A legal framework for digital safes in Monaco

A legal framework for digital safes in Monaco

Law no. 1482 of 17 December 2019 for a digital Principality, which was published in the Official Journal of 27 December 2019 amended law no. 1383 of 2 August 2011 on the digital economy.

By these means, the Principality of Monaco has enabled the development and facilitation of all types of digital use involving the Administration and users, as well as among private enterprises.

They include the digital safe service, which has now been defined and established from a legal standpoint.

What is a digital safe ?

A digital safe is a secure space that makes it possible to store documents, prove their origin and integrity, trace all the transactions that have been carried out and return data in an exploitable form.
Find out about Actis’s digital safe

Why a trust service?

Among other things, Law no. 1482 of 17 December 2019 for a digital Principality makes it possible to integrate the trust services established by the “eIDAS” European Regulation of  23 July 2014 into Monegasque law. Their purpose is to permit the harmonization and security of transactions within the European Union.

“eIDAS”-type trust services relating to digital signatures, electronic postmarks, time stamping, website authentication certificates and electronic registered mail are currently integrated into the Monegasque legal system.

The Monegasque law is innovative in that it also integrates the notion of digitalization, digital safes and the deposit of digital assets on a digital recording device in a shared registry, principally a blockchain.

This means that the Monegasque digital safe not only “offers trust services”, but is itself a trust service. This is inevitably a satisfactory development because the mission of digital safes is to become the most favoured way of storing and archiving companies’ and individuals’ sensitive and routine documents.

What are its uses for companies and individuals?

Digital safes have a variety of different uses, and they can be perfectly adapted to the needs of their users.

Law no. 1482 establishes one particular essential use: the dematerialization of payslips.

This was already included in Monegasque law, but the fact that the legal existence of digital safes and digital signatures has been established now make it possible to convince sceptical companies to make full use of the tools that are available to them to gain efficiency and space in total legal security.

In addition, the same day as the publication of the law, the Ministerial Decree n°2019-1088 of 20th December 2019 specifies the terms of dematerialization of payslips. The employer can now transmit the payslips in electronic form, informing the employee who has a right of objection. Innovations in Monegasque text: the integrity of the payslip must be guaranteed by a stamp and/or an electronic signature and the latter must be available to the employee for a period of 5 years from its issue. Finally, accessibility to the pay slip must be simple for the employee and his communication: confidential and secure.

Digital safes also make it possible to dematerialize invoices

This was already included in Monegasque law, but the fact that the legal existence of digital safes and digital signatures has been established now make it possible to convince sceptical companies to make full use of the tools that are available to them to gain efficiency and space in total legal security.

Other uses for digital safes

As well as the dematerialization of payslips, using a digital safe also makes it possible to archive documents and store evidence of digital copies and exchanges of data, etc.

And what now?

The principles have been laid down, and we now need to wait for publication of the ministerial implementation decrees, which will, among other things, clarify the frame of reference by which providers of digital safe services will be classified.

In any event, even though compliance with the standards issued by the eIDAS Regulation and AFNOR meant that the legal risk of dematerialization in Monaco was already very limited, the Principality’s companies can now plan the digital evolution of their business processes.