Expertise brings appointment to Government advisory body on digital signatures

Key Points:

Mark Sneddon, a partner in our E-commerce team, has been appointed to the Federal Government's Gatekeeper Policy Committee (GPC), which will advise the Government on policy direction concerning the use of digital signatures by businesses and individuals with all levels of Government (for example with Australian Customs and with Titles Offices in electronic conveyancing transactions).

Mark is the only lawyer on the 16 member committee. Other representatives include Government agencies and providers of digital signature services, including banks which participate in the Identrus Global Digital Signature Scheme. Mark is also a Government-accredited legal evaluator under the Gatekeeper scheme of regulating digital certification services for use with Government.

Mark's appointment highlights Clayton Utz' reputation in the field of identity management and authentication systems and our commitment to partnering with Government and industry to develop and shape policy for these systems which are being used and trialled within the financial services and Government sectors at the moment.

Digital signatures can be used to sign electronic documents in the same way as manual signatures are used to sign paper documents. Digital signatures can be applied to email, Internet transactions, World Wide Web pages, EDI transactions, to create secure communications sessions and more.

Mark advises a range of financial services, corporate and Government clients in e-commerce, privacy and regulated financial services.