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Types, Clauses, Benefits and Everything Else that You Must Know About Non-Disclosure Agreement

NDA or a Non-Disclosure Agreement is a contract that binds one or more than one party to not to disclose a confidential information. The information has been shared with each other as a part of the business which they were doing together. For every business, confidential information can be incredibly valuable, and it may be very difficult to do business without sharing such information. Therefore, it is quite imperative for businesses to enter into NDAs to protect their confidential information. 

The major benefits of using NDA:

• It provides confidence to share confidential information.
• NDA also ensures clarity on exactly what information is confidential.
• It limits the reasons a party can use the confidential information.
• NDA helps to preserve Key Business Relationships.

What does NDA include?

 

• The names of the parties who wish to enter the agreement

 

• The confidential information which the parties share 
• Things that are excluded from confidentiality
• The time for which the NDA stands valid
• Other provisions

Types of NDA

Unilateral NDA

Two parties are involved and out of them, there will only be one party who shall share the confidential information.

Bilateral NDA

Two parties are involved and both of them shall share confidential information.

Both parties shall share and receive confidential information. Therefore, both the parties will become disclosing as well as receiving parties.

Multilateral NDA

Three or more parties are involved.

One party shall share confidential information while the remaining parties who are a part of the agreement shall promise not to disclose the confidential information that has been shared.

Since one party will be sharing confidential information, only one party shall become the disclosing party. The remaining parties shall become the receiving parties.

Clauses to be included in NDA

The most important key clauses which will increase the worth of a NDA are:

1) Definition of Confidential Information

The most important component of a non-disclosure is how the confidential information is defined. This is why agreements are signed stating what information is not to be disclosed.

2) The Parties

Besides stating the Disclosing and the Recipient parties, a non-disclosure should also contain a clause that specifies who else will be the recipient. The confidential information should be disclosed by the party during the course of due diligence and business discussions. The third-party recipients of the confidential information who are critical for the performance of this legal contract and should be included in the non-disclosure.

3) The Terms and Duration

Every non-disclosure agreement should have a clearly defined timeframe. When the agreement ends and for how long does the confidential information need to be confidential etc.

4) The Permitted Use of the Information

This clause says that we need to clearly define the intended use of the shared and confidential information.

5) The Legal Obligation to Disclose

At some point of time, it may be legally compulsory to disclose the information they agreed to keep confidential under this type of agreement. These directives may come from a government agency, administrative entity or via the courts.

6) The Return of the Information

When the agreement ends, the recipient party is expected to return or destroy the confidential information.

It’s mandatory that NDA should contain a clause clearly stating that how and when this will occur which largely depends on the circumstances of the relationship.

7) The Jurisdiction

A clause should be there in non-disclosure which specifies that court has jurisdiction over any possible conflict between business parties and over this any legal action could be taken.

8) The Remedies

 Agreement should also include a clause that specifies the acceptable remedies in the case of a breach from the Recipient Party. The fair remedy for this is a mutual agreement as the cost of breach could result in lengthy legal battle.

9) Responsibility over Legal Fees

The parties should have a mutually agreeable clause that clearly defines who will be responsible for legal fees if a suit has to be filed.

10) The No Binding

Last, but certainly not least, no non-disclosure is complete without a non-binding clause.

 

eContracts vs Traditional Contracts: Why You Must Go the Digital Way?

Technology has made a strong foothold in service as well as product industry. Needless to say, with the advent of technology, processes have become easy, paperless, and less time consuming. Even with contract drafting, since everything is available digitally, going back and thinking about the entire process of drafting, printing, and mailing physical copies to people feels like a handful now. However, before you switch to electronic contracts from the traditional ones, it is important to know why you must go the digital way. Here’s some help.

 

• Save more time

 

Be it a startup or a multinational conglomerate, time is money for everyone. Getting things done efficiently and in the most effective manner can be a game-changer for businesses. When it comes to contract drafting, numerous modifications are inevitable. And when you go the traditional way, printing, signing, scanning, and sending the contract after each modification can hamper efficiency and consume a lot of your time. This is where econtracts can come to your rescue. Modifying contracts digitally can save all the parties a lot of time and the entire hassle of printing and scanning process. Besides, you cannot overlook the additional freedom of econtracts which allows any party to view and sign the contract from anywhere and anytime.

