ETA 2000 & Legal Validity

The Electronic Transactions Act 2000 (the "ETA") is the Mauritian law that gives electronic documents and electronic signatures legal effect. In broad terms, the ETA provides that information, a document or a signature must not be denied legal validity, effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form. This is the foundation on which MauriSign is built.

Under the ETA, where the law requires a signature, that requirement can be met by an electronic signature, provided the method used is appropriate and reliable for the purpose, and identifies the signer and indicates their approval of the information signed. MauriSign is designed to satisfy these conditions for the ordinary run of business documents.

The ETA does not apply to certain categories of document, for which traditional formalities (and often a notary or registry) are still required. These generally include:

• Wills and other testamentary instruments;
• Powers of attorney;
• The conveyance of immovable property or the transfer of any interest in immovable property.

For everything else — employment contracts, NDAs, service agreements, quotes, offer letters and the like — an electronic signature is appropriate. This page is general information, not legal advice; if you are unsure about a specific document, consult a qualified legal adviser.

Legal validity is one thing; being able to prove it is another. MauriSign is engineered so that a completed document is both valid and demonstrable:

• Consent — signers explicitly agree to sign electronically before they can proceed.
• Attribution— a one-time code sent to the signer's email is required before signing, tying the act to a specific person, and recorded in the audit trail.
• Integrity — each completed document is sealed with an RSA-2048 digital signature over a fixed snapshot of its content, backed by a tamper-evident, cryptographically chained audit trail.

Any completed MauriSign document can be checked by anyone — with no account required — at maurisign.mu/verify. Verification confirms that the document has not been altered since it was sealed and reproduces the audit trail of events. This means the evidence of validity travels with the document and does not depend on trusting MauriSign.

Sealed documents and their audit trails are retained for 10 years, reflecting the evidential importance of signed agreements. See our Privacy Policy and Data Residency pages for how and where this data is stored.