of electronic documents. But the further we go, the more often this problem can be solved as an ordinary organizational and technical problem. Thanks to the fact that a law regulating the use of electronic digital signatures (EDS) has finally been adopted, it has become possible to give electronic documents legal status.

According to the Federal Law “On Electronic Digital Signature” the federal law“On electronic digital signature” dated January 10, 2002, art. 4-12 // Collection of legislation of the Russian Federation. 2002. No. 2. Art. 127., an electronic digital signature in an electronic document is equivalent to a handwritten signature in a paper document, subject to certain conditions.

The concept of an electronic document, its legal force

Attention

IN Lately More and more large organizations and enterprises are switching to digital document management. Of course, this is very convenient and saves a significant amount of time. But this raises a serious question: what is the legal force of an electronic document? Content

• 1 From paper to electronic document management
  • 1.1 Details determining legal force
• 2 Correspondence protection
• 3 Special cases
• 4 Practical recommendations
• 5 What's next?

From paper to electronic document flow In 2001, the Federal Law regulating the use of electronic digital signatures came into force.

Since that moment, many organizations have changed the format of document management: from paper to digital or mixed.

Increased uniqueness

I am sending to the court by mail, along with the statement of claim, copies of 2-NDFL forms sent by mail from the place of work and copies of acceptance/dismissal orders. During my work, I repeatedly received orders and scanned copies of documents by email. How can this information from email be presented as evidence in court? The notary refuses to certify my printed correspondence. What can you advise in such a situation? Of course, the notary will refuse to certify a document taken from someone unknown. He needs to bring the computer from which the data was recorded. email correspondence, so that he can verify the fact of its presence, and then draw up a protocol with detailed description of your actions: turning on the computer, launching the email program, found emails. Only then are the emails printed and filed with the protocol.

Electronic documents as evidence

Authenticity The easiest way to ensure the authenticity of an electronic document is to use an electronic digital signature (EDS). When assessing the evidentiary value of an electronic document, the court takes into account, first of all, the reliability of the methods of generation, storage, transmission and identification of the author. For this, in addition to digital signature, a trusted system for processing electronic documents (trusted storage) is important.
What documents must be immediately drawn up on paper? Regardless of whether an electronic document management system is installed at the enterprise, all personnel documents for which labor legislation, employment contract, the collective labor agreement requires the consent of the employee, must be stored on paper, with the signatures of authorized persons and the employee.

Material for documentation. Its development.

Classifications of documents. Types and methods.

Requirements for the design of document forms. Types of forms.

Document form. The procedure for preparing the details of organizational and administrative documents.

The concepts of “unification” and “standardization” of documents. Development of unification and standardization of documents in the second half of the twentieth century.

The procedure for coordination and approval of documents, options and procedure for execution.

Document preparation algorithm.

Linguistic features of the text of official documents. Standardization of vocabulary, phrases, sentence construction, text. Document design.

Characteristics of the composition and scope of organizational documents; requirements for their preparation and execution.

Characteristics of the composition and scope of administrative documents; requirements for their preparation and execution.

Characteristics of the composition and scope of application of information documents (explanatory and memos (external and internal), certificates, acts); requirements for their preparation and execution.

Requirements for the preparation and execution of a service letter. Varieties of letters, telegrams, telephone messages.

Documenting collegial activities. “Scenario” for preparing and holding a meeting. Documents created during the preparation of the meeting. Requirements for the preparation and execution of the protocol.

Tasks and functions of the dow service, its structure, rights and responsibilities, types of work.

Forms of organization of office work (documentation support for management). Structure and functions of departments for documentation services of institutions.

Regulation of job responsibilities of dhow service employees. Requirements for the structure and composition of job description information.

Instructions for office work as the main normative document regulating the organization of office work: structure, procedure for preparation and execution.

Characteristics of the main document flows. Rules for document flow accounting.

Technology for processing incoming documents.

Stages of passage and execution of internal documents.

The procedure for preparing and processing outgoing documents.

Organization of control over the execution of documents and instructions.

Organization of current storage of files. Nomenclatures of cases: types, order of compilation, design features.

The concepts of “documentary fund” and “archival fund”. Primary and complex complexes of documents, types of complex complexes.

The concepts of “document value”, “value examination”. The emergence and development of expertise. Principles and criteria for examining the value of a document.

The procedure for documenting and organizing work with documents containing confidential information.

Definition of the concepts “object” and “subject” of organizational design. Theoretical foundations of organization, planning and design of control systems

The main stages (stages) of organizational design, features of each stage.

Types of labor standards and standards. Methods for their justification and development.

Concept of goal. The process of setting organizational goals. System of organizational goals.

Organizational structure design. Division and cooperation of managerial labor. Methodology for developing regulations on structural units and job descriptions.

Organization of workplaces for management personnel in the dow system. Diagnostics and design of working conditions for workers in the dow system.

Main directions and functions of the personnel management subsystem. Development of a personnel recruitment and selection system.

Personnel training and promotion system. System of payment and motivation of personnel.

Personnel information and documentation system.

Documentation support for hiring an employee.

Documentation support for personnel movement.

Documentation support for employee dismissal.

The procedure for maintaining and storing work books.

The concept of management information support, its structure.

Purpose and structure of unified documentation systems (UDS).

