Electronic Signatures in Cyprus

1. General Principles – Categories of electronic signatures

The position under Cypriot law as regards electronic signature is essentially based on the the Regulation (EU) No.910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council dated 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (hereinafter the “Regulation”), with effect from 1 July 2016 as well as the Law 55(I)/2018 (the “Law of 2018”) which implements specific provisions of the Regulation.

Pursuant to the Regulation, the following principles are expressly provided: 

1. An electronic signature may be simple, advanced or qualified electronic signature. It is common practice in certain transactions in Cyprus to use as a simple electronic signature the name of the signatory at the bottom of an email address, a scanned signature or ticking a specific box.  
2. An advanced electronic signature is a sophisticated and secure form of electronic signature. It is a digital signature that is created with public key cryptography and inserted into the code of the electronic document.  
3. A qualified electronic signature is an advanced electronic signature for the purposes of which, a qualified certificate must be granted to the signatory by the appropriate authority of a Member State which shall contain, inter alia, details of the provider and the signatory and its validity period.  

2. Simple, advanced or qualified?

Regarding the legal effects of the electronic signatures, the Law of 2018 and Regulation, clearly state that simple and advanced electronic signatures shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings solely on the grounds that they are in an electronic form or that they do not meet the requirements for qualified electronic signatures.  

Despite the above general rule, the Regulation as well as the Law of 2018 expressly provide that a qualified electronic signature shall have the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature and shall be recognised as a qualified electronic signature in all other EU Member States.  

Therefore, it is clear that the Regulation and the Law of 2018 provide the qualified electronic signatures with the highest level of admissibility before the EU Courts (that is, there is a legal presumption of authenticity). Since there is no case law of the matter yet, it is for the contracting parties to de 

3. Will the signing of a contract be valid under Cyprus law?  

Under Cyprus law, a valid contract consists of the following elements: offer; acceptance; consideration and intention to create legal relations.   

In addition to the above elements, for certain contracts a particular form is required by statute. Particularly, under Cyprus law there are certain contracts that may or shall be made “in writing” or the presence of witnesses.  Therefore, the question which arises is whether the ‘writing’ element may include documents with electronic signature and if so whether electronically signed contract in the absence of witnesses will suffice.  

Since there is no case law on the matter yet, it is for the contracting parties to decide whether for a contract, specifically for a high-value contract, a signature in electronic form and/or in the absence of any witness, will constitute a valid contract. 

4. How to create a qualified electronic signature in Cyprus

In relation to the issuance of a qualified certificate of a qualified electronic signature or seal (hereinafter the “Certificate”), the person who wishes to obtain the Certificate, shall proceed with the filing at the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission of an appropriate application.