 

• Lesser scope for errors

 

While drafting contracts the traditional way, there remains a lot of room for errors. The chances of discrepancies occurring in a traditionally drafted contract are higher since errors are more likely to take place. These errors, if overlooked, can lead to major legal disputes later. But with electronic contracts these errors can be eliminated with automation. The likeliness of any typographical errors is reduced significantly in econtracts and thus, all manipulations can be caught easily.

 

• Reduced operational cost

 

The traditional contract drafting methods can involve a lot of time and efforts. Besides, the material cost which goes into printing and papers is not something that can be ignored. All this can make the cost of drafting a contract to go up significantly. But when you go for an econtract, you do not have to worry about these additional costs and thus, you can get your contracts made in a more economical way.

 

• More safety

 

Since there are higher chances of errors occurring in a traditional contract, it also means that chances of manipulation and safety breach are also high. But with digital contracts, this problem can be taken care of. At Contract Bazar, all the data input given by you while drafting an econtract, is secure and cannot be tampered with. Any changes that you wish to make to your contract can be done online and in a hassle-free manner.

 

• eContracts bind both the parties legally

 

eContracts are documents that bind two parties legally under a common law. These contracts can be easily signed by the parties without having to compromise their privacy. They can sign the contract from anywhere, without having to be physically present with the other party.

Farms Act 2020: Here’s What You Must Know About the New Agriculture Reforms that the Farmers are Protesting

During the monsoon session of Parliament this year, three agriculture acts – the Essential Commodities Act, Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, and the Farmers Agreement of Price Assurance, Farm Services Act – were given a go-ahead. The bills received the nod of the president on September 27,2020. However, the passing of these bills invited a tremendous amount of criticism by the leaders of the opposition parties and the farmers.

So, what are these acts the farmers have been protesting against? Here are some useful insights.

Act 1: The Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce Act of 2020

Under this act, the farmers will no longer be restricted to physical markets to trade their farming produce. These areas outside the physical markets will fall under the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee laws. As this act comes into force, it will also facilitate trading of agricultural produce inter and intra-state seamlessly. The act has also proposed a platform which will allow trading of agricultural produce to be done online and direct. These platforms can be setup by firms, companies, or even societies. The act also prevents the state governments from charging any fee on the produce of the farmers.

Act 2: The Farmers Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act of 2020

With the reinforcement of this act, the farmers will be able to enter a contract with the buyer directly. The agreement can be made before the sowing season arrives and once the crops are ready, they can be sold at the prices that were pre-determined at the time of signing the contract. Buyers who can enter into an agreement with the farmers can be individuals, societies, groups with limited liabilities, companies, or partnership firms. Under the act, these parties will be referred to as “sponsors”. The agreement will have terms that will be decided mutually between both the parties. The terms of the agreement can include the standards, supply, quality of the produce, and services. The price at which the produce will be bought can also be a part of the agreement. If the prices are subject to any changes, it will be clarified in the agreement. The terms laid down in the agreement will also state the minimum price guaranteed to the farmers by the sponsors. If there are conditions under which the farmer can receive any additional amount, such as a premium or a bonus, those must also be mentioned in the agreement.

Act 3: Essential Commodities Act of 2020

This act revises the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 and puts limitation on the control of the government over the manufacturing, supply, and distribution of some important commodities. According to this act, onion, oilseed, pulses, cereals, potatoes, and edible oils no longer fall in the category of essential commodities. The Essential Commodities of 1955 allows the government to hold the stock and control the price of these essential commodities only when there are exceptional circumstances such as a war, a severe natural calamity, a famine, or an extremely unusual rise in the prices. 

 

Section 122 of the Transfer of Property Act characterizes ‘gift’ as the exchange of certain current moveable and immoveable property made intentionally, with no thought, by a giver to a donee. There, be that as it may, are sure fundamentals of a gift – the gift, for instance, should be substantial, and its proprietorship should be moved by the benefactor and acknowledged by the donee.

Which property can be gifted?
You can’t gift all that you own. On the off chance that you are a Hindu, you may discard your self-obtained property. Additionally, on the off chance that you are a coparcener, you may part with your coparcenary interest in a property, subject to satisfaction of specific conditions. A widow may in specific cases Draft a Gift Deed acquired by her from her better half, yet she can’t do as such by will.

