eSignature Legality Guide

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

• Human resources documents, such as standard employment contracts (excluding termination notices), NDAs, employee invention agreements, privacy statements, benefits forms, and other onboarding paperwork
• Commercial contracts between companies, including NDAs, purchase orders, order confirmations, invoices, procurement documents, sales and distribution agreements, and service contracts
• Consumer contracts, such as documents for opening new retail accounts, sales and service terms, software licenses, purchase orders, order confirmations, invoices, shipping documents, user manuals, and policies (excluding consumer loan agreements)
• Residential and commercial lease contracts (unless the parties intend to register the agreement in the Land Register to create a right in rem)
• Software licensing agreements
• Intellectual property licenses, including patents, copyrights, and trademarks
• Transfers of intangible property, such as assignments of patents and copyrights

There are situations where a type of electronic signature other than SES is required, such as:

• QES – for terminating an employment contract (Employment Act, Article 112(1))
• QES – for submitting corporate documents to the Commercial Register (Commerce Act, Article 9(1))
• QES – for commercial pledge agreements (Commercial Pledge Act, Article 14)
• QES – for notary signatures (Notaries Act)
• QES – for powers of attorney issued by a legal entity (Civil Procedure Act, Article 85(2))

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

• Formal notarization – powers of attorney issued by individuals (Civil Procedure Act, Article 85(1))
• Formal notarization – applications to the Land Register to create, delete, or amend records concerning rights in rem (Land Register Act, Article 60)
• Formal notarization – specific agreements allowing expedited judicial enforcement, such as notarized fixed-term payment or return agreements (Civil Procedure Act, Article 400(1), sub 2) and notarized lease/rental agreements that require the tenant to return the property or vacate after the agreement ends (Civil Procedure Act, Article 400(1), sub 3)
• Formal notarization – certain family law acts, including nuptial agreements (Civil Law, Article 115), divorce (Civil Law, Article 69), and paternity acknowledgments (Civil Law, Article 155)
• Formal notarization – certain succession law acts, such as specific types of wills (Civil Law, Article 433) and inheritance agreements (Civil Law, Article 643)
• Formal notarization – company formation documents, such as applications to the Commercial Register, articles of association, share registers for limited liability companies, and consents to become a management board member (Commerce Act, Article 10(1))

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

[2] A QES is a specific form of digital signature that meets government-defined standards, uses a secure signature creation device, and is certified as ‘qualified’ by the government or an authorized party.

Latvia, as a country with a tiered eSignature legal model, recognizes Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES), which require independent accreditation by an authorized certification body. In accordance with EU Regulation No. 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services, Latvia, along with other EU countries, maintains a public list of supervisory authorities for qualified certificate providers.