國際電子簽章法制發展趨勢與我國因應之道

The Development of International Electronic Signature Legislation and a Comparative Study with the Taiwan Electronic Signature Law

人們持續驚豔於快速發展的數位科技與令人眼花撩亂的數位商務模式，甚至迫不急待地討論法制應如何回應元宇宙等尚處於發展階段、輪廓及邊界均未臻明確的嶄新概念。然而「電子簽章法」此一我國在數位化應用最為重要的科技立法，2001年制定以降即未曾進行修正；惟制定之初所考量的科技應用已出現重大變化，包括成為常態的行動化、雲端化到虛、實整合應用趨勢，均是立法時難以想見之場景。為因應數位經濟發展需求，主要國家積極檢討自身電子簽章立法進行修正之必要，國際立法也從早期以規範自然人簽章應用為主之情形，進一步擴大適用範疇，並藉由法規調適打造網路信任服務暨可資信任之整體應用環境。向為各國師法對象的歐盟，在其新法創設「法人電子印鑑」此一使企業愈發便利使用電子簽章的重要機制，同時納入「電子時戳」、「網站認證憑證」及「電子掛號寄送」等我國所無之重要舉措。本文透過分析國際立法，梳理我國現行電子簽章法適用上存在疑義之處並提出具體修正建議，此外，本文亦建議我國可參考歐盟作法導入法人電子印鑑概念，除助益企業更富效率地應用電子簽章，並將有助於解決傳統印鑑偽刻及印鑑證明制度受詬病之處等長期存在且似無有效對策之問題。

Taiwan’s current Electronic Signature Law was enacted in 2001 which has not been amended since its enactment. The overall technology application environment has gradually undergone significant changes, including the trend of mobile application, cloud application to virtual and real integration, which is unimaginable at the time of legislation and has become a normal situation nowadays. In order to meet the needs of the development of digital economy, major countries are actively reviewing the need to amend and update their electronic signature legislation. The international legislation has also expanded the scope of application from the original focus on regulating the application of electronic signatures and further constructed the online trust services and overall trust environment of the network. The European Union implemented Electronic Identification and Trust Services Regulation (eIDAS) in 2016, replacing the original Electronic Signatures Directive. The new law introduces important mechanisms, such as the“electronic seal of legal person,”“electronic time stamp,”“certificate for website authentication,”and“electronic registered delivery”which are not available in Taiwan. By comparing the international legislation examples, this article analyzes and evaluate the existing problems in the current domestic electronic signature law, and puts forward the corresponding amendment suggestions. The author also suggests that the concept of electronic seal for legal person can be introduced in Taiwan by referring to the practice of European Union, which will not only help enterprises to use electronic seal effectively, but also help solve the problems of traditional seal forgery and the criticism of seal certification system.