How is a gift different from a sale deed?
In deal deed, you offer away your property as a trade-off for cash. The deed is enrolled expressing the amount you have been paid for the property sold. Yet, in the event that it is gifting at that point it is a surrender of your resources with no financial thought. The public authority doesn’t acknowledge gifting between two non-family members; it acquires income through stamp obligation on land transactions.

Can a gift be revoked?
A gift when finished is official on the giver. It can’t be denied by him, except if the property has been taken from him by misrepresentation or excessive influence.

When can a gift be taxed?
Normally, the giver isn’t subject to pay any duty on the property he has surrendered. Notwithstanding, sometimes, beneficiaries are burdened under the head ‘Pay from other sources’ under the Income Tax Act, 1961. Gifts are not burdened on the off chance that they are gotten from family members on the event of marriage, via will or legacy, or from any neighborhood authority, asset or establishment enrolled under Section 12AA. A relative can be the benefactor’s companion, kin, kin of life partner, kin of one or the other parent, etc. Outside of this, a property got by an individual is available if the stamp obligation estimation of such a property got without thought (land or assembling or both) surpasses Rs 50,000. For the motivation behind making an endowment of unfaltering property, the exchange should be enlisted, endorsed by or in the interest of the contributor, and validated by at any rate two observers. The stamp obligation, determined based available estimation of the property (varying from state to state), should be paid at the hour of registration.States have various laws, nonetheless, in the matter.In Rajasthan, for example, no stamp obligation must be paid if a spouse is gifting a steady property to his significant other. Be that as it may, 2.5 percent of the property estimation must be paid as stamp obligation in the event that the property is being moved for the sake of father, mother, child, sister, girl in-law, grandson or girl as a gift.

Purpose of Legal Notice

A communication sent to an entity or an individual to inform them formally that a person is intending to take legal action against them is referred to as a legal notice. Legal notices are sent prior to filing a lawsuit with a motive of warning the other party that a legal action could be under process if they do not abide by the conditions. Occasionally, legal notice served will bring the other party on heels or on amicable settlement, and the problem can get resolved out of court too, with fruitful discussions on both sides.

While the purpose and use of a legal notice might be known to many, how to send a legal notice still remains alesser known process. Thankfully, understanding how to send a legal notice is no rocket science. Here’s what you need to know.

In which cases are legal notices usually sent?

Commonly, legal notices are sent in cases that involve:

• A dispute over property
• Dishonoured cheque
• Disputes within the family involving distribution of the family assets
• Conflicts between husband and wife
• Complaints from consumers
• Complaints against employers where promised salaries or wages were not given
• Sexual harassment at the workplace
• Matrimonial issues
• Non payment of salaries
• Consumer related matters

Who can send legal notice?

Usually, a common man is not aware of legal jargons and terminologies. Therefore, hiring a qualified lawyer to draft your legal notice is the first and foremost step towards sending a legal notice.

When a legal professional is brought on board, they provide you their legal expertise which is required to put down facts with extreme caution and in the correct language during the drafting of the legal notice. Having the expertise of a lawyer in tow is essential because once a legal notice is sent, no alterations can be made to it. If you have mentioned anything in the legal notice that can be used against you in the court of law, it cannot be retracted once the notice is sent. Hence, it is important to be a 100 percent correct in the first go and for that, professional help is required.

How to send a legal notice: Explained step-by-step

Step 1- Contacting a Lawyer

As mentioned earlier, the first step towards sending a legal notice is to get a skilled lawyer on board. Any Indian language can be used to write the notice. However, English remains the common language to be used to draft legal notices.

Step 2- Sharing Information

During your consultation with the lawyer, make sure you discuss all the details related to the case with them. The details must include name of the party to whom you wish to send the notice, their address, all the important dates pertaining to the case, what issues you have faced, and if there have been any attempts made to solve it amicably in the past.

Step 3- Providing additional documents/information

Once the details are shared with the lawyer, they will go through them and draft a notice using all the relevant pieces of information. If any additional information is required, the lawyer will ask the client.

Step 4- Drafting

The lawyer then drafts the legal notice. Usually, a legal notice comprises of the following details:

• Names of both the parties
• All the facts related to the case and the grievances of the party sending the notice
• The compensation
• Signature of the lawyer who is sending the notice on the behalf of the client

 

Step 5- Signing and Dispatch

After the notice is drafted and signed, it is sent via a courier. The acknowledgement of the courier is retained and a copy is kept with the lawyer.

