Ensure you have read the webpage Entitlement to Sign prior to reading here for more information about Signers in electronic conveyancing.
Please note: any capitalised term has the meaning given to it in the Recorder’s Directions, the Participation Rules, the Operating Requirements, or the Electronic Conveyancing National Law (ECNL) as applicable.
For electronic conveyancing the Participation Rules state nothing about who within the business of a Subscriber can be a Signer. The Participation Rules defines a Signer to be a “User authorised by the Subscriber to Digitally Sign electronic Registry Instruments and other electronic Documents on behalf of the Subscriber”.
The Legal Profession Board of Tasmania as the disciplinary body of the legal profession has, to our knowledge, no position on who within a firm of a Subscriber may be a Signer.
Consumer Building and Occupational Services (CBOS) as the disciplinary body for licensed conveyancers has no position, to our knowledge, on who within a conveyancing firm of a Subscriber may be a Signer.
The Law Society of Tasmania may or may not issue a guidance note or recommendation to the legal profession as to who within a firm of a Subscriber may be a Signer.
The Australian Institute of Conveyancers may or may not issue a guidance note or recommendation to licensed conveyancers as to who within a conveyancing firm of a Subscriber may be a Signer.
In electronic conveyancing, attribution rules provide that a Client is bound by a Subscriber's digital signature, so each party in the transaction can be assured of the document's validity.
These attribution rules are referenced in Section 12 of the Electronic Conveyancing (Adoption of National Law) Act 2012 (NSW) (ECNL). The ECNL was adopted in Tasmania in the Electronic Conveyancing (Adoption of National Law) Act 2013.
In summary Section 12 of the ECNL states that if a Subscriber's digital signature is created for a Registry Instrument or other Document in connection with a conveyancing transaction, then unless that Subscriber repudiates that digital signature, that Registry Instrument or other Document is to be taken to be signed by that Subscriber, and that digital signature is binding, in relation to that Registry Instrument or other Document, on that Subscriber, and all other persons (if any) for whom that Subscriber acts under a client authorisation with respect to that conveyancing transaction, and that digital signature is binding, in relation to that Registry Instrument or other Document, for the benefit of—
(i) each of the parties to that conveyancing transaction, and
(ii) each subscriber who acts under a client authorisation with respect to that conveyancing transaction, and
(iia) each ELNO whose ELN is used in connection with that conveyancing transaction, and
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(iv) the Registrar, once that registry instrument or other document is lodged electronically...