It is possible to sign a contract electronically, even if only one of the parties has e-signature.

As the epidemiological situation is getting increasingly serious, more and more questions are asked in connection with our services. In the present article we collected the possible methods and information for the case when one of the parties would like to sign the contract on paper and the other party would like to use e-signature. Contracting this way absolutely complies with Hungarian law.

If I have e-signature, but the other party does not, how can we sign the contract?

A contract can be created in writing even if the parties do not sign the same copy, and / or they sign it in different ways. In this case, the contract is made up of the paper version and the electronic version jointly. If I have the copy of the contract signed by my e-signature, and I get the copy of the paper form of the contract from the other party, the contract comes into existence and it is provable.According to subsections 6:70 § (2) and (3) of the Hungarian Civil Code, it shall be considered as a written contract if the legal declarations of all the parties are not contained in the same document, but in separate documents, and these documents collectively represent the parties’ intentions. Moreover, a written contract is created even in such case if each party only signs such a copy that is intended for the other party.

What can we do, if one of the parties signs the paper version of the contract, and the other party uses e-signature, but they would like to see their agreement in one document?

In this case a qualified electronic copy of the paper version can be made, and the other party (who has e-signature) shall sign this copy. The qualified electronic copy signed this way shall be considered a written contract that contains in itself the mutual legal declaration of both parties.

If I can sign both the paper and the electronic version of a document, which method should I choose?

When deciding, please consider the following:

• If a document is signed with qualified electronic signature, it shall be considered as a private document providing full evidence according to the applicable Hungarian laws.
• If a document is signed with advanced electronic signature, it shall be presumed that the signature belongs to the signer and it is not falsified.
• In contrast, signing on paper per se does not have specific probative value according to Hungarian law, so the usage of electronic signatures is highly recommended.