RESOURCES

With COVID-19 it is becoming increasingly necessary to make use of video conferencing and other technology to facilitate meetings and the completing of legal transactions. One aspect to this is electronic signatures which allows the parties involved to execute documents without the need to print out and apply wet signatures to documents and then scan or courier said documents. Under the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 17 in Ontario the use of electronic signatures can be used in some situations if all parties expressly consent to the use of electronic signatures for the transaction. It is important to note however that electronic signatures are generally still not accepted by many financial institutions and shouldn’t be used if you are dealing with a financial institution unless the financial institution that you are dealing with in a transaction expressly agrees in advance to accept electronic signatures for all documents being executed.

If financing is not required for a transaction, you may want to look into adding a clause such as the one below into your agreements to make use of electronic signatures:

Electronic Execution

The parties acknowledge and agree that all closing documentation can be signed electronically and in counterparts and if so executed and delivered, each document shall be deemed to be an original, shall have the same effect as if each party so executing and delivering the document had executed the same copy of the document and all of which copies when taken together shall constitute one and the same document and same shall be forwarded by email or fax in accordance with the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000, S.O.2000, c.17

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Spencer S. Duggan is an Associate with Kormans LLP. His practice areas include employment issues, the purchase and sale of businesses, mergers, joint venture agreements, organizing business structures, shareholder agreements, re-organizing existing businesses and corporate structures, leasing, commercial real estate, debt finance and dispute resolution. You can reach Spencer at sduggan@kormans.ca. The information and comments herein are for the general information of the reader and are not intended as advice or opinion to be relied upon in relation to any particular circumstances. For particular application of the law to specific situations, the reader should seek professional advice. Kormans LLP cannot be responsible for the content of other sites. We expressly disclaim all liability with respect to actions taken or actions not taken based on content received from a third party website linked, directly or indirectly, to that of Kormans LLP.  The link to another site is not to be construed in any way as an endorsement of the host, the site or the information contained therein, nor is such link to be inferred as an association or affiliation with the host.