You can conclude a contract without printing it even once: prepare the text, get it approved inside the company, send it to the counterparty, and have both sides sign it with a qualified electronic signature. Such a contract is a full-fledged original in written form. Below is a step-by-step guide plus answers to the most common questions.
When an electronic contract has full legal force
For most business-to-business contracts, civil legislation requires written form. An electronic contract satisfies this requirement when two conditions are met:
- The contract exists as an electronic document — an integral file containing the text of the agreement, not a messenger thread.
- Both parties have signed it with a qualified electronic signature (QES) — it is the QES that the law treats as equal to a handwritten signature.
A contract signed this way is accepted by courts, banks and regulators — see the detailed breakdown in the article on the legal force of an electronic signature in Ukraine. Certain categories of transactions (for example, those requiring notarization) have special rules, but typical commercial contracts — services, supply, contractor agreements, equipment leases, NDAs — can comfortably be concluded online.
Step 1. Prepare the contract text
Start from your standard template or a text agreed with your lawyer. If you are starting from scratch, you can generate a draft with AI: in eObig it is enough to describe the essence of the deal in your own words — and you get a structured contract draft, which you then refine in the built-in Word editor. It is also useful to run the text through AI risk analysis: it highlights ambiguous wording and clauses worth a second look. More on these capabilities in the article on AI for document workflow.
An AI draft is an accelerator, not a replacement for expertise: the final version of an important contract should be reviewed by the person responsible for the deal.
Step 2. Get internal approval
Before the counterparty sees the document, it usually needs sign-off from a lawyer, a finance manager or an executive. Instead of emailing versions back and forth, set up an approval route: the document automatically moves from approver to approver, each one comments or approves, and the entire history of edits and decisions is preserved. This removes the classic problem of "who actually approved this version?".
Step 3. Send it to the counterparty
Next comes the exchange. If the counterparty also works in an e-document system, the contract lands in their workspace within seconds, just like any document in online exchange with counterparties.
If the counterparty has no account, that is not a blocker. In eObig you can send a contract for signing without registration: the counterparty receives a link, opens the document in the browser, reviews it and signs with their QES. No "first create an account and learn the system".
Step 4. Both parties sign
Signing happens right in the browser, with no plugins or software to install. You select your key, enter the password — and the cryptographic operations run locally on your device: the private key and the password are never transmitted anywhere, which is fundamental to the security of browser-based signing.
The order of signatures can be anything, but usually the initiating party signs first and the counterparty second. Once both QES are applied, the contract is concluded. The status of each signature is visible on the document, and you can always verify it separately if needed.
Step 5. Keep the original in the archive
The signed contract automatically lands in the electronic archive: both parties hold an identical original, findable by search — by title, counterparty or date. Later, amendments and the primary documents under this contract — acts, invoices, delivery notes — are filed next to it. Such an original cannot be lost, and pulling it up three years later takes seconds.
Frequently asked questions
- Do we need a paper duplicate "just in case"? No. An electronic contract with the QES of both parties is the original. A printout would only be a copy; it is the electronic document that carries legal force.
- What do we show a bank or a court? The contract file with the applied signatures and the signature verification report. If needed, you can print a copy marked as a copy of an electronic original.
- What if the counterparty's signer has no QES? Getting a QES today is easy — banks and accredited trust service providers issue them, often remotely. It is a one-time step that covers months of work ahead.
- Can contracts with individuals and sole proprietors be concluded this way? Yes, the scheme is the same: written form plus the QES of both parties.
Key Takeaways
- An electronic contract signed with the QES of both parties has full legal force and is an original in written form.
- The path: text (an AI draft works) → internal approval → sending to the counterparty → signing by both parties → archive.
- A counterparty without an e-document system is not a problem: they can review and sign the contract without an account.
- No paper duplicate is needed: a printout is only a copy of the electronic original.
- The archive keeps the contract together with all its related primary documents and finds it in seconds.
Ready to conclude your first electronic contract? Start for free at portal.eobig.com or book a demo — we will walk the whole path with you, from draft to signed original.