The Probative Value of Electronic Documents. Towards the Signature Crisis?

Author faces the problem of the probative value of electronic documents with a “weak” signature or not signed, illustrating the relevant provisions under Italian law and discussing the different interpretations followed by case law and legal writers. In Author’s opinion, on one hand, it is necessary to distinguish between declaratory and non-declaratory documents in evaluating electronic documents and, on the other hand, courts would have more discretion in establishing the authorship of a declaratory electronic document than of a hand-written one.