The Agency for Rural Investment Financing will exclusively use electronic signatures in its institutional relationship with applicants and subsequently with beneficiaries of European funds granted for agriculture and rural development. This decision will apply to all official communications during the implementation of the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2027 (CAP SP 2027), which will begin this year.

To simplify workflows throughout all procedural stages conducted through the information system during the entire implementation period of the investment project funded through CAP SP 2027, AFIR has developed a series of functionalities that allow the use of electronic signatures, without the possibility of signing and uploading documents using handwritten signatures.

"At AFIR, we are always committed to streamlining the entire procedural flow and making the obtaining of funding and the implementation of investment projects as accessible as possible. We created the administrative framework that allowed beneficiaries of European funds managed by AFIR to use electronic signatures as early as 2018, being among the first public institutions to implement such a measure. At that time, it worked in parallel with the handwritten signature, but now we are technologically ready to use the electronic signature exclusively, starting with the initial submission of funding applications through CAP SP 2027," mentioned George CHIRIȚĂ, Director-General of AFIR.

Legally, a qualified electronic signature is equivalent to a handwritten signature. Additionally, it is more secure, faster, more efficient, and leads to cost reductions.

Thus, by using qualified electronic signatures, the signatory's identity is certified, and it is no longer necessary to travel to the Agency's headquarters to submit the funding application, sign the funding contract, or subsequently submit the payment dossier.

It should be noted that for documents and workflows related to projects contracted under the National Rural Development Program 2014-2020, both electronic and handwritten signatures are accepted.