Electronic signatures in Chile

The law: Ley 19.799

Ley 19.799, "sobre documentos electrónicos, firma electrónica y servicios de certificación de dicha firma", was published in the Diario Oficial on April 12, 2002 and is regulated by Decreto 181 de 2002. Its central rule is article 3:

• Acts and contracts signed by firma electrónica "serán válidos de la misma manera y producirán los mismos efectos que los celebrados por escrito y en soporte de papel" (are valid in the same way and have the same effects as those made in writing on paper).
• They count as written wherever the law requires writing.
• "La firma electrónica, cualquiera sea su naturaleza, se mirará como firma manuscrita para todos los efectos legales" (an electronic signature, whatever its nature, is treated as a handwritten signature for all legal purposes), subject to the articles that follow.

Firma electrónica and firma electrónica avanzada

	Firma electrónica	Firma electrónica avanzada
Definition	"[C]ualquier sonido, símbolo o proceso electrónico, que permite al receptor de un documento electrónico identificar al menos formalmente a su autor" (any electronic sound, symbol or process that lets the recipient identify its author, at least formally; article 2(f))	One "certificada por un prestador acreditado" (certified by an accredited provider), created with means the holder keeps under their exclusive control, linked only to them and to the data so that any later change is detectable, verifying the holder's identity and preventing them from disowning the document's integrity and authorship (article 2(g))
What it takes	Any electronic method that identifies the author	A certificate from an accredited certification provider, which must verify the applicant's identity, requiring them to appear personally before the provider, a notary or a Civil Registry officer (article 12(e))
Effect in court	A private document has "el valor probatorio que corresponda, de acuerdo a las reglas generales" (the evidential value that corresponds under the general rules; article 5)	Required for electronic public instruments (article 4). A private document signed with it has the same evidential value as a public instrument, full proof, but proves its date only if an accredited provider's electronic date stamp shows it (article 5)

There is no tier above the advanced one, which already requires an accredited provider.

Acts the law excludes, and others with their own form

Article 3's equivalence doesn't apply to:

1. acts or contracts where the law requires a solemnity that can't be met by an electronic document;
2. acts or contracts where the law requires the personal attendance ("concurrencia personal") of a party;
3. acts or contracts relating to family law.

Other laws set the form for:

• Real estate. The sale of real estate, servitudes and censos, and of an inheritance, isn't perfected until an escritura pública is executed (Código Civil article 1801), and where the law requires a public instrument, no other evidence can replace it (article 1701). Under Ley 21.772 of 2025, escrituras públicas are still signed on paper and then digitized.
• Wills. A solemn will is always written (article 1011), and a solemn open will is executed before a notary and three witnesses, or before five witnesses (article 1014).
• Notarized signatures. Under Ley 21.582 of 2023, many sectoral laws now accept a firma electrónica avanzada in place of a notary's authorization of signatures. Only the advanced tier qualifies there.

Proving an electronic signature in court

• Admissibility. Electronic documents may be presented in court (Ley 19.799 article 5).
• The hearing. When an electronic document is presented, the court summons the parties to a hearing to perceive it, which it may skip when the document can be seen directly in the electronic case file, and if the document is objected to under the general rules, it may order a complementary authenticity test, carried out by experts, at the cost of the party objecting (Código de Procedimiento Civil article 348 bis).
• Recognition. A private document is deemed recognized when, after being made known to the other party, its falsity or lack of integrity isn't alleged within six days of its presentation (article 346). Once recognized, it has the value of an escritura pública between those who signed it (Código Civil article 1702).
• Date against third parties. The date of a private document counts against third parties only from events such as a signer's death, its copying into a public registry or its presentation in court (Código Civil article 1703).

A reform under way

A bill to amend Ley 19.799 (Boletín N° 18.286-03, filed on June 2, 2026) was in its first stage in the Chamber of Deputies as of October 12, 2026. Among other changes, it would define a "firma electrónica simple" and an accredited "sellado de tiempo" (time stamp). It is not law yet.

How to make an electronic signature hold up

1. Check article 3's exclusions and whether the act needs an escritura pública, a notary or the advanced tier.
2. Expect the general rules. With a simple signature, the document's weight depends on the evidence you can show, and an expert test may be ordered (article 348 bis).
3. Keep evidence of who signed, what they signed and when (how to prove the date a document was signed), and the electronic original that every party can reproduce.

How Attest fits ordinary business agreements

Attest signatures are firmas electrónicas under article 2(f), and article 3 makes the contracts they sign valid and treats them as handwritten signatures, outside the excluded acts. They are not firmas electrónicas avanzadas: that tier needs a certificate from an accredited provider after a personal identity check. For everyday agreements such as service contracts, statements of work, NDAs and supplier agreements, each signature carries evidence for an authenticity test:

What an authenticity test looks at	What Attest records
Who the author is (article 2(f))	Each signature is made with a passkey registered to the signer's email address. A passkey is a cryptographic key only the signer controls, unlocked with Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello or the device PIN, and it must confirm the signer is present and verified. Attest checks each signature against the passkey's public key. Attest confirms control of the email address and the passkey, not a government ID
Integrity (CPC article 346)	The passkey signs a statement that begins "I have reviewed and I sign", with the SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact document and of the signer's entries. Change one byte and verification fails
When	The signing time in each statement is set by Attest's server and signed by the passkey, and the signed state is anchored on the Horizen public blockchain, whose block time shows when it was anchored. This is evidence of time under the general rules, not an accredited provider's date stamp
The original	Every party downloads the same sealed PDF: the signed pages, with a "Signed with Attest" stamp on each signature and a seal line at the foot of every page, a certificate of completion, the audit trail up to completion in UTC and a "Verify it yourself, without us" page, with the full evidence, the original document and a standalone verifier attached inside

A fingerprint (SHA-256 hash) is a short code calculated from a file's contents that changes if a single byte changes. An expert can run the open-source verifier inside the copy in any browser without any Attest service: it checks each signer's passkey signature, the original document, the pages you see and Attest's anchored record on Horizen.

For real estate, wills, family-law acts, public instruments, or a procedure where the law accepts only the advanced tier, use a notary or an accredited provider.

Every document is end-to-end encrypted, so Attest can't read it. Signers need no account and never pay, and anyone can verify a signed copy for free at attest.datahubz.com/verify. Your first 2 documents are free, in total, then the Signing plan is $5 a month for 20 documents.