MOSCOW, October 4. In March 2020, 519 thousand qualified electronic signature certificates were registered with the ESIA, and in July 2023 — already more than 1.3 million. The head of the Kontur Certification Center, Sergei Kazakov, spoke about the reasons that influenced the growth of popularity of electronic signatures.
Businesses use electronic signatures for almost every task: reports, exchange of documents with contractors and employees, work on government portals. Four factors have contributed to the popularity of this tool over the past three years.
1. Coronavirus pandemic
The pandemic has forced organizations to change processes, move employees to remote work, and find new ways to interact with them. If previously it was possible to sign an agreement, application or act in person, then this has become impossible remotely. Companies began to look for help in IT solutions: switch to electronic document management and issue electronic signature certificates. If in January 2020 the number of qualified electronic signature certificates in the ESIA was 198 thousand, then in March there were more than 519 thousand.
2. Changes in legislation
In 2022, changes were made to the Federal Law “On Electronic Signature” 63-FZ — now managers and employees of companies sign documents according to the new rules. Managers can no longer give employees their EPC certificates for signing documents — EPC keys have become non-exportable. Now they must issue separate certificates for employees.
Machine-readable powers of attorney have been included in the document flow. However, not all sites and portals managed to switch to them. Therefore, during the transition period, companies are forced to use both certificates with the details of a legal entity and certificates of an individual with a machine-readable power of attorney.
In addition, The popularity of electronic signatures was also influenced by changes in labor legislation. At the beginning of 2020, electronic work books appeared. Employees were able to choose the format in which it was more convenient for them to maintain information about their work activities. And companies had to obtain electronic signature certificates for new work records.
During the same period, medical documents began to be actively converted into digital data. Both employers and doctors had to obtain tools for EDI.
3. The state has gone digital
The state began developing EDI long before 2020, but the pandemic and the national project “Digital Economy” accelerated the processes. Departments, like other participants in document flow, had to look for new tools for interaction with companies. And businesses should adapt to these requirements and go online, receive electronic signature certificates. Entrepreneurs need electronic signatures not only for signing documents, but also for registration on departmental websites. Currently, about 50 systems accept reporting from companies online: Chestny ZNAK, Federal Tax Service, Federal Customs Service and others. Legal entities and individual entrepreneurs post information on taxes, labeling, acceptance and sale of goods on these sites.
4. Business has realized that an electronic signature is convenient
After some time, entrepreneurs realized that working with an electronic signature is convenient and safe, because this tool has a number of advantages.
Firstly, it reduces operating costs: the cost of an electronic document is approximately half that of a paper one. In addition, one electronic signature can be used on several sites simultaneously and without purchasing separate electronic signature certificates for each task.
Secondly, the electronic signature allows you to quickly prepare documents with suppliers and employees. The manager or responsible employee does not need to call the courier delivery service to send the contract, and then wait for the other party to accept it, sign it and send it back. With an electronic signature, the approval process is reduced to several hours.
In addition, an electronic signature opens up new sales channels: with it you can find new customers even from remote regions of the country.
Another advantage of an electronic signature is that the user can seek help in working with it from the certification center (CA) where he received it. For example, the Contura training center has the necessary services to work with it and expert assistance. Experts tell users how to install a certificate on a computer and work on any information portals. Over five years, experts conducted more than 30 thousand consultations and helped submit reports to state systems.
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