As a startup business owner, there will be several instances when you will need to know how to recover money. Whether it is recouping money from a customer who has taken your goods or services in advance and is liable to pay or it is recovering money from an individual who has taken an amount from you and has promised to return in the future, there several ways that you can use to get your money back if things fall off track.

Here are some useful tips on how to recover money from someone.

1. Start with a reminder

In case the debtor has missed a payment deadline, the first thing to do is send a reminder. You can send the reminder via email or a phone call. If the payment is not paid even after receiving the reminder, it can be followed up with an email. Sometimes, it is likely that the debtor has the intention to pay, but forgot about the due date. So, when you send a reminder, it can allow them to arrange the payment at the earliest and clear off their dues without you having to take any further actions. In case the debtor have some escalation matrix , escalate the same to the senior management on regular intervals.

2. Negotiate the terms

Sometimes, the debtors have a clear intention of paying the debt, but due to strained financials they are not able to meet the terms of payment. Under such circumstances, they can ask for a meeting with you to discuss the terms of payment and negotiate. As a creditor, you can chalk out a plan with them to offer a flexible repayment method which may or may not include the interest on the payable amount depending upon the term of the payment and amount due.. You can extend the deadline for payment, take payment in instalments, or take goods or any other valuable assets to settle the payment – whichever method the debtor feels comfortable with.

3. Go through your agreement

If despite reminders, the debtor has failed to make the payment, the next step is to go through your agreement. Referring to your agreement will allow you to know if the debtor has defaulted in the repayment schedule and what other steps can be taken if you don’t wish to go for litigation. The agreement will comprise of the repayment schedule, various methods of payment, and all the other terms.

4. Send the debtor a monetary demand letter

In case where the debtor has failed to make the payment despite reminders, they will have to be served a monetary demand letter. The letter will comprise of the following information:

• The amount of debt owed
• The date of loan given
• The repayment date or schedule
• A deadline for repayment along with a warning stating that if the amount remains unpaid, the creditor shall take legal action

It is important to send this letter since it can serve as an evidence in debt recovery cases. It can be used to prove that the debtor is not willing to make the payment.

5. Get a debt collector firm on board

Hiring these firms can be an efficient way to recover your money. Hiring a legal professional has been proven to be useful in recovering debt since the debtor is more likely to pay when they receive a letter from the creditor’s lawyer or solicitor. Debt recovery is very important for any company’s financial health as it has adverse effect on the credit rating of the company. Company having huge bad debts or debts recovery percentage likely to suffer from liquidity issue in long term of the business.

Benefits of e-Signature You Must Know

The 21st century is marked with a remarkable growth in electronic communication. The information society has brought in the implementation of IT on a vivid scale in not only electronic government (G2C;C2G), but also electronic business (B2B;B2C). E-signature is one among the most marked revolutions for, it has replaced a lot of traditionally driven methods which proved to be backdated in every way. Before discussing on the benefits, it is very important that we understand the difference between digital and electronic signature.

Digital signature is that version of the electronic signature which links with itself a “fingerprint” of the document in the identity of the signatory compared to that of the electronic signature/ e-signatures embedded with “Personal Key Infrastructure” (PKI) into the signing process. E-signature comes with varied benefits-

Time saving

With the world running at a lightning speed, proceeding documents in the traditional method has become a luxury of sorts. The emergence of e-signature has proven to be a blessing when it comes to saving time. A bulk of documentation can be processed at 10 times lesser times than the traditional method which eventually speeds up the work procedure and results in faster progress.

Enhanced security

The traditional ink signature method fears tampering and duplicity whereas the e-signature can automatically detect the slightest of the slightest alterations in the signature which proves to be a very protective in its own and the documentation automatically carries a security value.

Cutting transaction cost

The automated e-signing documentation not only enhances security but also takes care of the financial burden as it reduces human error like mistakes in signing which initially can go undetected followed by slowing down of the documentation process and eventually cost problems. E-signatures ensure such safety, saving the transaction cost by pre-fixing the detected errors. Not to forget the obvious cost cutting in expenses such as paper, packaging, copying and shipping. Even though making it a minimal weightage but eventually the cost is added up.

Accessibility

A lot of documentation is delayed due to the absence of the signatory in the required place. The introduction of e-signature has made an effort to bring about a great deal of comfort and convenience for the signatory to sign over the required documents from any part of the world, eventually helping India to build itself as a digital nation.

