The Danish Contracts Act foundation: Freedom of form
Under Danish law (Aftalelovens § 1), agreements are governed by the principle of freedom of form (formfrihed). An agreement is legally binding as soon as a mutual meeting of the minds occurs—whether agreed orally, written on paper, or transmitted electronically.
However, having a legally valid contract and being able to prove that contract in a court of law or arbitration tribunal are two very different matters. If a counterparty subsequently denies ever having signed an agreement, the entire case rests upon the legal burden of proof.
Burden of proof and the eIDAS regulation
The European Union eIDAS regulation establishes that an electronic signature cannot be denied legal effect or evidentiary admissibility solely because it is in digital format. However, the court will evaluate the technical strength and reliability of the signing method.
With simple signatures (such as an email click or an image pasted onto a PDF), the plaintiff bears a heavy burden of proving that the defendant actually performed the action. Conversely, an Advanced Electronic Signature (AES) created using MitID links the signature directly to the individual's verified national identity token, creating nearly insurmountable evidentiary proof.
The critical role of the PAdES certificate and audit trail
In legal dispute proceedings, a signed PDF generated by KvikSign is accompanied by a tamper-evident audit trail certificate. This document records:
1. Exact UTC timestamps for when the invitation was sent, viewed, and executed.
2. Unique IP addresses, browser user agents, and communication channels (SMS/Email).
3. Cryptographic SHA-256 hash checksums proving the document was not altered after signature.
4. Cryptographic certificates verifying the signer's MitID or MitID Business identity token.
Practical recommendations for risk mitigation
For low-risk internal documents or informal confirmations, simple touch signatures offer adequate legal assurance and high convenience.
For high-value transactions—including employment contracts, shareholder agreements, non-disclosure agreements, commercial leases, and large supplier orders—organizations should always mandate MitID verification. This eliminates repudiation risk and provides instant peace of mind.