Going paperless with the adoption of the e-archiving law in Luxembourg

The law on electronic archiving ("Law") was voted through by the Luxembourg parliament on 2 July 2015, offering market niches for new tech companies as well as for professionals of the financial sector ("PFS") who have obtained new licences introduced by the Law.

Setting a precedent in the European Union, Luxembourg now benefits from a consolidated legal framework for electronically archiving documents. Electronic deeds which are filed in accordance with the provisions of the Law have the same legal value as original (paper) documents.

Legal recognition of electronic documents as originals is made possible through the certification of the electronic documents granted by a new type of provider created by the Law, a provider of dematerialisation and conservation services (“prestataire de services de dématérialisation et de conservation“).

Service providers intending to provide electronic archiving services for credit institutions in Luxembourg must possess new PFS licenes introduced by the Law in accordance with the law of 5 April 1993 on the financial sector: dematerialisation PFS and conservation PFS.