SIGNATURE STAMP: CAN IT REPLACE A REAL SIGNATURE?

Companies issue and receive daily in their interactions with their partners, documents bearing the signature stamp. To the point where, some even sometimes think of abandoning the practice of stamp and signature, in favor of the ink pad only. Is this possible from a legal point of view? The answer is offered in this article.

What is a signature stamp?

Also called an ink stamp , the signature stamp is a personal or professional tool for marking the different categories of media that you want to personalize. The signature stamp material is usually a rubber stamp that incorporates the signature of the business entity, government, or individual that owns or assigns it. This is the reason why it is called: personalized signature stamp or with customizable lines . Furthermore, the ink pad may be intended to accompany the signature of a natural or legal person. In this case, it includes specific information such as the date - for the date stamp- or a sequence of numbers in the case of the customizable stamp.

What does the law say about the signature stamp?

There is no provision in law that regulates the signature stamp . Indeed, anyone can order any signature stamp with the coordinates of any entity, without being subject to any justification whatsoever. Therefore, even personalized ink pad has no legal value, without the signature it accompanies. A stamped and signed document has legal value, but the latter does not come from the ink stamp but rather of the signature. However, with regard to the mentions provided by the signature stamp with customizable lines, it is the Commercial Code in its article R123-237 which makes them mandatory, without legitimizing the legal value stamp signature. The customizable ink stamp cannot therefore replace a real signature .

Usefulness of the ink stamp although without legal basis

Much more used in administrative management than in a personal capacity:

1. the purpose of the customizable ink stamp is to effectively inform the paper or other media used by the company in relation to third parties, suppliers and customers: quotes, contracts, etc.
2. the personalized ink stamp is often required by some organizations in addition to the signature, despite its non-mandatory nature from a legal point of view;
3. the text of the signature inkpad saves valuable time when filling in the legal fields of certain corporate documents. Instead of going through a slow handwritten filling, a single inking with the signature stamp inserts said information in the desired field.

This is why the user of the ink pad must ensure that the text is regularly updated, at the risk of breaching the Commercial Code.

How is the stamp pad personalized?

The personalization of an ink pad includes several essential points that we will try to elucidate.

Mentions to highlight

Custom ink pad orders incorporate all of the designs desired by the requester into the text. For an establishment on the one hand, it may be important mentions such as its corporate name, its logo, the telephone number of its legal representative, the location address, the email address, the legal form , the mention RCS, VAT number, etc. On the other hand, you can opt for general reasons such as: "Paid on", "Validated on", "Received on". When it comes to a professional stampin proper name, designed to identify a particular person or a department of entity, the following information is recommended: surname and first name of the person, his profession, the department in which he exercises, the company to which he belongs, his contact details personal information, telephone contacts… In short, the applicant for personalized inking stamps is not restricted in the choice of information to highlight. Also, he can edit the text, change its size within the imprint frame, including its font.

The size of the ink pad

Admittedly, the size of the information, coupled with a requirement for readability, can determine the size of the material that is the customizable ink pad . But you can opt for different size formats:

• the small ink pad “with 4 lines of text”;
• the medium ink stamp format “with 5 lines”.
• the large stamp “with 6 lines of text”;

And for total customization, the need for larger sizes can be solved by the extra large format ink pads with more than 6 lines of text.

The design material of the ink pad

The offer of customizable ink pad mounts includes plastic -polyurethane- metal or smooth wood with shock absorber or spring, with rubber stopper. When you want a signature stamp material that reduces the risk of ecological disappointments, there are ink pads on the market made with more than 80% recycled materials. The ink pad is accompanied by a variety of inkwells : black ink, blue ink and red ink according to the traditions of exercise of the administrative activity in each entity.