e-Sign Disclosures

What is e-Sign Disclosures?

An e-Disclosure is an agreement which is provided to the signer (consumer) by the requester (business) stating they agree to have their documents transmitted and receive electronically. It also includes the signer's rights regarding if they later withdrawal their consent and any consequences of this decision. 

Why do e-Disclosures exists? 

The "Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act" (eSign act of 2000) specifies in section 101 subsection C that the consumer (signatory)"consent electronically, in a manner that reasonably demonstrates that the consumer can access information in the electronic form that will be used to provide the information that is the subject of the consent"

When do you need to enable e-Sign Disclosure?

Typically this is necessary if your company is a Business to Consumer company. 

How to enable it? 

All of our paid plans include e-Sign Disclosure so any admin can enable it by following the steps below: 

1. Login to HelloSign.com
2. Hover over your login email in the upper righthand corner and click on 'Settings'
3. The Business features page opens automatically, scroll down toward the last section on the page and check the box next to Require e-Sign Disclosure
4. Add in the business name.
5. Optional: To change or add additional text check the box labeled 'Add additional disclosure text' and then scroll to the bottom of the box below it. 
6. To preview the Disclosure text your signers will see click on the preview button.

Once enabled all users on the account will have e-Sign disclosures enabled on their requests. Users who are members or developers are not able to enable e-Sign Disclosures. 

What will the signer need to do?

When signers open signature requests a note with a checkbox will appear in the upper right corner of the request, next to the 'Getting Started' button. The signer will need to check the box off indicating they agree to the e-signing process. If they wish they can view the 'electronic records and signature agreement' before checking the box. 

Once the signer has opted in by checking the box and they complete the signature request then an entry on the audit trail will appear stating the date and time the box was checked and it will also include the agreement guide. 

If a signer has checked the box once they will not see the disclosure check box again if they receive another request from the same team. However, if the signer receives a request from a sender on a different team they will have to check the box again. 

**Please note: HelloSign does not provide specific legal advice for our customers as to whether using an eSign disclosure is necessary, and recommend that you check with your own legal team for specific advice.