{"head":{"title":"What Is an Electronic Signature? Definition | OceanLab","description":"An electronic signature is a way to sign a document or approve a record in software. Where it is legally valid, what regulated uses add, and mistakes.","canonical":"https://oceanlab.in/glossary/e-signature"},"crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"Glossary","path":"/glossary"},{"name":"e-signature","path":"/glossary/e-signature"}],"slug":"e-signature","term":"Electronic signature (e-signature)","aka":["e-signature","electronic signature","esign"],"category":"Compliance","short":"A way of signing a document or approving a record electronically, so it carries the signer's intent the way a handwritten signature would.","body":[["An e-signature can be a typed name, a drawn signature, a click on I agree or a cryptographic signature. In the US, the ESIGN Act says a signature, contract or record may not be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form. Other countries have their own laws, and the EU sets levels of electronic signature with different legal weight."],["Some uses set extra rules. In FDA-regulated work, 21 CFR Part 11 asks for signatures linked to their records, showing the signer's printed name, the date and time, and the meaning of the signature, such as reviewed or approved."]],"why":["E-signatures remove printing, scanning and couriers from contracts, consent forms and approvals. The legal value depends on proof: who signed, that they meant to, and that the document has not changed since. A product that cannot show that may not hold up in a dispute or an inspection."],"example":["A clinical trial app asks a site investigator to approve a protocol change. They re-enter their password, choose approved as the meaning and sign. The record stores their name, the time, the meaning and a hash of the document version, and the ",{"href":"/glossary/audit-trail","text":"audit trail"}," shows the step."],"inBuild":["For most contracts we integrate an established e-signature provider through its API and ",{"href":"/glossary/webhook","text":"webhooks"},". For regulated approvals inside the product, we build signing with re-authentication, a stated meaning, a locked document version and a link to the audit trail."],"mistakes":[["Treating a checkbox as enough for a use where the law or customer expects stronger proof."],["Letting a signed document be edited afterwards without voiding the signature."],["Storing the signature image but not who signed, when and on which version."]],"related":[{"href":"/glossary/audit-trail","label":"Audit trail","detail":"A secure, time-stamped history of who created, changed or deleted a record, kept so the record can be trusted later."},{"href":"/glossary/gxp","label":"GxP (good practice regulations)","detail":"The family of good practice rules, such as manufacturing (GMP), clinical (GCP) and laboratory (GLP) practice, that regulated life sciences work must follow."},{"href":"/glossary/maker-checker","label":"Maker-checker (four-eyes principle)","detail":"A control where one person makes a change and a different person must approve it before it takes effect."},{"href":"/glossary/webhook","label":"Webhook","detail":"An HTTP request one system sends to a URL you choose as soon as an event happens, so you do not have to keep asking."},{"href":"/glossary/audit-log","label":"Audit log","detail":"A record of who did what in a system, when and from where, kept so actions can be traced later."}],"tools":[],"links":[{"href":"/compliance/21-cfr-part-11","label":"21 CFR Part 11 guide","detail":"FDA rules for electronic records and signatures."},{"href":"/compliance","label":"Compliance guides","detail":"What each rule means for the software you build."}],"sources":[{"title":"15 U.S.C. 7001, the ESIGN Act general rule (govinfo)","url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title15/html/USCODE-2023-title15-chap96-subchapI-sec7001.htm","checkedAt":"2026-10-25"},{"title":"21 CFR Part 11, Electronic records; electronic signatures (eCFR)","url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-11","checkedAt":"2026-10-25"}],"legal":true,"updatedAt":"2026-10-25"}