Is Cognito's Electronic Signatures feature UETA (Uniform Electronic Transactions Act) and ESIGN (Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act) compliant?
Our company uses the form builder feature and are thinking of incorporating the signature feature as well.
Best Answer
Cognito Forms supports the secure capture and long term retention of electronic signatures for use in electronically validating the identity and the explicit consent of the individual filling out the form. While Cognito Forms does provide the retention and printing capabilities required by these laws, there are a few additional steps organizations should take to be compliant:
Make sure you explicitly ask for consent to use electronic signatures. This consent could be outside of the form itself, such an initial engagement agreement, or it could be clear consent wording within the form itself for one-time submissions. If you ask for long-term consent, you must also provide a means for people to remove their consent at a later date.
As part of the consent option, provide paper-based alternatives for submitting documents, as some do not have access to computers and people have a right via these laws to not consent to electronic signatures.
Provide printable copies of the submitted forms to the signers, such as including a PDF copy in a confirmation email or allowing download following submission. You must provide a means for the signer to obtain a paper copy of the document for their own records in order to meet the consent requirements.
Outside of this, make sure to never delete the entries in Cognito Forms as long as these signed agreements are in force, as this meets the retention requirements for both laws.
Finally, we are about to release support for sending email confirmations manually when managing entries, which would allow you to send copies of submitted forms to the signer upon request. This will make it even easier to comply with the consent provisions of these laws.