Is a simple electronic signature valid in the EU?

Yes. Article 25(1) says an electronic signature shall not be denied legal effect or admissibility as evidence solely because it is electronic or because it is not qualified. How much weight it carries depends on the evidence around it, which is why the audit trail matters.

When is a qualified electronic signature required?

eIDAS itself does not say. National law of each member state decides which documents need the written form that only a qualified signature replaces. Examples in some countries include certain employment, consumer credit, real estate and company law documents. Check the law that governs your document.

Does SignElectronically offer qualified electronic signatures?

No. A qualified signature needs a qualified certificate issued by a qualified trust service provider and a qualified signature creation device. We do not provide either. If your document requires a qualified signature, use a provider from the EU trusted list for that document.

What does eIDAS 2 change for electronic signatures?

Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 amended eIDAS and entered into force on May 20, 2024. It creates the European Digital Identity Framework and the EU Digital Identity Wallet. The three signature levels and the legal effects in Article 25 remain in place.

Does eIDAS apply in the United Kingdom?

The EU regulation no longer applies directly. The United Kingdom kept a version of it in domestic law after leaving the EU, together with the Electronic Communications Act 2000, and it uses the same three levels.

EU law

eIDAS Advanced Electronic Signature Requirements Explained

eIDAS is Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, which defines three levels of electronic signature in the European Union, simple, advanced and qualified. An advanced electronic signature must meet the four requirements of Article 26, covered below with an honest account of what our plans produce.

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Audit certificate

Certificate of completion

Sealed

EnvelopeClient services agreement

SHA-256 original9f2c 41ab 0e77 c3d5 … 8a10

SHA-256 final3b7e d902 5f1c a6e4 … 27cd

Time	Event	IP
2026-10-08 14:00:12 UTC	Envelope sent to [email protected]	203.0.113.24
2026-10-08 14:01:03 UTC	Email link opened, consent to electronic records given	198.51.100.7
2026-10-08 14:02:40 UTC	Signed by Maya Ross (email verified)	198.51.100.7
2026-10-08 16:41:19 UTC	Signed by Dan Lee (email code verified)	203.0.113.24
2026-10-08 16:41:21 UTC	Document sealed, copies sent to all parties	system

The three levels

Simple, advanced and qualified signatures compared

The three eIDAS electronic signature levels
Point	Simple (SES)	Advanced (AES)	Qualified (QES)
Defined in	Article 3(10)	Article 3(11) and Article 26	Article 3(12)
What it is	Data in electronic form attached to or logically associated with other data and used by the signatory to sign	An electronic signature that meets the four Article 26 requirements	An advanced signature created by a qualified signature creation device and based on a qualified certificate
Legal effect	Cannot be denied effect or admissibility solely for being electronic, Article 25(1)	The same as simple, with stronger evidence of who signed and of integrity	Equivalent to a handwritten signature, Article 25(2), and recognized in all member states, Article 25(3)
What it needs	No particular technology	Evidence of identity, sole control and integrity protection	A qualified certificate from a qualified trust service provider and a qualified device
Typical use	NDAs, sales contracts, purchase orders, internal approvals	Higher value contracts and regulated processes that ask for stronger identification	Documents where national law demands the written form
SignElectronically	Every plan	The Pro flow is designed to meet the requirements	Not offered

Typical uses are illustrations. The level a document needs is set by the national law that governs it.

Definition

Advanced electronic signature: An electronic signature which meets the requirements set out in Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.

Source, Article 3(11) of the regulation.

The regulation was adopted on July 23, 2014 and its trust service rules have applied since July 1, 2016. It applies directly in every member state, so the three levels mean the same thing in Lisbon and in Helsinki.

What differs between countries is which documents need which level. That part is left to national law.

In house counsel reading a marked up contract with a red pen next to statute books

Article 26

The four requirements for an advanced signature

Article 26 requirements and the matching parts of the Pro signing flow
Article 26 requirement	What it means	How the Pro flow addresses it
(a) Uniquely linked to the signatory	The signature belongs to one person and no other	A unique signing link per signer and email address, stored only as a hash
(b) Capable of identifying the signatory	You can tell who signed	One time codes by email and by SMS to the number the sender set, with the result written into the certificate
(c) Under the sole control of the signatory	Created with data the signatory can use under their sole control, with a high level of confidence	The codes reach only the signer's own inbox and phone, expire after 10 minutes and lock after 5 wrong attempts
(d) Any later change is detectable	The signature is linked to the signed data so that changes show	The final PDF is sealed and its SHA-256 hash is recorded, so a changed file fails the check

The Pro flow is designed to meet these requirements. Whether it does so for a given document and signer is a legal assessment that depends on your use case, and it is yours to make with your counsel. This page is general information and not legal advice.

The identity checks and sealing are described on the security page, and the evidence each signature leaves is listed on the audit trail page.

By plan

What each plan produces under eIDAS

Simple signature on every plan

Each completed envelope is a simple electronic signature with an audit certificate, a sealed PDF and a public hash check on the verify page.

Stronger identification on Pro

Pro adds the flow with email and SMS codes, signer IP details in the certificate and retention rules. Plan details are on pricing.

No qualified signature

We are not a qualified trust service provider and do not issue qualified certificates. Documents that need a qualified signature need a different tool.

eIDAS 2

What Regulation 2024/1183 adds

Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, often called eIDAS 2, amended the original regulation and entered into force on May 20, 2024. It establishes the European Digital Identity Framework.

Its main addition is the EU Digital Identity Wallet, which member states provide to citizens and residents and which can be used to identify yourself and to sign. The amendment also adds new trust services such as electronic attestations of attributes and electronic archiving.

For teams that send contracts today, the practical picture is unchanged. Simple, advanced and qualified remain the three levels, and Article 25 still governs their legal effect.

For contracts with US parties, see the ESIGN Act and UETA guide. For a short answer by region, see is an electronic signature legally binding.

Questions

eIDAS FAQ

It is an electronic signature that meets the four conditions of Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014. It is uniquely linked to the signatory, capable of identifying the signatory, created with data the signatory can use under their sole control with a high level of confidence, and linked to the signed data so that any later change is detectable.

See the evidence behind a signature

Sign one PDF with the demo on the homepage and look at the audit certificate and seal it produces.