E-signature has been officially recognized in Thailand since 2001 with the effectiveness of Electronic Transactions Act, B.E. 2544 (2001) (“ETA”). E-signatures have many advantages in terms of speed, cost, convenience, and security (in some cases).
自 2001 年佛曆2544年 (2001)《電子交易法》(“ETA”)生效以來，電子簽名已在泰國正式認可。電子簽名在速度、成本、便利性和安全性(在某些情況下)方面具有許多優勢。
According to ETA, e-signature can be letters, numbers, sounds, and any other symbol created in electronic forms in order to be composed with electronic data to illustrate a relation between a person and the electronic data to identify the e-signature owner and to show that the signatory accepts the statements of the electronic data.
根據ETA，電子簽名可以是字母、數字、聲音以及以電子形式創建的任何其他符號，以便與電子數據組成，說明人和電子數據之間的關係，以識別電子簽名所有人和以表明簽字人接受電子資料的陳述。
Thai laws do not explicitly specify what transactions should use e-signature and what type of e-signature should be used with. Hence, whether to apply e-signature and what type of e-signature to apply may depend on the purpose of such documents/data, and the level of reliability required. According to Section 9 of Electronic Transactions Act, B.E. 2544 (2001) (“ETA”), e-signature is deemed to be legally valid if the following conditions are met:
泰國法律沒有明確規定哪些交易應使用電子簽名以及應使用哪種類型的電子簽名。因此，是否應用電子簽名以及應用哪種類型的電子簽名可能取決於此類文件/資料的目的以及所需的可靠性等級。根據電子交易法佛曆2544年 (2001) (“ETA”) 第9條規定，符合以下條件的電子簽名被視為合法有效：
Ø E-signature is created by a process which is capable of identifying the signatory and demonstrating the signatory’s intention in relation to the information contained in the data message.
電子簽名是透過能夠識別簽署者並證明簽署者與資料電文中包含的資訊相關的意圖的過程而創建的。
Ø The above process is reliable and appropriate for the objective of which the data message is generated, taking into account the circumstances or related agreement; or capable of verifying the signatory’s identity and demonstration his/her intention in relation to the information contained in the data message either by itself or with other evidences.
考慮到具體情況或相關協議，上述過程對於資料電文產生的目的是可靠的、適當的；或能夠透過自身或其他證據來驗證簽字人的身分並證明其對資料電文所載資訊的意圖。
However, transactions relating to family and succession (Royal Decree Prescribing Civil and Commercial Transactions which are Exempted from the Application of the Law on Electronic Transactions, B.E. 2549 (2006) are not legal for e-signature and electronic documents. In addition, transactions requiring registration with certain government authorities cannot be done by e-signature in general. For instance, Thai Civil and Commercial Code requires sales or mortgage of immovable property (such as lands, buildings) to be registered with the Land Office. This type of transactions cannot be completed by using e-signatures as the Thai authority has not adopted internal regulations to allow registration work to be done by using electronic documents and e-signature.
然而，與家庭和繼承有關的交易 (佛曆2549年規定不受電子交易法適用的民事和商業交易的皇家法令) 對於電子簽名和電子文件來說是不合法的。此外，需要在某些政府機構註冊的交易一般不能透過電子簽名完成。例如，泰國民商法要求出售或抵押不動產 (例如土地、建築物) 必須在土地局登記。此類交易無法使用電子簽名完成，因為泰國當局尚未透過內部法規允許使用電子文件和電子簽名進行註冊。
Even though e-signature is considering convenience and less cost than wet ink signature, it is important to consider which type of transaction is compatible with e-signature and which type of e-signature is suitable for that transaction, to prevent the issue of validity of that transaction.
儘管電子簽名考慮的是比墨水簽名更便利性且花費更低，但重要的是要考慮哪種類型的交易與電子簽名兼容以及哪種類型的電子簽名適合該交易，防止該交易的有效性問題。