In Belgium, electronic signatures are governed by the European eIDAS Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 910\/2014), supplemented by the Code of Economic Law and the Civil Code. The regulation distinguishes between three types: the standard, the advanced, and the qualified electronic signature. Only the qualified signature is legally equivalent to a handwritten signature. The other two types may not be rejected solely because they are electronic, but the court has discretion to determine whether they identify the signatory and express the signatory\u2019s intent. This page summarizes the rules, case law, and the reasoning to be followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Electronic signatures have existed under Belgian law for more than twenty-five years. The Act of October 20, 2000<\/a> introducing the use of telecommunications and electronic signatures in judicial and extrajudicial proceedings, amended what was then Article 1322 of the former Civil Code. Since then, a set of electronic data that can be attributed to a specific person and guarantees the integrity of the document\u2019s content has been able to serve as a signature. The electronic signature has thus been incorporated into Belgian law through the law of evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A year later, the Act of July 9, 2001<\/a> establishing certain rules regarding the legal framework for electronic signatures and certification services was enacted. That law implemented Directive 1999\/93\/EC<\/a> of December 13, 1999, on a common framework for electronic signatures, and granted electronic signatures general legal status, even outside the context of evidence law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since July 1, 2016, the European regulation has been the cornerstone of the system. The eIDAS regulation<\/a>, formally known as Regulation (EU) No. 910\/2014 of July 23, 2014, on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market, repealed the 1999 directive and is directly applicable in all Member States. Belgium implemented it through the Act of July 21, 2016<\/a> which implements and supplements the regulation, incorporating the rules on trust services into Book XII of the Code of Economic Law (CEL).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The regulation has been substantially amended by Regulation (EU) 2024\/1183<\/a> dated April 11, 2024, published on April 30, 2024, and commonly referred to as \u201ceIDAS 2.\u201d This amendment introduces the European digital identity wallet and expands the range of trust services. eIDAS 2 makes few changes to the rules governing electronic signatures themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two Belgian statutes supplement the European framework. The CEL<\/a> contains, in Book XII, the rules governing electronic contracts and trust services. The Civil Code<\/a> (CC) defines the signature in Book 8 on Evidence and reiterates its functional equivalence in Book 5 on Obligations. In addition, numerous special laws require a qualified electronic signature for specific documents; the most important of these are discussed in Part 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The eIDAS Regulation defines what an electronic signature is, but not what a signature is. The latter remains a matter of national law. For Belgium, the answer is found in Article 8.1, 2\u00b0 of the Civil Code: a signature is a mark or a sequence of marks, made by hand, electronically, or by any other means, by which a person identifies themselves and expresses their intent. This definition is technology-neutral and identifies the two functions that every signature must fulfill: identifying the signatory and expressing their consent to the content. Although it is found in the law of evidence, in practice it serves as the general definition applicable to all areas of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Article 8.1, 3\u00b0 of the Belgian Civil Code does not define the electronic signature on its own, but refers to Article 3, 10\u00b0 through 12\u00b0 of the eIDAS Regulation. Belgian law thus adopts the European three-part classification verbatim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Article 3 of the regulation defines three types of electronic signatures. Each subsequent category is a more stringent version of the previous one. The table below compares them side by side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. Definitions: what a signature is and the three types distinguished by eIDAS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2.1 The signature under Belgian Law<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
2.2 The three categories of the eIDAS Regulation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n