Electronic signature law in commercial contracts in Hungary
- Definition and formal requirements of written legal statements or legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form
- Examples for legal statements and contracts where written form is required
- Are there special legal provisions for digital archiving and storage of electronic documents? If yes, please describe them
- Main and relevant court practices
- In which cases are documents with wet ink signatures required?
- List of the relevant national legislation
- Are the following use cases deemed as written legal statements / legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form in your jurisdiction?
jurisdiction
1. Definition and formal requirements of written legal statements or legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form
If a paper-based legal statement is signed with a handwritten signature. An electronic legal statement will be deemed to be written if:
- the signatory can be identified;
- the time of signature can be identified; and
- if the content of the electronic document is unchanged and this can be proved (integrity).
Although the definition of a written statement is as same as in the case of employment law, the Hungarian Supreme court interprets it differently in cases of civil law legal statements and commercial agreements: only commercial contracts signed with an advanced (AES) or qualified electronic signature (QES) qualify as written agreements.
2. Examples for legal statements and contracts where written form is required
There are many types of commercial agreement where a written form is mandatory under Hungarian law. The Civil Code and other Hungarian legal acts may require a written form for different types of contracts. Among others, agreements on maintaining ownership in the case of sale and purchase agreements, contracts containing pre-emption or repurchase rights, purchase or sale options, and licence contracts for copyright and neighbouring rights must be in writing. If the contract contains a mortgage, pledge, security deposit, suretyship or guarantee, at least those provisions must be in writing. Based on the practice of the Hungarian Supreme Court, an AES or QES is necessary for signing such contracts.
3. Are there special legal provisions for digital archiving and storage of electronic documents? If yes, please describe them
N/A
4. Main and relevant court practices
The Hungarian Appeal Court decisions stipulates that only electronic documents signed with QES or AES can be deemed as legally binding written documents when the law requires written form.
5. In which cases are documents with wet ink signatures required?
Real estate sale and purchase agreements and legal statements if they must be submitted to the land registry office.
6. List of the relevant national legislation
- Act V of 2013 on the Civil Code, EU eIDAS Regulation
7. Are the following use cases deemed as written legal statements / legal statements legally binding if the law requires written form in your jurisdiction?
1. Electronic document signed with qualified electronic signature (QES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) and with a time stamp | Yes |
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2. Electronic document signed with qualified electronic signature (QES as defined in the eIDAS Regulation) without a time stamp | No |
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 | No |
5. Electronic document signed with advanced biometric signature | Yes |
6. Electronic document signed with a simple, standard electronic signature (SES) | No |
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 | No |
8. Legal statement sent as a text of an ordinary e-mail without an electronic signature, but with a standard e-mail signature panel | No |
9. Legal statement sent in an SMS | No |
10. Electronic document with a copy-pasted image of a handwritten signature, sent as an attachment of an ordinary e-mail | No |
11. Electronic document with the typed name of the signer and sent as an e-mail attachment | No |
12. Electronic legal statement sent in a social-media message sending application (e.g. Messenger, Viber, LinkedIn, Facebook message, etc.) | No |
13. Electronic legal statement sent in a chat application | No |
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 | No |
15. Electronic document signed in DocuSign/Adobe Sign with a simple standard electronic signature (no QES or AdES) | No |
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") | No |
