Are electronic signatures legal in Bangladesh? The ICT Act 2006 and digital signatures

More and more paperwork in Bangladesh arrives as a PDF: a job offer from a Dhaka company, a supply contract from a foreign buyer, a tenancy agreement from a landlord who lives abroad, a board resolution that three directors in three cities need to approve. The obvious question is whether signing on screen counts, or whether someone still has to print, sign and courier it.

The answer is that Bangladesh has recognised electronic records and digital signatures since 2006, and its courts have had clear rules for digital evidence since 2022.

The short answer

• The Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006 (Act No. 39 of 2006, the "ICT Act") gives legal recognition to electronic records and digital signatures. Where any law requires a document to be signed, a digital signature affixed in the prescribed manner satisfies that requirement.
• Digital signatures are backed by certificates from Certifying Authorities licensed by the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA), which sits under the ICT Division.
• The Evidence (Amendment) Act, 2022 brought "digital records" into the Evidence Act, 1872. Courts now presume that a secure digital record has not been altered and that a secure digital signature was affixed by the subscriber with intent to sign, unless the contrary is proved.
• A contract can also be made by email or with a simple electronic signature (a typed name or signature image). It is not invalid just because it is electronic, but if it is disputed you must prove who signed.
• Documents that need registration, stamping or attestation (sale deeds of land, registered powers of attorney, wills with witnesses) still go through those paper-based procedures.

What the ICT Act, 2006 actually says

The ICT Act is modelled on the same UNCITRAL framework as India's IT Act, but it is not a copy of it. The provisions that matter for signing are:

• Authentication by digital signature. A subscriber may authenticate an electronic record by affixing a digital signature. The Act asks for a technology-neutral system or a standard, authentic signature-creation method.
• Legal recognition of electronic records. Where a law says information must be "in writing" or printed, that is satisfied by an electronic form that stays accessible for later reference.
• Legal recognition of digital signatures. Where a law says a document must be signed, that requirement is met by a digital signature "affixed in the defined manner".
• Secure digital signatures. A digital signature counts as secure if, by an agreed security procedure, it can be shown that when it was affixed it was unique to the signer, capable of identifying them, and created under their sole control: and it stops being valid if the record is altered afterwards.
• Controller and Certifying Authorities. The Act creates the office of the Controller of Certifying Authorities, who licenses Certifying Authorities (CAs), sets their standards, keeps the repository of certificates, and can recognise foreign CAs.
• No duty on government to go digital. The Act does not force any ministry or government body to accept electronic documents. Each office decides: which is why some accept a digitally signed PDF and others still want paper.

The office of the CCA was set up in 2011, and has since licensed several CAs, including the government's own BCC-CA (under the Bangladesh Computer Council) and private CAs such as Dohatec CA, Mango CA and Computer Services Limited. The CCA publishes the current list; check it before buying, because licences are granted and renewed over time.

The ICT Act has been amended several times since 2006, and its cybercrime provisions have been moved into later laws. The signature and certification provisions described here are the ones that remain relevant to signing documents.

A note on the words "digital" and "electronic"

Bangladeshi law mostly speaks of digital signatures: the certificate-based kind made with a private key. In everyday speech, people also call a typed name, a scanned signature, or a click-to-sign an "e-signature". The difference matters:

Evidence: the 2022 amendment

Before 2022, lawyers argued about how an email or a PDF should be proved in court. The Evidence (Amendment) Act, 2022 settled much of that by adding "digital record" to the Evidence Act, 1872 and inserting provisions on digital evidence, including:

• special provisions on how evidence relating to digital records is given;
• proof of digital signatures: where a digital signature is said to be someone's, that has to be proved, unless it is a secure digital signature;
• a presumption that a secure digital record has not been altered since it became secure, and that a secure digital signature was affixed by the subscriber with the intention of signing or approving the record.

Commentators have pointed out that the amendment borrowed older Indian wording and does not deal with every modern situation, so expect some questions to be worked out in court. What is clear is that a certificate-based digital signature puts you in a much stronger position than a pasted image.

