In the US, signing contracts electronically isn’t anything new. We’ve gone from faxing signatures to PDFing signatures to signing with e-signature programs like DocuSign. Brazil, on the other hand, has been stuck in the stone age. Worried about fraud, manually signing paper contracts (and even initialing every page) has been the norm.

Even with the increase in cross-border transactions, not much changed. But then came Covid. Now, there’s a real need for signing documents remotely because nobody closes transactions in person anymore. And so Brazil has had to adapt - and it has. Today, it’s not uncommon for contracts to be signed electronically, whether it’s a purchase agreement or even a deed to a house.

Contracts are valid in Brazil no matter whether they’re signed manually or electronically. However, Brazilian law has some additional requirements for electronically signed agreements. You must be able to prove “authenticity” and “integrity”. In this case, authenticity refers to verifying the identity of the signatories while integrity means the contract reflects what the parties agreed to. And if a digital certificate (ICP-Brasil) isn’t used, then the parties need to agree to the use of electronic signatures.

While PDF or faxed signatures are valid in Brazil, there’s room for fraud. The authenticity and integrity requirements are hard to confirm. E-signature software, on the other hand, creates an audit trail that shows who signed. Identity verification; date and time stamp; and IP tracking all help to ensure that signed documents are enforceable.

Electronic signatures have made doing business (particularly international business) more efficient and less burdensome. And now you can confidently e-sign contracts from anywhere in the world knowing that those contracts will be valid in Brazil.