The digital sign is necessary for the double signature of italian on line clauses.

23/5/02    italian version

"Unfair clauses", which mean those clauses which charge the opposite party with very hard terms, i.e. responsibility limits for the supplier or a derogation to the judge's territorial competence, are not effective towards the italian consumers.
These clauses, though, keep their effectiveness in the business to business italian agreements (b2b), if they are specifically approved in writing (art. 1341 Italian Civil Code).
In the agreements concluded on the Internet, more specifically by on line forms, it's diffused the practice of approving the unfair terms by selecting the option "I agree", or similar, in an apposite digital form, in which, in the same way as in the paper agreements, is made a recall to the unfair clauses at the bottom or separately from the contract text.
This praxis, though very diffused, is not suitable to satisfy the requisite of the written sign requested by the art. 1341 Italian Civil Code.
One of the first decisions which have received this thesis is the one of the "Giudice di Pace" of Partanna - Italy - (n° 15 of 2002), which happened to decide about the validity of a clause in an on line agreement. The clause provided the derogation to the judge's territorial competence for the litigations regarding the agreement, and has been declared null, because it wasn't specifically signed either through traditional means or through the digital sign.
The Italian Civil Code, in facts, requires the specific approbation in writing of the clause which imposes a derogation to the judge's territorial competence. So, the only solution to validly subscribe that clause, using an on line form, is to use the digital sign or electronic sign, as provided by the d.p.r. 28.12.2000, n. 445 ("Testo Unico" on the administrative documentation, as modified by the dlgs. 23.1.2002, n. 10), because those twos are the only ways to satisfy the requisite of the written form.