The legal framework of electronic signatures in the Czech Republic in commercial transactions and a comparison of some of its aspects with the framework in the USA

The thesis conducts a comparative analysis of the legal framework of electronic signatures in the Czech Republic and the United States of America. It differentiates from other theses on electronic signatures by focusing solely on the use of electronic signatures in commercial private transactions. When researching materials necessary for the comparative analysis, the thesis mainly relied on publicly available resources, legal information systems and caselaw. To fulfill its primary objective, the thesis firstly lays out the legal framework for electronic signatures in both jurisdictions, and then proceeds to compare the two. The comparison is aimed primarily at the definition of electronic signatures and the application of the principle of technological neutrality when using electronic signatures in commercial transactions. The thesis concludes that the definition of an electronic signature is not substantially different in the two jurisdictions, although the approach to defining the signature varies. The thesis further concludes that the practical application of electronic signature regulations in the Czech Republic suffers from some difficulties, caused mainly by the lack of proper application of the principle of technological neutrality in private transactions, while at the same time observing that those same difficulties are unlikely to exist in the United States of America, as that jurisdiction is sufficiently explicit in its endorsement of technological neutrality.