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