Initialed - is it like? Let's decipher the meaning of the word

It is sometimes difficult to reach an agreement. Even if it's two people, it's hard to come to an unequivocal decision! What can one say when two organizations try to agree? Or even two countries? And if two different political systems? It is not surprising that before the treaty is concluded, it passes through several stages of its development, each of which is characterized by certain ways of expressing consent or disagreement between the parties. What is the signing of the contract? Or, what does it mean "the agreement is initialed"? Is it the same as signed, or not?

Let's try to understand. To begin with - in terminology

So, what do the different terms of law mean, meaning the way to secure the terms of the agreement between the parties? Let's try to understand the semantic load of well-known and often used words. For example, what is a signature and how it differs from a painting. How do I correctly say: sign or sign under the contract? And how is the monogram used? What is a document sighting? What can be a paraph, and what does the phrase "initial agreement" mean?

Without understanding the meaning of these terms: sign, endorse, initialize, the meaning of the word "contract" will not be revealed until the end. And, consequently, it will be impossible to comprehend the foundations of contractual work, no matter which branch of law it refers to.

Signature - what is it?

According to the law (see Article 160 of the Civil Code), any contract is signed. Absence of
It on the document means that the agreement is not reached and can lead to predictable legal consequences, up to the recognition of the transaction as invalid.

But, unfortunately, in the legislation of the Russian Federation there is no single normative act that would give an accurate definition and unambiguously regulate the use of the signature. As a consequence, often the signature is substituted for the paraphrase. Therefore, it is worthwhile to understand what the word "initial" means, and how it differs from the word "sign".

A signature is a collection of graphic symbols that serves to identify a person as an individual or a legal entity. According to Ozhegov's dictionary, the signature is a self-written name. This is indirectly confirmed by clause 3 of the 160th article of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. And the first paragraph of Article 19 of this Code clearly indicates that any citizen acquires any of his rights only under his own name, surname and patronymic.

Proceeding from the foregoing, it can be concluded that, legally correctly, the signature is only the handwritten citizen's full name.

Incidentally, we will explain that the word "painting" in general has nothing to do with the conclusion of contracts . For, unlike the word "signature", it is not formed from the verb "to sign", but from the verb similar to it "to paint" (in the sense of "decorating, painting").

It's no wonder that, without delving into these subtleties, the signature is confused with us, for example, with a paraphrase, from which it follows that there is an incomplete understanding of what a "signed document" is and how the "initialed document" differs from it.

EDS

In the era of the development of electronic document circulation, an electronic digital signature has become widespread. Its purpose is essentially the same as for an ordinary signature - to certify that the document does not contain any distorted information and that it is certified by the person who owns the signature key certificate.

But, I must say that with all our love and respect for the possibilities of information technology, it is unlikely that in the near future we will be able to avoid writing documents in writing, in paper form. And, therefore, no one has canceled the rules of signing contracts using the usual signature. For the purposes of initialing, the EDS is not applied.

What is a paraph?

If you answer briefly, then the paraph is what we used to call the signature. It is possible to distinguish its following components:

• Monogram. These are the initial letters (one, two or three) of the surname, name and patronymic of the person, having common elements.
• Middle part. It consists of lowercase letters. As a rule, these are the surnames after the initial letter.
• Roscherk. Usually it is more or less an artistic element, which is the continuation of the last letter of the middle part.

Para is characterized by a unique set of symbols for the subject and appropriate design. Actually, the word "paraf" and means "stroke", the original purpose of which is to protect the signature from forgery. But it is clear that, by uniqueizing the very image of the signature, a stroke often negates its readability and proper understanding that does not work for its legal force.

From what has been said it is clear that "initialed" is not the same as "signed". Para does not replace the signature.

Where is the paraph used, and what is initialing?

In modern legal practice, paraphrase and initialing are most often used in relation to international law, in particular, in diplomatic and foreign trade activities. What does it mean to initial a contract? This means that it is tentatively signed if the main provisions of the agreement have already been agreed upon by the parties, but the final approval is postponed for some reason. Sometimes it is necessary to initial a treaty because, being fully regulated by authorized persons, it needs the approval of the heads of government of the countries participating in the agreement.

