10-12-1 G

*** CODE SECTION ***

10/15/99

10-12-1. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Georgia Electronic Records and Signatures Act."

10-12-2. The provisions of this chapter shall be construed to promote the development of electronic government and electronic commerce.

10-12-3. As used in this chapter the term:

(1) "Electronic" means, without limitation, analog, digital, electronic, magnetic, mechanical, optical, chemical, electromagnetic, electromechanical, electrochemical, or other similar means.

(2) "Electronic record" means information created, transmitted, received, or stored by electronic means and retrievable in human perceivable form.

(3) "Electronic signature" means a signature created, transmitted, received, or stored by electronic means and includes but is not limited to a secure electronic signature.

(4) "Person" means a natural person, corporation, trust, partnership, incorporated or unincorporated association, or any other legal entity, and also includes any department, agency, authority, or instrumentality of the state or its political subdivisions.

(5) "Record" means information created, transmitted, received, or stored either in human perceivable form or in a form that is retrievable in human perceivable form.

(6) "Secure electronic signature" means an electronic or digital method executed or adopted by a party with the intent to be bound by or to authenticate a record, which is unique to the person using it, is capable of verification, is under the sole control of the person using it, and is linked to data in such a manner that if the data are changed the electronic signature is invalidated.

(7) "Signature" means any symbol or method that a person causes to be attached to or logically associated with a record with the intent to sign such record.

10-12-4.

(a) Records and signatures shall not be denied legal effect or validity solely on the grounds that they are electronic.

(b) In any legal proceeding, an electronic record or electronic signature shall not be inadmissible as evidence solely on the basis that it is electronic.

(c) When a rule of law requires a writing, an electronic record satisfies that rule of law.

(d) When a rule of law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies that rule of law.

(e) When a rule of law requires an original record or signature, an electronic record or electronic signature shall satisfy such rule of law.

(f) Nothing in this Code section shall prevent a party from contesting an electronic record or signature on the basis of fraud.

(g) Nothing in this Code section shall relieve any party to a legal proceeding from complying with applicable rules of evidence requiring authentication or identification of a record or signature as a condition precedent to its admission into evidence.

(h) Where the authenticity or the integrity of an electronic record or signature is challenged in a court of law, the proponent of the electronic record or signature shall have the burden of proving that the electronic record or signature is authentic.

(i) Notwithstanding the preceding subsections of this Code section, the legal validity, effect, and admissibility of electronic records and electronic signatures shall be limited as follows:

(1) Each department, agency, authority, or instrumentality of the state or its political subdivisions shall determine how and the extent to which it will create, send, receive, store, recognize, accept, be bound by, or otherwise use electronic records or electronic signatures. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require any department, agency, authority, or instrumentality of the state or its political subdivisions to create, send, receive, store, recognize, accept, be bound by, or otherwise use electronic records or electronic signatures;

(2) A consumer shall not be required to create, send, receive, recognize, accept, be bound by, or otherwise use electronic records or electronic signatures without such consumer's consent. This paragraph shall apply to natural persons when engaged in transactions involving money, property, or services primarily used for household purposes; and

(3) The provisions of this Code section shall not apply to any rule of law governing the creation or execution of a will or testamentary or donative trust, living will, or health care power of attorney, or to any record that serves as a unique and transferable physical token of rights and obligations, including, without limitation, negotiable instruments and instruments of title wherein possession of the instrument is deemed to confer title.

(j) Any rule of law which requires a notary shall be deemed satisfied by the secure electronic signature of such notary.

10-12-5.

A person whose electronic signature is used in an unauthorized fashion may recover or obtain any or all of the following against the person who engaged in such unauthorized use, provided that the use of such electronic signature in an unauthorized fashion was negligent, reckless, or intentional:

(1) Actual damages;

(2) Equitable relief, including, but not limited to, an injunction or restitution of money or property; (

3) Punitive damages under the circumstances set forth in Code Section 51-12-5.1;

(4) Reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses; and

(5) Any other relief which the court deems proper. Nothing in this Code section shall be deemed to waive the sovereign immunity otherwise provided by law to the state or any of its political subdivisions.