The Signature in Public Law with a Special Focus on Digitisation

In law, the (handwritten) signature is of paramount importance. At the same time, however, its existence is hardly ever questioned. Against this background, Liliane Obrecht's PhD project ("Unterschriftserfordernisse im öffentlichen Recht unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Digitalisierung" - Signature Requirements in Public Law with Special Consideration of Digitisation) first examines the question of existing signature requirements in Swiss administrative procedural law and investigates their different functions. Although there are already a few substitute forms for the signature, practice has shown that in particular the qualified electronic signature and the regulated electronic seal pursuant to the Federal Act on Electronic Signatures (ZertES, SR 943.03) fall far short of expectations. Therefore, in a second step, approaches to solutions for regulating the signature in the digital space de lege ferenda will be presented, while maintaining the relevant legal requirements.