On December 20, 2016, the Tribunale di Roma held the unauthorized use of a digital signature smart card could nullify an electronically signed agreement.
In this case the Plaintiff had denied the digital subscription of an agreement that transferred stock ownership.
Since the share transfer agreement was signed electronically, the judge found that the Codice dell’Amministrazione Digitale, the Italian digital code (CAD) governs the issue of validity of the subscription. According to the CAD, it is the owner of the digital signature device that has the burden to prove that she did not sign the document whose legitimacy is questioned.
In this case, Plaintiff – the alleged seller – was able to prove that he was not where and when the share transfer agreement was signed. The court therefore declared the share transfer agreement void.
The judgment n. 1127/2017 rendered by the Tribunale di Roma, sezione III civile on December 20, 2017, is available at http://www.giurisprudenzadelleimprese.it…
For more information, Francesca Giannoni-Crystal and Federica Romanelli.
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