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Czech Republic

Electronic signature law in commercial contracts in the Czech Republic

Table of contents
  1. Definition and formal requirements of written legal statements or legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form
  2. Examples for legal statements and contracts where written form is required
  3. Are there special legal provisions for digital archiving and storage of electronic documents? If yes, please describe them
  4. Main and relevant court practices
  5. In which cases are documents only with wet ink signatures accepted?
  6. List of the relevant national legislation
  7. Are the following use cases deemed as written legal statements / legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form in your jurisdiction?
Czech Republic

Written legal statements require signature of acting person to be valid. The signature may be replaced by mechanical means where usual.

Legal statements in electronic (or other technical) form are also deemed to be written legal statements if it is possible to capture the content and identify the acting person.

As a general provision, donation and sale and purchase agreement (when the object is registered in public register), license agreement (if the license is exclusive or if it is to be registered into public register), insurance contract (if the insurance should last for more than one year), waiver of rights from defective performance, contract on provision of holiday services or agency agreements shall be in writing.

N/A

4. Main and relevant court practices

The Czech Supreme Court has held that the written form of legal acts requires the document to be in writing and signed.

The Supreme Court has also held that an officially verified signature has no electronic equivalent.

5. In which cases are documents only with wet ink signatures accepted?

In cases where it is required for the signature to be officially verified, because no electronic signature is currently considered as equivalent to officially verified wet ink signature and it is not possible to officially verify electronic signature.

Furthermore, if higher form of verification is required (notarial deed), e.g. in case of reservation of title or preliminary declaration.

Further, certain securities which cannot be emitted in electronic form, e.g.: bill of exchange.

From 1 February 2022, it will be possible to replace the requirement on officially verified signatures by use of certain electronic means, including electronic signatures based on a qualified certificate.

6. List of the relevant national legislation

  • Act No. 89/2012 Coll., Civil Code, as amended;
  • Act No. 90/2012 Coll., Business Corporations Act, as amended;
  • Act No. 99/1963 Coll., Civil Procedure Code, as amended;
  • Act No. 304/2013 Coll., Public Registers, as amended;
  • Act No. 297/2016 Coll., on Trust Services for Electronic Transactions, as amended;
  • Act No. 300/2008 Coll., on Electronic Acts and Authorised Conversion, as amended;
  • Act No. 12/2020 Coll., Digital Rights Act;
  • Act No. 499/2004 Coll., on Archiving and File Service, as amended.

1. Electronic document signed with qualified electronic signature (QES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) and with a time stamp

Yes

2. Electronic document signed with qualified electronic signature (QES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) without a time stamp

Yes

3. Electronic document signed with advanced electronic signature (AdES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) and with a time stamp

Yes 

4. Electronic document signed with advanced electronic signature (AdES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) without a time stamp

Yes

5. Electronic document signed with advanced biometric signature

Yes

6. Electronic document signed with a simple, standard electronic signature (SES)

Yes

7. Scanned electronic version of the original paper-based document with handwritten signature sent as an attachment in ordinary e-mail without an electronic signature, but with standard e-mail signature panel

Yes

8. Legal statement sent as a text of an ordinary e-mail without an electronic signature, but with a standard e-mail signature panel

Yes

9. Legal statement sent in an SMS

Yes

10. Electronic document with a copy-pasted image of a handwritten signature, sent as an attachment of an ordinary e-mail

Yes

11. Electronic document with the typed name of the signer and sent as an e-mail attachment

Yes

12. Electronic legal statement sent in a social-media message sending application (e.g. Messenger, Viber, LinkedIn, Facebook message, etc.)

Yes

13. Electronic legal statement sent in a chat application

Yes

14. Electronic document created on an electronic platform ensured by the other party requesting the legal statement (without an electronic signature) by another party whom the operator of the platform granted access 

Yes

15. Electronic document signed in DocuSign/Adobe Sign with a simple standard electronic signature (no QES or AdES)

N/A

16. Electronic document signed with a qualified electronic seal as defined in the eIDAS Regulation

Yes

17. Agreements accepted by the other party online, by ticking a checkbox or by clicking on a button ("click on agreements")

Yes

7.1 Remarks/Comments to use cases (if yes/no answer is not sufficient)

*We note that if the document is one for which "only wet-ink signature is accepted" (please generally see comments above), it is not currently possible to use electronic signature.

Authors

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Portrait ofTomáš Matĕjovský
Tomáš Matĕjovský
Partner
Prague
Portrait ofPetr Beneš
Petr Beneš
Senior Associate
Prague
Portrait ofJan Ježek
Jan Ježek
Senior Associate
Prague