Clarifies the conditions when a legal aid order is considered signed

Due to the digitalization of document management processes, the practice of government agencies and attorneys sometimes raises questions about the execution of documents in electronic form. For example, how to properly certify attachments to an electronic lawyer's request?

This question arose from Mykola Rudyk, Head of the Main Service Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and attorney Anatoliy Opanasenko. And the Bar Council of Ukraine answered it by its decision No. 36 dated 08.06.2024 «On Amendments to the Regulations on the Order for Legal Aid and to the Decision of the Bar Council No. 162 dated August 04, 2017».

The Decision of the Bar Council of Ukraine dated 08.06.2024 No. 36 «On Amendments to the Regulations on the Order for Legal Aid and to the Decision of the Bar Council No. 162 dated August 04, 2017» was published on the website of the Ukrainian National Bar Association.

In particular, the Regulation on the Order for Legal Aid, approved by the decision of the UNBA No. 41 dated 12.04.2019, clarified that the order (as a written document) may be in both paper and electronic form. The signature of the lawyer, the head of the law firm, or the attorney may be made in person or with the use of an electronic signature.

The order shall be deemed signed if:

• its column «Attorney» contains either a handwritten (physical) signature
• the order is certified by an electronic signature;
• the document to which the order is an attachment is certified with an electronic signature.

Therefore, an electronic copy of an electronic order for the provision of legal aid is made in the manner prescribed for the original order for the provision of legal aid in electronic form (visual presentation of an electronic document in electronic form with an electronic signature) and does not require the words «According to the original»).

The BCU also further explained that within the meaning of Article 24 of the Law «On the Bar and Practice of Law», an electronic copy of an electronic order for the provision of legal aid is a copy of an electronic order made in the manner prescribed for the original order in electronic form, in accordance with Article 7 of the Law «On Electronic Documents and Electronic Document Management» with the imposition of an electronic signature of the author or a signature equivalent to a handwritten signature in accordance with the Law «On Electronic Identification and Electronic Trust Services».