Sign, seal and Skype: Electronic witnessing in NSW is now a thing!

It's taken a global pandemic to do it, but we can officially witness via Facetime (well at least during COVID).

At the end of March, the Government put in place regulation making powers to assist with electronic signing during COVID. Earlier this week, the regulations around electronic witnessing in NSW were released.

Okay so how does it work?

1. The tech: You can use any technology that enables continuous and simultaneous audio and visual communication to witness someone signing a document. That means Zoom, Facetime, Skype, Microsoft Teams are all in play.
2. The document: It applies to almost all documents including wills, powers of attorney, deeds (YAY!), agreements, enduring guardianship appointments, stat decs and affidavits.
3. The logistics: To satisfy the signing requirements, the witness must:
4. 1. watch the person signing the document in real time (sorry no you can't send a pre-recorded video of you signing);
   2. confirm the signature was witnessed by signing the document or a copy of the document;
   3. be satisfied the document the witness has is the same document, or a copy of the document, signed by the signatory;
   4. sign the document, with a statement specifying the method used to witness the signature (ie Zoom) and that the document was witnessed in accordance with the regs (this can be done as soon as practical after signing, rather than the
   5. former position, which was at the time the person signs).

The big question, can we now finally sign and witness fully electronically? We assume (and hope) that is the intention, however it isn't clear. The requirement to sign "the document or a copy of the document" could mean a physical document rather than a soft copy. While we think there certainly is scope to witness an electronic signature (aka screen share or use your phone to Facetime while affixing your signature on the computer), unfortunately to play it safe, we suggest you still dust off your printer and pens, and physically sign on camera.

We do not disclaim anything about this article. We're quite proud of it really.