Electronic signature

Woman with laptop, mobile phone and coffee

Electronic signature saves time and hassle

We use electronic signatures in connection contracts, agreements on the right to use the service conduit area and electricity tax insurances.

The signature service is provided by Signom, a specialist in electronic signatures and identification. The company uses electronic signatures to identify the customer when using online services and vice versa. An electronic signature is legally valid. The service ascertains a person’s authority to sign on behalf of a company from the Trade Register.

An electricity tax insurance can also be electronically signed by means of a power of attorney, in which case a copy of the power of attorney is uploaded to the service before a personal signature. When using a power of attorney, a hard copy of the connection contract must be signed.

Benefits of an electronic signature

  • Ease and speed – saves time and hassle
  • Safety and reliability – corresponds fully to a manual signature
  • Environmentally friendly – no need to print out or send hard copies back and forth

Stages of the electronic signature: connection contracts and agreements on the right to use the service conduit area

  1. The request for a signature is sent to the customer’s email address from elenia@signom.com. The signatory must have a personal email address.
  2. Identification is carried out using online banking credentials or a mobile certificate.
  3. Review the document before signing. For security reasons, files requiring a signature are never emailed as an attachment. After signing, save the documents to your computer.

Stages of the electronic signature: electricity tax insurance

  1. Accessing the insurance form. The form is available in Finnish.
  2. Entering the location where the electricity is used and the company’s details in the insurance form.
  3. The request for a signature is sent to the email address provided on the form from elenia@signom.com. If the company has a shared authority to sign on behalf of the company, the request for a signature should be sent to each person with the authority to sign.
  4. Identification is carried out using online banking credentials or a mobile certificate.
  5. Reviewing and signing a document. When using a power of attorney for signing, the power of attorney must be uploaded to the service prior to signing.
  6. Storing a signed insurance policy. For security reasons, files requiring a signature are never emailed as an attachment. After signing, you must save the electricity tax insurance policy to your computer.

Legal validity

From a legal point of view, an electronic signature is just as binding as a traditional manual signature on a printed contract document. This has been officially verified in writing in the directive issued by the European Parliament and the European Commission regarding electronic signatures on 30 November 1999 and entered into force on 19 January 2000, which was implemented in Finland in the Act on Electronic Signatures (14/2003) issued on 24 January 2003. It was replaced in 2009 by the new Act on Strong Electronic Identification and Electronic Signatures (617/2009).

The Act on Strong Electronic Identification and Electronic Signatures (617/2009), 2(1), paragraphs 9 and 5). (in Finnish)