The role of criminal legislations in fighting against the esignature related crimes : a comparative study

Abstract EN

The present study aimed to shed a light on the e-signature-related crimes under the Egyptian, Saudi, and Jordanian laws.

The researcher selected this subject because the e-signature has become essential for conducting legal transactions and exchanging data and information between people.

If the e-signature is considered a secure and reliable from people’s perspective, the problems associated with it shall decrease.

Penal protection for one’s e-signature related rights can be provided through criminalizing the acts that may reduce the reliability and admissibility of the e-signature as a mean of proof.

Providing such protection shall make the parties who use e-signature feel that this signature is a reliable method for concluding transactions regardless of the space separating them.

For instance, enforcing the Jordanian electronic transactions law has facilitated the use of electronic means for concluding transactions.

However, the latter law doesn’t criminalize the crimes related to e-transactions in general nor the ones related to e-signature in particular.

Similar to the Egyptian and Saudi legislators, the Jordanian legislator should provide special penal protection for the rights related to e-transactions and e-signatures through the Jordanian electronic transactions law.

For instance, the Egyptian and Saudi legislators have criminalized some acts that are considered e-signature-related crimes.