The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, signed by President Clinton on June 30, could make it easier, faster, and less expensive to conduct business online.
Challenges remain before companies can reap the full benefits of E-signatures.
Businesses have to decide how to secure such transactions and retool online applications to accept and store them. But no one doubts that in the coming years, more businesses and consumers will be signing legal documents on the digital line. Online brokerage Ameritrade Inc. welcomes the e-Sign Act, which goes into effect Oct. 1. Even though E-signatures are already legally binding in more than 40 states, differences over what constitutes such a signature in each state have kept some companies from supporting digital John Hancocks. That's one reason Ameritrade hasn't introduced E-signatures as an option for opening accounts or requesting checks, though it's been looking at doing so for almost a year.