signature
noun · Unterschrift
Unterschrift on paper, elektronische Signatur on screen, and only the qualified grade replaces statutory written form, § 126a BGB. Elektronische Unterschrift is the blend the statutes never use, and some written-form rules refuse even the qualified signature, the employment termination of § 623 BGB among them.
Which translation, when
Why
German splits the signature by medium and grades the electronic side. On paper, Schriftform means die eigenhändige Namensunterschrift, § 126 Abs. 1 BGB, and a scanned image of it satisfies neither. On screen, the statutory word is die elektronische Signatur, graded by the eIDAS regulation into simple, advanced and qualified, Art. 3 Nr. 10 bis 12 der Verordnung (EU) Nr. 910/2014, and only the qualified grade replaces statutory written form, § 126a BGB, while the click-to-sign products deliver the lower grades as a rule, so signed electronically can mean formally unsigned. A few doors stay shut even for the qualified grade, the statute can exclude electronic form altogether, § 623 BGB does it for employment terminations, the suretyship rule next door runs the same way. Below all this sits die Textform, § 126b BGB, no signature at all, an e-mail suffices where the law asks only for text, which completes the ladder the drafter must climb consciously, Textform, Schriftform, notarial form. Elektronische Unterschrift, finally, is the layman’s blend, fluent, common and absent from the statutes that decide validity.
Typical mistakes
- Elektronische Unterschrift ist Laienmischung, the statute’s word is die elektronische Signatur, and form audits search for the statutory term.
- The grades are not decoration, only the qualifizierte elektronische Signatur replaces Schriftform, § 126a BGB, and the click-to-sign products deliver lower eIDAS grades as a rule, so signed electronically can mean formally unsigned.
- Some doors stay shut even for the qualified grade, § 623 BGB excludes electronic form for employment terminations altogether, paper and ink or nothing.
What matters
E-signing rollouts meet German form law at the edge cases: the framework agreement signs fine electronically, the statutory Schriftform documents need the qualified signature, § 126a BGB, and the employment termination refuses screens entirely, § 623 BGB. The policy that says elektronische Unterschrift throughout has already told the form auditor which statute nobody read.
What the machine misses
Signature splits by medium in German and machine output blends the two, elektronische Unterschrift, a compound no statute carries, where the law says elektronische Signatur. The grading underneath decides validity, only the qualified level replaces written form and a few statutes refuse even that, so the blended word smooths over exactly the distinction on which the signed document stands or falls.
Examples
| handwritten signature | die eigenhändige Unterschrift |
| qualified electronic signature | die qualifizierte elektronische Signatur |
| to sign the agreement | den Vertrag unterzeichnen |
| signature block | der Unterschriftenblock |