Legal recognition

Citizens owning an Adhaar Id is provided certified authority to use e-signatures for any documentation by the Government of India in the official gazette and the provisions are well mentioned and supported in the Information Act, 2000.

Office space saving

With the advancement of limited space organisation culture, the traditional method of documentation that required managing a separate space to secure and stacking the documents indeed proved to be a hurdle. The emergence of document management feature supported by the e-signature has helped in a major scale in saving the documents electronically which not only cuts down space but also a larger scale of manual labour which eventually adds up to a lesser confusion.

If you take a gander at two distinct arrangements for comparative designs, suppose two deal buy arrangements or two credit arrangements, you will discover them to be like a significant degree. By all accounts, drafting arrangements appears to be a simple activity once you know the configuration and fundamental conditions.

A visit to common court managing business question will illuminate any individual of the number of cases, identified with the understanding of the arrangement between the gatherings, are enrolled each day and stay under suit. One reason behind endless questions concerning business contracts is that gatherings couldn’t concoct a decent arrangement covering all sides and simultaneously is easy to comprehend and not equivocal.

This is the place arrangement vetting comes into the image. Understanding vetting can spare you or your customer from a great difficult situation later on. Vetting in basic terms is appropriately checking the substance of an understanding before marking one.

Here is an agenda of how to do vetting right-

1) Research

Prior to drafting, it is basic to get hold of the significant laws pertinent to the exchange. You can’t concur in negation of pertinent law. It is additionally pivotal to make sense of the provisos others have joined into comparative arrangements. This is just for the information however; your endorsement need not be founded on different arrangements accessible online for the accompanying reasons:

Publically accessible agreements are generally for showing reason.

The terms in such agreements are summed up to fit the prerequisite of most extreme individuals.

Prerequisites of all exchanges differ and along these lines contract from one exchange can’t be utilized for what it’s worth for another exchange.

Rundown out your or customer’s prerequisites

Customization is the key for drafting an appropriate arrangement for yourself or your customer. Assemble your customer for a conference, and pose inquiries like,

“What is more significant for you in this specific arrangement, time or cash?”

“How might you be influenced if this arrangement goes sore?”

“Okay rather like to fall back on elective question goal strategies or case in a court?”

Set up your rundown, in view of your earlier comprehension of customer’s necessity. At the point when the customer is a layman, they probably won’t know which data is indispensable to be consolidated in an understanding. Draw in the customer in a discussion to pull out the subtleties. In light of your earlier examination, inquire as to whether they might want to fuse certain conditions that others have additionally joined, particularly when such conditions are to support the other party.

 

2) Check out the draft altogether

In the event that you are approached uniquely to vet a previously screened understanding, intensive due tirelessness is basic. Scribble down the basic focuses you wish to settle on sure the arrangement ought to have and make an agenda. Try not to spare a moment to include or take away a couple of words or the whole provisos.

Experience the draft more than once, and mark the parts that have the chance of being deciphered in more than one different ways. The equivocalness of an arrangement could bring about various understanding by the two players prompting a contest. Rearrange the language and eliminate the majority of the vulnerabilities. Include explanations at every possible opportunity.

 

3) Definitions

Definitions are most significant with regards to deciphering any conditions. Ensure that each specialized word utilized in the arrangement is characterized. Additionally, words, which could be misconstrued, ought to be set.

 

4) Duties and Liabilities

Obligations are fundamental to business exchanges, as are the liabilities. It is essential to characterize and set out the obligations of the two players. Commitments may emerge while doing any business, e.g., if the items are conveyed late and lead to misfortune to a gathering. Such broad situations ought to be chalked out, alongside the other likely occasion applicable to the business exchange. Liabilities should be sabotaged and very much laid in the understanding.

 

5) Guarantees, Warranties, Indemnities, and so forth

Ensures, guarantees, reimbursement, and so forth., are the very much set liabilities. Each of these ought to be surely known in the specific circumstance and characterized any place required. It ought to likewise be explained that such obligation is being made in on occurring of which occasion. Try not to feel bashful to request that your customer rethink, on the off chance that you discover any of these statements not to the greatest advantage of the customer.

 

6) Intellectual Property Rights

In exchanges like permitting, the award of the business, and so on the issue of IPRs comes up essentially. It must be recollected that IPR has a tremendous extent of use. It is recommended to take a check if any issues with IPR could come up during exchange and pertinent increases ought to be settled on to the draft arrangement.

