This note provides a high level overview of the position on electronic signatures in Jersey and Guernsey. The subject has been of particular interest recently, since businesses inside and outside of the Channel Islands began adopting working from home procedures in response to COVID-19 social distancing protocols.

The primary relevant legislation in Jersey is the Electronic Communications (Jersey) Law 2000, as helpfully amended in October 2019 by the Electronic Communications (Amendment of Law) (Jersey) Regulations 2019. Guernsey’s primary legislation is the Electronic Transactions (Guernsey) Law, 2000 (as amended).

Fundamentally, it is clear as a matter of the laws of both Jersey and Guernsey that contracts may be formed by electronic means. There is no legal distinction drawn between exchanges of emails, application of signatures using specialist apps, copying snipping or scanning and pasting of pdf signatures into pdf docs, typing in of names in BOLD CAPITALS in lieu of signatures and so forth. That said, our view is that best practice would involve signatories each applying their own e-signature using a specialist e-signing application.

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