In 1999 the Austrian Signatures Act (SigG) created the legal basis in Austrian Law for the recognition of electronic signatures. Austria was consequently the first country to implement Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Community framework for electronic signatures (Signatures Directive).
These legal provisions are no longer effective as of 30 June 2016. Since then the applicable legislation in this regard is EU Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC, OJ L 257 of 28 August 2014, p. 73 (‘eIDAS Regulation’). The eIDAS Regulation provides the basis both for EU implementing acts and for provisions of national law (Signature and Trust Services Act, Signature and Trust Services Regulation and others).