The Republic of the Marshall Islands becomes fully digitalised

Following the recent amendments to the Marshall Islands Maritime Act that introduced the electronic recordation of preferred mortgages and lease finance charters, the Marshall Islands have further enhanced the digital era introducing electronic signatures to the Marshall Islands Business Corporations Act, (BCA) through the Digital Signature Regulations 2024 (DSR).

The DSR has just came into force and will have effect as of 15 February 2024. Under the DSR, digital signatures may be used to sign pre-recorded/file corporate documentation under the BCA such as articles of amendment, certificates of incumbency and resolutions. 

Under the new regime, ‘electronically transmitted signature’ as used in the BCA now includes digital signatures. Digital signature is defined as a signature that is attached to a document by a person with the intent to sign the document where the signature is generated by software using a digital certificate issued by a trust service provider - ie a certificate authority issuing digital certificates for signers of digitally signed documents - and instruments or similar authority. To put it simply, signatures produced by software such as DocuSign on corporate documentation will be valid under the new legal regime.

In effect, the new legislation will allow for fully digitalised corporate documentation, a key legal feature in the post-COVID era that aims for less formalities and more flexibility without impairing the legality of the transactions.