Costa Rica Enacts New Electronic Signature Law

Law Of Certificates, Digital Signatures And Electronic Documents 8454, was passed by the Legislative assembly of the Republic of Costa Rica in San José, August 23rd 2005. This law applies to all types of transactions, both public and private. The State and all of its companies are explicitly authorized to utilize the digital certificates, electronic documents and digital signatures (Article 1).

Electronic signatures and documents have legal recognition and functional equivalence to physical media. (Article 3, 4 and 18). Electronic documents and communications will have the same value and the probative efficacy as the equivalent signed manuscript and is considered registered when the digital certificate has been sent by the registered certifier (Article 8 and 9). Until proved otherwise by an opponent, an electronic signature is presumed to be in force at the moment of issuance. This presumption does not dispense of legal requirements of authentication, certification or registration (Article 10).

Businesses are able to legally store their files and documents in electronic form provided that the necessary security measures are taken to guarantee the accuracy of the file, accessibility and information regarding its origin. When transitioning matters of registration, files or endorsements that are required by law to be stored, the business should first get authorization from the appropriate authority (Article 6).

Articles 11 and 12 outline the requirements and mechanisms of validating electronic document systems. There should be a linking or means of associating the document, the digital signature and the individual signing the document. The file should have a means of authentication and integrity verification. The system should utilize a mechanism of certification or validation that would operate from machine to machine, program to program and even systems of public and private keys or other systems that offer optimum security.

This research was published by PrivaSign. PrivaSign has compiled one of the largest, web-based, electronic signature law libraries available anywhere on the Internet and complies with most state, federal and international laws. For a more detailed analysis of this and other electronic signature laws please visit http://privasign.com/laws.asp and
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