Name
Global FinTech Guide
Country _ Name
North Macedonia
SectionTitle
Signature requirements
Body
The signature requirements pertain the legal or contractual requirements in order to make a legally effective declaration of intent or a legally binding contract.

Possibility to replace a specific formal requirement of making a binding declaration of intention

Pursuant to the Law on Electronic Documents, Electronic Identification and Trust Services, an electronic document has the equal legal effect and probative force as the written form of the document in accordance with the law. An electronic document cannot be denied as evidence in an administrative or court proceeding, solely because it is created in electronic form. Where the law prescribes a written form of documents or acts, the electronic document will be considered as a document or act in a written form.

Presence of any specific formal requirements to effectively conclude a loan agreement

Under the Law on Obligations, a loan agreement must be concluded in writing. In the loan agreement (i) the amount and (ii) the conditions for granting, using, and repaying the loan must be determined. Regarding the loan agreement based on a pledge of securities, the agreement must be concluded in writing and must contain the designation of the pledged securities, the name – i.e. the company and the seat or domicile of the holder of the securities, amount, and conditions of the approved loan, as well as the amount and value of the securities considered for loan approval.
In the regulatory framework of North Macedonia, pre-contractual information is provided only for consumer loans. These are several key groups of information, starting from, among others:

  • data and information about the credit product, which include terms of use of the loan, as well as the amount and currency in which the loan is expressed (if possible, in foreign currency loans and the exchange rate that will be applied in the payment of funds and collection of loan instalments);
  • the repayment period and the type of collateral for the loan (if required) are also a mandatory part of the set of information; and
  • the calculation of the repayments (the amortisation plan) and the dynamics of the repayment instalments, in which the principal and the interest are given, are especially useful for the client and the future repayment of the credit liabilities etc.
In this way, the client has an insight into their obligations in advance and consequently should be organised for their timely repayment, through proper planning of spending future income.

Process of conclusion of a contract by using a qualified electronic signature in practice

Qualified e-signature
A qualified e-signature is an advanced e-signature which is created by a qualified e-signature creation device, and which is based on a qualified certificate for e-signature. The qualified certificate for electronic signature is issued by a qualified trust service provider.
In practice, the most commonly used qualified e-signatures in North Macedonia are based on a qualified certificate and are issued on a qualified signature creation device token, which guarantees that the data used to create the signature (private key) is strictly under the sole control of the signatory and cannot be copied to another medium.
A qualified trust service is provided pursuant to an agreement concluded between the qualified trust service provider and the user, which is concluded upon prior request of the user. The qualified trust service provider before concluding the agreement, should in a clear and unambiguous way notify the person, who submitted the request for qualified trust service provision, about all important circumstances of the use of the service, in particular:

  • regulations and rules relating to the use of a qualified trust service;
  • any limitations on the use of a qualified trust service; and
  • the measures to be implemented by users of a qualified trust service, and the necessary technology for safe use of qualified trust services.
Trust Services Providers
Trust services may be non-qualified and qualified. A trust service provider can be a natural or legal entity who provides one (1) or more trust services, while a qualified trust service provider is a trusted service provider who provides one (1) or more qualified trusted services and whose status of a provider of qualified trust service is assigned by the Minister of Information Society and Administration by registration in the Register of Trust Service Providers and Electronic Identification Schemes (Register).

A trust service provider must submit a request to the Ministry of Information Society and Administration for registration in the Register for registration in the Register, before commencing the provision of qualified trust services. The Ministry of Information Society and Administration will issue a decision on the registration of the applicant in the Register, granting the status of a qualified trust service provider to the relevant trust service provider, within 60 days from the date of receipt of the request, if it is complete, and based on the claims contained in the conformity assessment report. If the applicant or the services listed in the request fail to fulfil the conditions prescribed by the law, the Ministry of Information Society and Administration will issue a decision on refusal of the request for registration in the register after the expiration of the deadline determined.

Electronic identification schemes must be registered in the Register used by public authorities. The Ministry of Information Society and Administration may register in the Register foreign legal entities registered as trust service providers or issuers of electronic identification schemes at the European Union level or in a member state of the union. Schemes created by private legal entities must comply with high security level in order to be registered in the Register.

Please follow this link to a list of the registered trust service providers in North Macedonia.

Legal consequences to a contract in case of not fulfilling formal requirements
Pursuant to the Law on Obligations, an agreement that is not in accordance with the Constitution, laws and good customs is null and void, unless the purpose of the violated rule does indicate another sanction or if the law in the particular case does not provide otherwise. If entering into a contract is prohibited for only one (1) of the contracting parties, the contract will remain valid, unless the law provides otherwise for the particular case, while the party that has violated the legal prohibition shall bear the appropriate consequences.
Additionally, parties to a contract can agree that a special form be a condition for the validity of their contract. A contract not entered in the prescribed form will not be binding, unless the purpose of the regulations determining the form indicates otherwise. As well as a contract not entered in the stipulated form has no legal effect where the parties have conditioned the validity of the contract on the use of that particular form.

Usual practice of signing contractual agreements in the B2B sector

In general, contractual agreements in the B2B sector in North Macedonia are signed with a handwritten signature. Pursuant to the Law on Obligations, to enter into a bilateral agreement, it is sufficient that the two (2) parties sign one (1) contract or that each party signs the copy of the contract intended for the other party. Any other way or form of transmission of messages that secures the integrity of the text and provides identification of the source while using generally accepted means will have effect of document.

Usual practice of signing contractual agreements in the B2C sector

As indicated in our previous answer to question e., the same goes to contractual agreements in the B2C sector in North Macedonia. Contractual agreements are usually signed with a handwritten signature, while signing contracts with electronic signature is still underdeveloped.



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