The Cabinet on Thursday approved a slew of draft amendments to the Electronic Signatures Act (電子簽章法), specifying the legality of electronic signatures and introducing provisions to pave the way for their international interoperability.
The draft amendments to the act, a law that has been in effect since 2002, but has not undergone any amendments to date, were proposed by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and are to be sent to the Legislative Yuan for review, the Executive Yuan said.
Specifying that electronic signatures and signatures on paper have equal functionality and legality, the draft bill introduces a key provision stating that “electronic documents and electronic signatures shall not be denied solely because of their electronic form,” according to a document submitted to the Cabinet by the ministry.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
To facilitate mutual recognition of electronic signatures between Taiwan and the international community, the government would also be able to acknowledge the legality of electronic signatures issued by overseas and domestic institutions that comply with international standards, set by organizations such as the EU or the International Organization for Standardization, a ministry statement said.
“In terms of international application, as long as the certification technologies of both parties are interoperable and security conditions are equivalent, Taiwan’s courts can recognize the legality of the electronic documents,” the ministry said, including examples such as Acrobat Sign and DocuSign.
Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Lee Huai-jen (李懷仁) told a news conference that one of the key points of the amendments is to work toward the integration of certification technologies with other nations.
He said that once certification authorities in foreign nations receive Taiwan’s approval, Taiwanese and foreign entities could use electronic signatures on their official documents.
Digital signatures are more secure than general electronic signatures in terms of effectiveness, strength and security standards, because digital signatures utilize encrypted private keys and are issued by government-approved certification authorities, Lee said.
Digital signatures use algorithms or other methods to process an electronic document into digital data and encrypt the signatory’s private key to create an electronic signature, the draft amendments say.
Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said at a news conference at the ministry on Thursday afternoon that she had received support from different political parties regarding the draft amendments and hoped to pass them in this legislative session.
“In terms of the public, in any situation requiring a signature or seal, after the passage of the new [draft amendments to the] Electronic Signatures Act, individuals would be able to use electronic signatures as long as the other party does not object,” Tang said.
The ministry would put procedures in place to ensure digital signatures are verified before accounts associated with them are able to publish investment advertisements on Facebook, Google or Line — the three major online advertising platforms in Taiwan — to reduce investment fraud and fake advertising, she said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS