From 2005, an electronic signature will have just as much worth as a hand-written signature. As the Federal Office for Communication (BAKOM) explained today, Friday, in Berne, the Swiss Federal Council has passed an order over the law concerning electronic signatures and set the date for the law to come into effect on the 1st of January next year. A bye-law over certification services concerning electronic signatures was passed too and is also set to come into operation on the 1st of January 2005. In 2003, the parliament had passed the law over certification services in the area of electronic signatures. This defined the conditions that voluntary certification service providers are subject to in being recognised. Furthermore, it stipulated the pre-requisites a signature has to meet in order to have the same effect as a hand-written signature.
"The new regulations are in compliance with the provisions in force at the European Union. They should allow the recognition of more certification service providers in the near future and help promote e-commerce and e-government in our country," said a spokesperson of BAKOM.
Quelle: Yahoo! Nachrichten, 03.12.2004
