(b) The provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to legislative provisions determined by the Minister, with the approval of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset, in the First Addendum.
In other words, wherever a provision of the law imposed a signature requirement, the law established an electronic signature that could be signed electronically, provided that it was an approved electronic signature as defined in the law.
This section was amended by Amendment No. 3 to the Electronic Signature Law of 2018, as detailed below.
Commemoration of the Banknotes Ordinance in the Electronic Signature Law
- Section 6 of the Electronic Signature Law in its original version provided as follows:
- The output of an electronic message signed with a secure electronic signature shall not be considered, in any legal proceeding, as a copy of the electronic message on the basis of which it was produced, but rather as the original.
- The provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to types of electronic messages, types of legal proceedings and certain uses of electronic messages, which the Minister has determined, with the approval of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset, in the Second Addendum.
On May 22, 2000, an electronic signature order was signed, in which the additions to the law were determined, and in the second appendix, item 2, the Banknotes Ordinance was mentioned. In other words, in accordance with that legislative arrangement, it was not possible to recognize the output as the original deed. This section was later repealed, and the Banknotes Ordinance is not mentioned in the valid version of the Electronic Signature Law. To present this development, I will address immediately.
Amendment No. 3 to the Electronic Signature Law of 2018
- In 2018, a comprehensive amendment was made to the Electronic Signature Law following lessons learned since its enactment, with the purpose of the amendment being to make the use of electronic signatures more common and accessible (see the introduction to the explanatory notes to the Electronic Signature Bill (Amendment No. 3), Appeal Other - 2018, Government Bill 1192 (hereinafter: Proposed Amendment No. 3 to the Electronic Signature Law)).
Section 2 of the Electronic Signature Law is different, and it stipulates the following wording, which is the current version :