Goals and methods of unifying management documents.

Information management as a methodology for information support of management

The importance of international standards and regulations in the field of working with electronic documents and asdou

Russian legislative and regulatory framework in the field of working with electronic documents and computer systems

Electronic document management: opportunities, advantages, disadvantages.

Formation of an electronic archive: legal basis, procedure, prospects.

Analysis of the AC DOW market in Russia: classifications, main players, development trends.

Pre-project survey of the organization for the implementation of AS DOW.

Documentation support for the AS DOW implementation procedure.

Economic efficiency of electronic document management and the method of its calculation.

Legal status and e-mail capabilities in ac dou.

The concept of “electronic government”: theory, Russian practice, legislative support for implementation in Russia.

Typology of electronic document management systems.

Ensuring the legal force of electronic documents. Legal status of the electronic document.

Ensuring the safety and reliability of documentary information.

Automated workstation (AWS): concept, principles of construction.

Concept and typology of information technology dow.

Legal information reference systems.

Information technologies for document information protection.

Application programs for automation of personnel management.

Application of databases in document management.

Information technologies for document storage.

1. Ensuring the legal force of electronic documents. Legal status of the electronic document.

In order for an electronic document to have legal force, certain rules must be followed when creating, transmitting, processing and storing it. According to GOST R 51141--98 “Office management and archiving. Terms and definitions “the legal force of a document is “the property of an official document imparted to it by the current legislation, the competence of the body that issued it and the established procedure for execution.”

For electronic documents, there is currently GOST 6.10.4--84 “Unified documentation systems. Giving legal force to documents on computer media and typographs created by computer technology. Basic provisions.” This standard establishes requirements for the composition and content of the details that give an electronic document legal force, and also establishes the procedure for making changes to them.

An electronic document can and should have a legal regime that makes it equal to traditional documents.

According to this GOST, an electronic document must contain the following mandatory details:

registration number;

registration date;

signature (code) of the person responsible for the correct production of the document or who approved the document;

name of the organization - the creator of the document;

location of the organization - the creator of the document or postal address.

Thanks to the adoption of a law regulating the use of electronic digital signatures (EDS), it became possible to give electronic documents legal status.

The legal force of electronic documents can be ensured by the execution of a special legal procedure - the formation of an electronic signature signature recognized by the participants in the interaction or legitimized by a norm of law and regulated by legal acts. The legal force of electronic documents is ensured by establishing the powers of the person creating the document (its legal status), and by this person performing the signing procedure - including an electronic signature as an analogue of a person’s handwritten signature in the structure of the electronic document.

1. Ensuring the safety and reliability of documentary information.

Optimal storage conditions for documents are provided by:

Providing premises for the archive and carrying out scheduled preventive maintenance of premises;

Equipping the archive premises with fire extinguishing means, security and fire alarms;

The use of special equipment for storing documents (racks, safes, boxes, etc.);

Creating optimal temperature, humidity and light conditions in the archive room, carrying out sanitary and hygienic measures.

Archive storage should be removed from laboratory, production, storage and household premises associated with storage or use food products or chemicals, and do not share ventilation ducts with them.

Storage facilities must be fire safe, guaranteed against flooding, and have an emergency exit. There should be no gas, water supply, sewer or other main pipelines in the storage premises. Installation of non-main pipes is permitted provided they are isolated in special protective devices that prevent emissions from penetrating into the storage facility.

The external doors of the archive room must be covered with metal sheets and have strong bolts. During non-working hours they are sealed or sealed. The seal or seal is stored together with the keys with the person on duty at the organization or in the place established by the internal regulations.

The archive premises are equipped with a security alarm. Swinging metal bars with locks sealed with a seal are installed on windows whose location allows access from the outside.

Concealed electrical wiring is installed in archive storage rooms; Electrical wiring in gas pipes is allowed. Lighting fixtures are semi-hermetic. Lamps, electrical panels and distribution devices must be closed. Storage facilities are equipped with disconnect switches. Electrical distribution panels, fuses and switches are installed only outside storage facilities.

For fire protection purposes, all electrical equipment is provided with grounding.

The archive room is equipped with a fire-fighting water supply. Fire hydrants are installed on staircase landings. Each fire hydrant must have a rubberized hose extending to the extreme point of the storage facility.

Storage areas and rooms for working with documents must be equipped with a fire alarm.

Procedures for ensuring the safety of electronic documents can be divided into three types:

Ensuring the physical safety of files with electronic documents;

Providing conditions for reading information in the long term;

Providing conditions for reproducing electronic documents in so-called human-readable form.

Any modern storage media is quite reliable for storing electronic documents within 5 years.

Particular attention should be paid to the choice of media type in the event of the possible use of electronic documents as written evidence or forensic evidence. If it is unrealistic to give documents legal force using an electronic digital signature (EDS), then they should be copied in a timely manner onto CD-R - optical discs with information written once.

For long-term storage of electronic documents on external media, the best solution is to use optical CDs. They are easy to store and quite reliable for 10–15 years.

The specifics of storage conditions and modes are largely determined by the type of electronic media. For example, for long-term storage of magnetic media, special equipment is needed that would protect them from magnetic and electromagnetic influences environment, or place them away from powerful sources of electromagnetic fields - electric motors, heaters, elevator equipment, etc.