Short answer: yes, with caveats per jurisdiction.
Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Electronic Transactions Law (royal decree M/18, 2007, with 2021 amendments) recognizes electronic signatures as legally equivalent to handwritten ones for most civil and commercial contracts.
What's excluded:
- Marriage, divorce, and custody documents
- Will and inheritance
- Documents that the parties themselves agree (in writing) must be handled on paper
For everything else — NDAs, employment contracts, vendor agreements, lease agreements, service contracts — SahlSign's signature meets the Simple Electronic Signature (SES) bar required by the law.
For government filings (e.g., commercial registration updates, regulated industry submissions), some agencies require Advanced Electronic Signature (AES) backed by a Saudi-licensed certification authority (NCA-accredited). SahlSign currently issues SES only; AES is on the roadmap. Check with the specific agency before relying on SahlSign for regulated filings.
United Arab Emirates
Federal Decree-Law No. 46 of 2021 on Electronic Transactions and Trust Services (replaces the older 2006 law) recognizes electronic signatures. SahlSign's SES meets the requirements for the vast majority of B2B and employment contracts.
UAE-specific notes:
- Free-zone authorities (DIFC, ADGM) operate under their own contract law frameworks that uniformly accept electronic signatures
- For documents filed with federal courts or the Ministry of Justice, the higher Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) tier may be required — same status as AES above
Qatar
Qatar Law No. 16 of 2010 (Electronic Commerce and Transactions) recognizes electronic signatures for commercial transactions. SahlSign's SES is admissible for B2B contracts, employment, NDAs, and most commercial documents.
What "SES" actually means
SES (Simple Electronic Signature) is defined consistently across UETA, ESIGN, eIDAS, and the GCC electronic transactions laws as:
A signature in electronic form that is logically associated with electronic data and used by the signer to sign
The key requirements — all of which SahlSign meets:
- Attribution — proof the signature is the signer's. Met via OTP email verification + IP + user agent + audit trail
- Integrity — proof the document hasn't changed since signing. Met via SHA-256 hashing + PAdES seal + RFC 3161 timestamp
- Consent — proof the signer agreed to use electronic signatures. Met via the disclosure-and-consent step before the signing flow
- Audit trail — full forensic record. Met via the hash-linked, append-only audit chain + Certificate of Completion
Not legal advice
This is a summary, not legal advice. Specific regulated industries (banking, healthcare, certain government filings) may have additional requirements. When in doubt, consult counsel licensed in the relevant jurisdiction.