Counterpart signing to be legal from 1 July

Counterpart signing, and electronic delivery, of Scottish legal documents will be legal from 1 July 2015.

An order laid before the Scottish Parliament brings into force on that day the Legal Writings (Counterparts and Delivery) (Scotland) Act 2015, the legislation promoted by the Scottish Law Commission with support from the legal profession to modernise aspects of the Scots law of contract for the digital age.

The Act allows contracting parties to sign separate copies of the contract documents and exchange them, rather than all having to sign the same document. It also allows signed paper documents (not necessarily counterparts) to be delivered by electronic means, such as email attachment or fax.

It was the first Act to go through a special parliamentary procedure introduced for non-contentious law reforming measures.