ESIGN Act and UETA Compliance Overview
In the United States, two laws make electronic signatures the legal equal of ink: the federal ESIGN Act (2000) and UETA, its state-level counterpart adopted by most states. Here's what they require and how Inkfree satisfies each requirement automatically.
What the Laws Require
1. Intent to sign: the signer must take a deliberate action indicating agreement.
2. Consent to do business electronically: parties must agree to use electronic records.
3. A record of the process: how the signature was captured must be documented.
4. Retention: signed documents must be stored and reproducible for all parties.
How Inkfree Meets Each One
• Intent: signing is a multi-step deliberate act, open, review, click Start signing, apply your mark, click Finish. Nobody signs by accident.
• Consent: consent language is presented and the signer's acceptance is recorded with a timestamp.
• Process record: the audit trail captures every step, delivery, views, verification, signature, with IP addresses and timestamps.
• Retention: completed documents are stored in your account, sealed against tampering, and automatically emailed to every party. Every audit event is also sealed into a hash chain you can verify on demand.
When you send through Inkfre e, ESIGN and UETA compliance isn't something you configure, it's how the platform works by default.