The risk analysis will of course include the cost of having the signature made more reliable and the cost of its being not genuine.

This may involve checking the signature against known genuine versions of it, or getting the signature witnessed, notarized or guaranteed by a bank, etc.

In commercial transactions, the person relying on a signature always takes the risk that the signature is not genuine, so he evaluates the risk that the signature is not genuine and protects himself accordingly.

Signature might be anything.

It also means that even if there was no dispute about the identity of the person signing or the fact of signing (i.e. no dispute as to authenticity of the electronic signature), a court or trier of fact may still rule that the electronic signature was not appropriately reliable, and therefore invalidate the entire contract.

(a) The authenticity of electronic signatures relating to tenders can be established comply with relevant electronic signature legislation, e.g. that based on Model Law on Electronic Signatures

Signature Signature

Ambassador Raph Uwechue

of the Russian Federation of Tajikistan to the of Uzbekistan to the to the United Nations United Nations United Nations English Page

Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations

(Signed) P. Chkheidze Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations

Real name

Real Name

Real name

In the Model Law on Electronic Commerce, article 7 and article 13 together affirmed the validity of an electronic signature and allowed the attribution of the data message to an originator as long as the addressee used a method agreed upon with the originator to verify the authenticity of the message, without the need to demonstrate the authenticity of the signature itself.

It is not the form of the signature, but the proven link between the signature and the purported signor based on the context, that gives the signature its legal effect.

(Signed) A. Lukashenko President of the Republic of Belarus Annex III

(Signed) R. Alimov

In order to establish the signature's function of linking the signor with the signed document, the context of the signing will always have to be demonstrated, whether the signature is on paper or electronic.

Controller Director United Nations Acting High

The party relying on a signature, whether handwritten or electronic, takes the risk that the signature is not valid or that it is a forgery.

V. Putin President of the People's President of the Republic of China Russian Federation

Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations (Signed) Ion Gorita

(Signed) Timothy Wirth President Annex II

(Signed) SHEN Guofang (Signed) Sergey LAVROV Ambassador Ambassador

of the Russian Federation to the United Nations A 53 770

Vienna

Signatures

Sign

Signing

Sign

Signature

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(Unofficial translation)

GE.97 11936 (E)

(Signed)

In order to achieve functional equivalence between handwritten signatures and electronic signatures, there should not be any additional reliability requirement for electronic signatures as contained in paragraph 3 (b) of article 9.

(Signed) Mr. Ivo ŠRÁMEK (Signed) Mr. Jorgen B JER

(Signed) Mrs. Marjatta RASI (Signed) M. Alain DEJAMMET

(Signed) Mr. Stephen GOMERSALL (Signed) Mr. Bill RICHARDSON

(Signed) Prime Minister of Japan (Signed) President of the Russian Federation

(Signed) Juan MARTABIT (Chile) (Signed) Victor E. BEAUGE

Please enter a real name.

Real user name

Both the cross X and machine printed name are legally valid signatures, though questions of proof may arise. In each case, it is a matter of proof whether the purported signor did in fact sign in that manner and intended thereby to sign the document.