In order to initial the agreement, the authorized persons put only the paraphrase under the text of the agreement. It can be a monogram or a stroke, or a part of a surname, but not a complete signature or seal. Often in this case only the initials of the signer are used. In some cases, the paraph is placed not only at the end of the entire text of the treaty, but on every page of it.

Summarizing ...

Now that we have figured out what it means to initial a document, it makes sense to draw some important conclusions:

1. The signature is not the same as the paraphrase. Accordingly, the use of both is very different.
2. Paraph does not replace the signature. Moreover, if the document is certified with initials with a stroke in the absence of a fully written name of the witness, then such a document may be considered unsigned if necessary.

The legal meaning of initialing

As is clear from the above, initialing does not replace the signing of an agreed document. After the reasons why the contract was deferred have been eliminated, it is signed by the parties in accordance with the procedure established by law.

Initialing is not an obligatory step in concluding an agreement between the parties. It is mandatory to sign, regardless of whether the agreement was initialed or not. And only a signature in the exact legal sense of the word affirms to the parties their rights and obligations in accordance with the text of the concluded contract.

What, then, is the legal meaning of initialing? It confirms that all the textual agreements have already been passed by the parties and the contract has been drawn up. After initialing, the signatories are bound by the obligation to accept negotiations, the result of which is the initialed document, both completed and completed. But the moment of legal responsibility of the parties does not come, the text is not binding, and in the future, before signing, can still be edited. The possibility of making changes to the text of the agreement after its initialing remains. But these changes can not be made only by one party to the contract.

Use of initialing in economic activity

Today, initialing is applicable mainly in international law, and the norms of this Legal action are registered in the regulatory acts, one way or another related to the legal regulation of foreign trade activities. But who said that this convenient tool for reaching an agreement is accessible only to diplomats ?! And why it is impossible, for example, to initial a contract between two or more subjects of economic activity within the state?

Can! Moreover, in some cases it is recommended by experts. For example, similar experience of signing contracts is available at various kinds of joint venture.

Why is it important to observe some pause between the agreement and the final signing of the document?

The whole point is in the specifics of our records management. Let's say you started a joint venture. What kind of work do you have to do?

• The beginning is half the battle, and the beginning will be the preparation of a commercial proposal or a feasibility study of the JV project.
• After this, it is necessary to find interested companies in such a proposal of your company abroad and to familiarize them with the prepared commercial offer.
• Then attract potential investors from abroad, conduct the necessary negotiations with the subsequent drafting of a protocol of intentions.
• Prepare, coordinate and sign by all stakeholders the constituent documents of the future joint venture.
• Register your joint venture, open bank accounts and expand production activities.

It should be borne in mind that during the state registration of the joint venture there may be a need to amend the already signed documents. Such, for example, as a long and difficultly negotiated agreement on joint economic activity.

It may turn out that the agreement will enter into force before the state registration, and in its process it will be found out that not everything was taken into account. And here you again need to gather with the forces and partners to negotiate anew. Here, in this case, you can recommend that the agreement be initialed so that if necessary, it is painless to make all amendments to it immediately before the state registration of the joint venture.

To ensure that nothing is lost from the contract

Unfortunately, when concluding contracts of any kind between business partners
One can never be completely sure that one or even several pages of a document carefully prepared, agreed and signed by one party will not be replaced before the final signing by the other party.

To avoid this, there are some methodological recommendations. So, the contract can be stitched, sheets it numbered and stapled with a paper seal indicating the number of sheets (not pages). This information about the document is confirmed by seals and signatures. In this case, the impression of the seal should capture a part of the text with the title of the person in charge and, in fact, the paper seal that fixes the ends of the thread to which the document is sewn.

And the initialing will help ...

The second methodical recommendation in order to avoid possible forgery of the contract - initialing or sighting of each of its pages. This can be done by persons authorized by a special order to organize a person.

By the way, "sighted", given our harsh reality, in this case it is more preferable than "initialed", it is a fact. For sighting can be carried out not only by means of an ordinary signature, but also by means of a seal or stamp, in which the name of the organization, the full name, position and structural unit of the person in charge, the page number and the total number of pages in the document will be indicated.