Legally valid contract signing in the home office
The Federal Council has amended the ordinance on electronic signatures as part of the Corona emergency measures. Thanks to this amendment, which is valid for six months, it is now possible for companies from all industries to identify applicants by means of video identification.
Covid-19 is forcing many companies to offer their services from the home office. One challenge that has emerged is the legally valid signing of contracts: For eSigning to be possible, it first requires certification. This can usually only be obtained by visiting a certification authority in person, as the identity of the applicant must be verified. Due to the closure of physical certification bodies as well as the necessary reduction of travel as well as personal contacts, this is now more difficult. As a result, many companies are no longer able to sign contracts in a legally valid manner.
Legally valid contract signing from home office
This business-critical factor is addressed by the video identification solution from Intrum and QuoVadis Remedy: Thanks to the convenient identification of an applicant and the subsequent presence of a qualified, electronic signature, with which all contracts can subsequently be simply signed digitally, it is possible for companies to be fully operational from the home office even in the current crisis situation.
Intrum has been offering video identification since May 2016 and complies with the FINMA guidelines described in Circular 2016/7. More than 50 customers from the financial sector are already using this service. Intrum performs several thousand video identifications per month. Thanks to the amendment of the VZertES, based on the Federal Council decision of 01.04.2020, this service is now open for all industries as a digital alternative to physical identification for six months.
Service in operation from April 6
For video identification, you need an ID (CH passport, CH ID or an ID recognized for entry into Switzerland) and a device with a camera (cell phone, tablet, laptop). The identification process takes about five minutes. According to QuoVadis, the opening hours are Mon - Sat from 07:00 - 22:00. The service is expected to go into operation on April 6.
Thomas Hutter, Managing Director of Intrum AG, sees video identification as an important business support in the current crisis situation. "Our simple and proven solution offers all Swiss companies the possibility to sign contracts quickly and without much effort. This ensures the continuation of their services." Michael Sieber, Head of Sales & Marketing at QuoVadis: "eSigning was already on the wish list of many companies before the Corona pandemic. From "nice-to-have" it has now become "must-have". With the simplified identification requirements, users can now get their legally valid digital signature very quickly and easily."
And this is how video identification works (Explainer video)
