The electronic signature will allow you to sign a number of documents that you come across as a freelancer, quickly and conveniently. These include cooperation agreements with employers or contracts for specific work or contract of mandate, including those that involve the transfer of proprietary copyrights or the granting of an exclusive license. Thanks to the electronic signature, you save time and money and you get full security of concluding contracts and orders, and the cost of such a solution is definitely lower than the benefits you get.
Electronic signature is a convenience and saves time of a freelancer
The work of a freelancer carries a number of benefits, such as the ability to select orders and remote work with flexible time management. One of the sources of frustration, however, may be the frequent need to sign contracts and orders.
Traveling to the client just to sign or have a document signed is a waste of time and money. The case is similar when it comes to sending and returning contracts by post, which takes even longer and also generates some costs. Furthermore, each new document adds to your pile of papers that you need to store and keep safe.
Electronic signature on the Autenti platform is a fast, convenient and safe alternative to paper circulation, which works from the level of a web browser. It will allow you to sign and send for signature all documents that you issue to clients with just a few clicks. You can easily do the same with contracts from your employers.
In both cases, it will not generate any costs to the company you work with, and its employees do not need to install any software or even have an account on the platform to easily sign documents electronically.
Security of concluding orders and cooperation agreements
E-signatures are a form of concluding contracts permitted by Polish and European laws, and documents signed this way through the Autenti platform constitute sufficient evidence in court proceedings. A special electronic seal based on a qualified certificate placed on the documents guarantees their authenticity and integrity and prevents any changes after their signing.
Autenti is a trust service provider, which also means that the company guarantees:
- supplying the contract for signature and verification of people who sign documents electronically;
- storing contracts on secure servers, using encryption ensuring that only the parties signing the document have access to it, also in the future.
Thanks to such solutions, you do not need to store documents personally and take care of their security. If necessary, both you and your client can download the documents to your own medium.
Cooperation agreement, specific work agreement and other contracts in business transactions and e-signature
You will use the electronic signature whether you manage a business or not. If you are a registered entrepreneur, you can use the e-signature, for example in B2B cooperation agreements with clients and when issuing invoices. The e-signature also makes it possible to sign a contract for specific work or a contract of mandate.
Keep in mind, however, that in some cases the Polish law allows only a specific type of electronic signature. This applies to contracts that must be concluded in writing under pain of nullity. In the case of freelancers, these are mainly those contracts which involve the transfer of proprietary copyrights or the granting of an exclusive license.
You can also sign documents of this type electronically. Both you and the other party to the contract must use a qualified e-signature, which is equivalent to a handwritten signature. It is based on a qualified electronic signature certificate, which is issued only by qualified trust service providers after detailed verification of the applicant's identity and payment of the appropriate fee.
In the case of the vast majority of other documents signed by freelancers a qualified electronic signature is not required. They can take the so-called document form - i.e. most often a text document under which ordinary electronic signatures are placed. In this case, the authentication of the person to whom you send the document for signature is each time carried out by the Autenti platform using a method of your choice.
Electronic signature for a freelancer: how much does it cost?
E-signature is a safe and extremely convenient tool that allows you to save a lot of time that you spend on concluding contracts and orders. Some freelancers, however, fear that such a solution will generate excessive costs.
Details about the cost and possibilities of all account types can be found in the latest Autenti price list.
A qualified electronic signature involves an additional fee, but if you sign documents that require it relatively often (e.g. those with the transfer of economic copyrights), it is definitely worth paying for such a possibility. The benefits of e-signature exceed the costs incurred by the freelancer.
The purchase price of a qualified certificate of electronic signature for business relations, provided to Autenti by InfoCert, is:
- net PLN 349 per year for a certificate valid for 1 year;
- net PLN 249 per year for a certificate valid for 2 years;
- net PLN 216 per year for a certificate valid for 3 years;
In this case, obtaining access to a qualified signature takes several minutes. Your identity will be verified one time using the method of video verification, for which you need a webcam (e.g. in a laptop) and an identity document (ID card or passport). If you also need a qualified e-signature to contact the authorities, check the Simply Sign signature, supplied to Autenti by Asseco.
