Statute-cited guides to e-signature legality across the GCC and MENA — what each law says, which signature tier each document needs, and what cannot be signed electronically. Written from the primary sources, in English and Arabic.
Decree-Law 16/2010 + CRA Decision 3/2025
Legal since 2010; the 2025 CRA Trust Services regime added the three-tier framework and the Qatar Trusted List.
Royal Decree M/18 (2007)
Legal since 2007 under the Electronic Transactions Law — Articles 9 and 14 give reliable e-signatures the same effect as wet ink.
Federal Decree-Law 46/2021
Legal under the 2021 Electronic Transactions and Trust Services law — three tiers, UAE Pass identity rail, free-zone carve-outs.
Royal Decree 39/2025
Legal since 2008 (RD 69/2008); the 2025 rewrite formally adopted the SES/AES/QES tier classification.
Law 54/2018 (ECTL)
Legal under the 2018 Electronic Communications and Transactions Law — a UNCITRAL-aligned rewrite of the 2002 statute.
Law 20/2014
Legal under the 2014 Electronic Transactions law — full evidentiary weight for most B2B and employment documents.
Law 15/2004 (ITIDA)
Legal since 2004 — one of the region’s oldest e-signature statutes, administered by ITIDA with licensed CSPs.
Common-law frameworks per zone
Each financial free zone runs its own common-law e-signature framework alongside the host state’s statute.
The terms eSign, e-sign, e-signature, and electronic signature all name the same thing — every guide above covers the statute regulating it in that jurisdiction. For how SahlSign itself meets these bars, see the compliance overview; to check a signed document, use the free PDF signature verifier.
SahlSign cites the signer’s jurisdiction statute on every completion certificate. Free plan includes 5 documents a month.
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