eSignature Legality Guide

None.

Standard Electronic Signatures (SES) are generally suitable for the following situations:

• Business contracts between companies, such as NDAs, procurement agreements, and sales contracts
• Consumer contracts, including documents for opening new retail accounts
• Typical rental and lease agreements

Cases where a type of electronic signature other than SES is required include:

• QES (using an electronic ID card) – employment contracts (Article 3bis of the Employment Contracts Act of 3 July 1978)
• QES – certain corporate documents, such as the transfer of nominative shares, stocks, or bonds when registered in official registries (Article 504, Belgium Company Code)
• QES – signing certain forms, including tax returns and applications submitted to public authorities
• QES – consumer credit agreements
• Contracts that create or transfer real estate rights (except for lease agreements, which can generally be signed with any form of electronic signature, subject to evidentiary rules; leases) (Article XII.16 of the Economic Law Code)
• Contracts that, by law, require the involvement of courts, public authorities, or professions exercising public authority (such as public or authentic deeds, especially those executed before a notary)
• Suretyship contracts and collateral securities provided by individuals acting outside their business, trade, or profession (Article XII.16 of the Economic Law Code)
• Contracts governed by family law or inheritance law (such as marriage contracts, adoption deeds, and pre-divorce agreements)

Certain transactions are specifically excluded from digital or electronic processes, or require handwritten (wet ink) signatures or formal notarial procedures, which are generally not compatible with electronic signatures or digital transaction management.

• Transfers or licenses of author rights signed by the original rights holder

[1] An AES, or “advanced electronic signature,” is a type of electronic signature that must: (a) be uniquely linked to the signer; (b) be capable of identifying the signer; (c) be created using means under the sole control of the signer; and (d) be connected to the signed data so that any changes can be detected.

[2] A QES, or “qualified electronic signature,” is a digital signature that meets specific government requirements, including the use of a secure signature creation device, and is certified as ‘qualified’ by the government or an authorized entity.

Belgium, as a country with a tiered eSignature legal model, recognizes QES (Qualified Electronic Signature), which requires independent certification by an approved body. While QES is only mandatory for certain transactions, as previously mentioned, Belgium follows the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) standards for QES technical requirements as part of the EU. Additionally, Belgium is among the few countries where an AdES (Advanced Electronic Signature) can, in some cases, substitute for a QES. An AdES does not need approval from a Belgian certification body but must use digital signature technology and may need to meet certain ETSI standards to be valid. Belgium, along with other EU countries, maintains a publicly accessible list of authorized qualified electronic certificate providers.