Documents that still need paper

Unlike India's IT Act and Pakistan's Electronic Transactions Ordinance, the ICT Act, 2006 does not carry a schedule listing documents it does not apply to. That does not mean everything can be done online. Other laws set their own formalities, and those still govern:

• Sale, gift and mortgage of land. Transfers of immovable property must be made by a registered deed at the Sub-Registry under the Registration Act, 1908 and the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, with stamp duty paid. Signing a PDF does not register anything. (Land records services such as mutation are increasingly online, but that is a separate process.)
• Powers of attorney. The Power of Attorney Act, 2012 requires powers of attorney dealing with immovable property to be registered, and powers executed abroad to be authenticated by a Bangladeshi mission. Follow that procedure.
• Wills. A will must be executed as the relevant personal law and the Succession Act, 1925 require (for example, attested by witnesses where that law applies). There is no recognised procedure for an electronically signed will.
• Stamped instruments. Agreements that attract stamp duty under the Stamp Act, 1899 need the duty paid in the manner the government allows before they can be relied on in evidence.
• Affidavits and notarised documents: these require appearance before a notary or magistrate.

Common situations

Employment contracts and offer letters

Nothing in the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 requires a wet-ink signature on an appointment letter. Many employers send the letter as a PDF and ask for an electronic signature or a signed scan back. Keep the signed PDF and the record of who signed and when.

Business contracts, NDAs and supply agreements

Private contracts are governed by the Contract Act, 1872, which does not require any particular form for most agreements. An electronic signature from both sides is a valid way to conclude them. For large or cross-border contracts, a certificate-based signature or at least a strong audit trail makes the contract much easier to prove.

Tenancy agreements

A short residential tenancy agreement is an ordinary contract and can be signed electronically. A lease that must be registered (for example a lease of immovable property for more than a year) still needs registration, and stamp duty applies.

Government and banking

Government offices choose their own methods. e-Government Procurement, tax and company portals typically use their own login-based systems. Banks may ask for a digital signature from a licensed CA for certain services. Ask the office which method it accepts.

How to get a digital signature certificate in Bangladesh

1. Choose a CCA-licensed CA. Each publishes its certificate classes and fees.
2. Submit the application with your NID (and trade licence or company documents for an organisational certificate) and complete identity verification.
3. Receive the certificate. For the higher-assurance classes, CAs generate and keep the private key on a USB token or smart card; lower classes and some organisational certificates may be issued in a form you can store as a file.

The form matters if you want to sign on a website. A key locked inside a USB token cannot be uploaded anywhere: it is used through the token's software or desktop PDF software that supports tokens. If your CA issued the certificate as a .pfx or .p12 file (or lets you export it that way), you can use it with KovaPDF's Digital Signature tool.

How to sign with KovaPDF

• Several people must sign a contract, offer letter or tenancy agreement: use Request Signatures. Upload the PDF, add the signers, choose whether they sign in order, and place their signature, name and date fields. Each signer gets a private link and signs in the browser. No account needed. You can add an access code you tell them by phone. When all have signed, everyone receives the signed PDF with a certificate of completion (names, emails, times, IP addresses) and the file is sealed with a trusted timestamp, so any later change shows. This is a simple electronic signature with strong evidence, not a CCA-licensed digital signature.
• Only you need to sign: use Sign PDF to draw, type or upload your signature.
• You have a CCA-licensed certificate as a .pfx/.p12 file: use Digital Signature. It makes a standard PAdES digital signature with a trusted timestamp and, where the CA publishes revocation information, long-term validation data. The legal weight comes from your certificate, not from KovaPDF.
• You received a digitally signed PDF: check it with Verify PDF Signature. Bangladeshi CA certificates chain up to the CCA's root, which many foreign programs do not trust by default, so you may see "not trusted" even when the signature is intact. That line is about the root, not a sign of forgery.