Update on e-documents

E-invoice, e-signature, e-contract… All these documents have in common dematerialization, but this is not enough to give them legal value. Are there real e-documents? How to recognize them and how to edit them?

Electronic version of legal documents

There is a difference between a “real” electronic document and a simple dematerialized file. For a PowerPoint presentation or an e-book, it doesn’t really matter. On the other hand, this distinction interests us for documents that have legal value: an invoice, a pay slip, a signed quote, a rental contract… It is in these situations of commitment that it is important to ensure the validity of an electronic document.

How to recognize a real e-document?

To be recognized as authentic, an e-document must have been created in digital format. This effectively excludes digitization.

The example of the e-invoice

If you take your edited invoice in paper format, put it on the scanner and manage to capture a perfect flawless, color scanned version, you will not get an e-invoice. You will only have a digital version of your paper invoice. A process far too wobbly to meet the very demanding criteria of the regulations. And it’s not over ! Your native e-invoice must then be transmitted and received in dematerialized format. This assumes that the recipient is able to receive your e-file. This is why the regulatory timetable for the deployment of mandatory electronic invoicing for inter-company exchanges is taking place in two stages. The priority is to ensure that all recipients are able to receive, read and process e-invoices, before obliging all companies to issue invoices in electronic format.

The case of the dematerialized payslip

The same principle applies to the payslip which is created in electronic format, then made available to employees from their personal spaces. With the generalization of dematerialization of HR documentsthe original payslip has gradually become its electronic version and no longer its paper version.

The digital lease with electronic signature

The digital lease is another very widespread e-document, particularly since the health crisis and its travel restrictions. In order not to slow down transactions, it was necessary to quickly develop an authorized, but still hesitant, practice. However, the rule is relatively simple. The legal value of the dematerialized contract is essentially based on the validity of the electronic signature.

How to recognize a real electronic signature?

The real electronic signature is not a simple photograph of the handwritten version. Intended to affix its agreement to an e-document, the e-signature must also have been created in digital format. Specifically, it is electronic data that is associated with the document. The signatory uses this data to electronically sign his document. To do this, he can use an e-signature tool or more broadly an electronic document management software (EDM). A electronic signature affixed in good and due form guarantees the identity of the signatory and the integrity of the signed document. It therefore has legal value.