 

7) Dispute Resolution Method

It’s tied in with being viable, and not tied in with being a worrier, to expect that a contradiction may emerge at one point of time. It is smarter to be ready for such a circumstance, and henceforth an act of fusing Dispute Resolution statement has been embraced in the business contracts. Generally, the question goal proviso accommodates mediation and sets out the strategy to be taken if there should arise an occurrence of a contest.

 

8) Broader vision

It is essential to keep the master plan while drafting an understanding that brings customers or your government assistance. The impediment periods permitted under the common laws will empower case to be begun well following quite a while of the finish of the exchange. It is imperative to follow the rules and guarantee that the understanding reflects decency.

 

9) Jurisdiction and end

Regardless of whether gatherings consent to fall back on a substitute strategy for question goal, they actually have the alternative to move toward an official courtroom if there should arise an occurrence of a debate. Accordingly, to forestall any future difficulty, it is basic to set some hard boundaries and the court, which will have ward if there should be an occurrence of suit.

Notwithstanding that, it is likewise critical to set down conditions and methodology to end the understanding. It may occur with respect to both the gatherings that they probably won’t wish to go on with the business exchange. Consequently, it is smarter to set down such wellbeing strategies which will permit one gathering to make a move out of the arrangement so that there are least harms caused or no harm caused by any stretch of the imagination.

Consult an expert contracting vetting lawyer to ensure a hassle-free process.

 

Speedy closure of business contracts and making tedious process into easy one, nothing kills the momentum of a business transaction like paperwork and delay caused in finalizing and signing them. The process of printing a document and either setting up an in-person signing event or emailing the scanned versions of signed documents, it can eat up all of your precious prospecting time. Thanks to technology, we now have electronic ways of executing legal documents that help save precious time that is lost in clerical work.An effective contract management system should include the ability to support electronic signatures for executing the documents.

What are eSignatures?

eSignatures are digital signatures that can be applied to electronic documents. The Information Technology Act, 2000 (the ‘Act’)under Section 5 provides the legal recognition of electronic signatures, and Section 3A of the Act provides that a subscriber may authenticate an electronic record with an electronic signature. In India, you can use an electronic signature just by using the OTP generated on your Aadhaar-enabled mobile device once you make a request to sign an electronic document. E-Signature is associated with other electronic data and used by the signatory to sign or authorize a document. E-signature holds the same legal standing as a handwritten signature, provided that other specific requirements of the relevant Indian government regulations are adhered to.

E-signature and Digital signature; used interchangeably but have a different meanings.

E-signature is entirely different from a digital signature. Digital signatures are a cryptographic mechanism used for implementing e-signatures. An electronic signature can be as simple as entering a name in the electronic document. On the other hand, digital signatures are widely used in e-commerce and regulatory filings to print e-signatures in a protected way.

Requirements to Avail E-Signature Services

In order to avail E-signature facility remotely, an individual must have a valid UIDAI Aadhar Card and his/her mobile number linked with Aadhaar Card. The purpose of this service is to promote paper-less transaction and enable people to sign the documents in a secure way that is also accepted legally and saves time. You can avail e-Signature feature on our website.

Documents on which eSignature is Invalid in India

The Central Government has stipulated that electronic signatures cannot be used on all classes of documents. Any electronic signature used on any of the documents listed below will not make such a signature or the document itself valid as per Section 1(4) of the IT Act, 2000, itself is not applicable to:

• Any sale of immovable property in India or any contract, interest or conveyance in such property.
• Power of Attorney as per Section 1A of the Powers of Attorney Act, 1882.
• A will and/or testament as per Section 2(h) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925.
• A negotiable instrument as per Section 13 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.
• A trust as per Section 3 of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882.
• Any class of documents as stipulated by the Central Government by way of a notification published in the Official Gazette from time to time.

International acceptance of eSignature.

Different countries have different laws with respect to digital signatures and eSignatures considering the benefits of e-signature. Hence, one should diligently check out on the validity and process of electronic signatures in any country before executing a document and signing it electronically.

Benefits of Aadhaar E-Signature

Aadhaar E-Signature service comes with a number of benefits that are mentioned hereunder.

