Data processing agreements: multiple signatories per contracting party

A data processing agreement can be signed by several people for each contracting party – for example by two managing directors jointly. This article describes how you record the signatories, how the signing process runs and where you can read off the status.

Available from the release of 12 August 2026.

What has changed

Previously exactly one signature was foreseen per contracting party, and the contract counted as signed once the contractual partner had signed. From now on:

1. Several signatories can be stored for each contracting party; at least one person per party is required.
2. The contract is only signed once every stored person of both contracting parties has signed.
3. Every person receives their own personal signature link and signs independently of the others.

Recording the signatories

1. Open the contract and click Edit.
2. Scroll to the relevant contracting party. Below its details you will find the Signatories section.
3. Click New and enter First name, Surname, Position and E-mail address. The personal signature link is sent to the address stored here.
4. Using Actions > Load from contacts you can take a person from your contacts instead of typing in the data.
5. Confirm with Apply and repeat the step for every further person. Then do the same for the second contracting party.

Saving the list does not send anything

Creating and saving signatories does not send any invitations. The signature links are only generated once the signing process is started.

Signing the contract

1. On the details page of the contract, click Sign.
2. Under Type of signing, choose whether you sign yourself or request the signature of an authorised representative.
3. If several people are recorded for your side, use You are signing as to select the person you are signing for. If only one person is recorded, this selection does not appear. First name, surname and position are taken from the signatory.
4. Enter the Town/City, provide your signature in the signature field and submit.

The button label tells you what happens next: Signing and collecting signatures means that signatures are still outstanding on your own side. Sign and send to the contractual partner means that your side is complete with this signature.

How the other people sign

All further signatories receive an e-mail with a personal link. Via this link they see the full contract and sign it directly in the browser – a user account is not required for this. They enter their name, position and town/city on that page themselves.

Your own side first, then the contractual partner

Between the contracting parties, signing runs one after the other: the contractual partner is only notified once your own side has been signed in full. The personal links for the contractual partner's people are generated at exactly that moment.

Tracking the status of the signatures

In the overview

1. Open Contracts > Contracts for data processing.
2. The Signatures column is hidden at first. Switch it on via Columns.
3. The column shows the status per contract, for example 2 of 4.
4. Using the Signatures filter you can narrow the list down to Signed in full or Signatures pending.

On the details page

In the Contractual partner section, the overall status is shown on the right ("2 of 4 signatures received") along with each contracting party's own status ("2 of 2 signed"). Behind every person you can see whether they have already signed or are still outstanding, and – where a signature has been provided – the date and town/city.

In the activity log

The activity log of the contract records every single signature by name, as well as the handover to the contractual partner.

Sending a reminder for outstanding signatures

1. Open the contract and choose Actions > Request the signature again.
2. Select the people to be reminded. If only one person is outstanding, they are simply named.
3. Optionally add a message and click Submit.

Only the outstanding signatories of the contracting party currently holding the contract are ever offered. As long as your own side has not signed in full, the contractual partner has not yet been contacted and therefore cannot be reminded either.

Caution: saving can discard signatures

If a contract is set back out of a running signing process – for example from "Presented for signature" back to "In progress" – all signatures already provided are deleted and all signature links already sent become invalid. The application asks beforehand and additionally requires the contract name to be entered. With several signatories this no longer affects just one person, but everyone who has already received a link.

Existing contracts

For contracts created before the changeover, the signatories are taken over automatically from the previous details. Signature links already sent remain valid. There is nothing you need to rework.