Widely used in businesses, scanned signatures offer a practical and quick way to exchange informational and contractual documents. A recurring confusion surrounding the concept of electronic evidence tends to conflate scanned signatures with electronic signatures.
Following its introduction into the French Civil Code [formerly Articles 1316-1 et seq., now Articles 1366 and 1367], “electronic documents have the same probative value as documents on paper, provided that the person from whom they originate can be duly identified and that they are created and stored under conditions that guarantee their integrity.”
Civil Code: The absence of proof of a scanned signature
A scanned signature is analyzed as the graphic representation of its author’s personal mark, converted through a digitization process.
The affixing of this recorded “image” to a document cannot, under any circumstances, certify the identity of its user. A document containing a scanned signature is therefore excluded from the status of formal evidence and considered instead as a preliminary form of proof.
Find more details in our previous article.
Scanned signature: legal criteria
Case law has established several criteria for recognizing a document bearing a scanned signature as admissible evidence, including the reliability of the authentication process and the certain identification of the person [1].
As a result, numerous court decisions have refused to validate certain documents based solely on the presence of a handwritten or scanned signature, particularly in judicial and administrative proceedings:
trademark applications with the INPI [2], documents issued by civil registrars [3], notices of appeal [4], reports of analyses from pharmaceutical laboratories [5], and enforcement orders issued by the RSI [6].
Others have upheld the validity of the document when a signature is not legally required [7].
A progressive and contextual recognition of the scanned signature
The scanned signature process has, however, been recently validated by the courts, particularly in matters of membership applications[8] and bills of exchange[9].
Documents bearing electronic signatures were validated in these cases based on evidence of the express authorization of the person who affixed the scanned signature or the production of the original document[10].
In 2017, two decisions by the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence also validated the scanned signature process on a loan agreement[11], based on the observation of factual acts[12]: the consent and commitment of the signatory[13].
[1] En matière de courrier électronique, Cass. soc., 25 sept. 2013, n°11-25.884 ; Cass. 2e civ., 13 févr. 2014, no 12-16.839 ; CA Nîmes, 2e ch., sect. B com., 14 sept. 2006, n° 06/407 ; CA Paris, 3e ch., sect. A, 10 oct. 2006, n° 05-18789; Cour d’appel, Paris, 25 Mai 2018 n° 14/00342.
[2] Concernant la signature scannée apposée sur la demande d’enregistrement d’une marque auprès de l’INPI, CA Fort-de-France, ch. civ., 14 déc. 2012, n° 12/00311.
[3] Rép. min. n° 62900 : JOAN Q 17 mai 2016, p. 4236 ; J. Massip, G. Launoy, Synthèse, Règles générales applicables en matière d’état civil : officiers de l’état civil, actes et registres, livret de famille (C.civ., art. 34 à 46), 20 avril 2018
[4] CA Besançon, 20 oct. 2000 ; Cass. 2e civ., 30 avr. 2003, n° 00-46.467.
[5] CE n° 351931, 13 juil. 2013.
[6] Contrainte comprenant une simple signature scannée sans autres éléments permettant de s’assurer de l’identité de l’auteur de l’acte et sa compétence, CA Rouen, ch. Soc., 20.09.2017, n°16/05131.
[7] Mise en demeure de l’URSSAF Cass. 2e civ., 17 mars 2011, n° 10-30.501.
[8] Cass. 1re civ., 6 avr. 2016, n° 15-10.732.
[9] Validation des documents scannés dont les originaux ont été reproduit à l’audience, CA Montpellier, 2e ch., 20 juin 2017, n° 15/04137 ; CA Montpellier, 2e ch., 20 juin 2017, n° 15/04137.
[10] Validation des documents scannés dont les originaux ont été reproduit à l’audience, CA Montpellier, 2e ch., 20 juin 2017, n° 15/04137.
[11] CA Aix-en-Provence, 8e ch. C, 9 mars 2017, n° 14/16204 ; CA Aix-en-Provence, ch. 8 B, 27 avr. 2017, n° 15/06339
[12] Dans ces affaires, la libération de sommes allouées au titre du contrat de prèt.
[13] E. Caprioli, Validité de la signature scannée sur un acte de prèt, CCE n°12, décembre 2017, comm.102.