• Privacy: It is the responsibility of both service providers and solution providers that the full data protection and confidentiality norms are followed to maintain the privacy of the signatory. Further to ensure safety and data protection, complete Aadhaar information is not accessible to the service providers.
• No Physical Presence Required: Aadhaar E-Signature is an online service since the individuals are not required to be physically present at the time of verification. It can be done remotely which saves time and eliminates the possibility of delays and errors.
• Flexible Verification Process: The verification can be done in a number of ways depending on the availability of the devices at the service provider. The basic way is to go through the video verification where personal detail verification is done. The other way is to do it with a One-Time Password (OTP). The person receives an OTP on his/her registered mobile number and confirms the verification. This makes the whole process easy and highly flexible.
• Safety: All the service providers are qualified and certified for this process by CCA. The authorities are licensed under the IT act. The private keys of the user are created on Hardware Security Module (HSM) and destroyed immediately after one-time use. This enhances the security and prevents any misuse of the sensitive information of the user.

An agreement enforceable by law forms a legally binding contract stipulating the terms and conditions of any kind of transaction between two or more parties. A well-drafted contract defines the scope and purpose of the Agreement, payment terms, sets the rights and liabilities of the parties to the contract along with the obligations of the Parties including the manner of performance of the obligations under the Contract.

A contract is the cornerstone of every transaction that serves as a rule book for the transacting parties to conduct their business. Due to this very reason, before signing an agreement to form a legally binding contract, it is imperative to review it to ensure that there are no unnecessary liability or risk exposure to individual or business organization intending to go through with transaction of any nature.

Contract review is an important tool that reflects the understanding of the transacting parties towards the agreement in question, ensures that these parties are on the same page, and makes room for renegotiation of the terms, if necessary so that the interests of a party are well secured.

WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO CHOOSE A LAWYER TO REVIEW YOUR AGREEMENT?

When it comes to reviewing any Agreement, hiring a lawyer should be the topmost priority, for the simple reasons provided below:

Protection of business interests

With an agreement, it is vital for a business and its owner to understand what their signature can get them into. Getting an agreement vetted by a lawyer not only gives a detailed knowledge of the key risks and issues associated with the agreement but also provides the solutions to mitigate the same. Appointing a professional will help you to secure more favorable terms in the agreement that could benefit your company in the long run.

Interpretation of the Legal Language

Agreements generally have formal and technical language, i.e. legalese, which is complicated for a layman to understand. Many people skip over the terms which they are not able to understand or use online search engines to try to find out the meaning of such terms/ clauses. The problem which arises here is that every agreement is different, every transaction is unique and therefore the interpretation of such terms/clauses by an online search engine e may not fetch appropriate answers. Hence it is always recommended to turn to a professional for guidance, else one might agree to some obligations and risks that they do not intend to have due to the lack of legal knowledge.

Increase your negotiation power

Well, thought-through negotiations are always better than agreeing to something that may give risk exposure to the Parties or end up in a party receiving lesser than what they should as per the existing standards. A lawyer can easily identify the potential problems and risks that can come up in the future and help you with negotiating better terms so that you can extract the maximum profit out of a transaction.

Ignorantia Juris Non Excusat

Simply put, ignorance of law is not acceptable in the court of law. The Parties are expected to ensure that all the terms and conditions of the transaction are well defined and are put together as per the applicable laws so as to make the agreement enforceable in the court of law. Lawyers have extensive knowledge of the prevailing laws and can thoroughly scrutinize the agreement for you so that all the legal requirements have duly complied. Lawyers ensure that the terms of the agreement are not infringing the laws of the land and that the final contract is legally valid.   Therefore, it is always advisable to consult a lawyer to ensure adherence to the applicable laws, otherwise, if at any time a breach or a hurdle occurs, one cannot take the defense in the court that he was ignorant of the law.

Prevention is better than cure

Saving the expenses initially by not hiring a lawyer to review agreements can lead to spending a huge amount of money on litigation in the future. Seeking review before executing an agreement can also help you avoid bad contracts that can cause major problems for your business and also avoid incurring unnecessary litigation expenses at a later stage.

CONCLUSION                                                                        

Today, it is true that an individual thinks twice before hiring a lawyer considering it to be an unnecessary expense and prefer to rely on online search engines and discussion platforms to save extra cost; however when trouble crops up, which eventually does sooner or later, their carelessness comes back to haunt them.

Lawyers tend to ensure that the contract is air-tight and has little or no scope for exploitation. When it is about scrutinizing important legal documents, hiring an experienced and qualified lawyer is always the best thing to opt for as they have the ability to identify potential problems and pitfalls in any given transaction.