Acceptance of Digitally Signed Documents (Circular No. 3 of 2021)

Circular No. 3 of 2021 Date: 5 th March, 2021 Acceptance of digitally signed documents This Circular is being issued with the aim of notifying all stakeholders of the Financial Services Authority’s (the Authority) acceptance of electronic documents that have been digitally signed and should be read in conjunction with the previously issued Circular No.13 of 2020 which outlines the current framework for authentication and acceptance of digital signatures. In line with the Electronic Transactions Act, 2001 and the Electronic Transactions (Affixing of Digital Signature) Regulations, 2018, the Authority has taken a policy decision to accept only documents which are digitally signed using digital certificates issued by certifying authorities from DocuSign. The principal reason for such stems from an assured validation process which provides additional security to the Authority. The Authority also wishes to stress that digitally signed documents must at all time affix its digital certificate in order for the digital document to be official and accepted by the Authority. This is due to the fact that it is the digital certificate that provides the authenticity and validity of the digital signature. Digital signatures generated using digital certificates issued by any other Certifying Authorities will not be accepted. Financial Services Authority