Can we provide customers with a written disclosure to sign consenting to receive e-mail statements and/or notices and then send the customer an e-mail with a test document that includes a PIN/code that they must open, retrieve the PIN/code, and e-mail it back to the sender who then confirms the PIN? Would this reasonably demonstrate consent under E-Sign Act? Thanks.

ESIGN says you must obtain or confirm the recipient's consent electronically in a manner that demonstrates successful use of the system that will be used for live deliveries. It's fine to use a paper agreement--but you must still confirm that consent agreement electronically. There's total flexibility in the ways you can set up the online exchange that gives or confirms the consent.

Including a PIN in your test document is one way, but I get the hives whenever a plan involves anything that is manual or relies on customers to follow instructions.

I would set it up so the test pdf document includes a link and very simple instruction like "click here to complete your enrollment in e-delivery." The link would redirect the customer to a special page on your website. That page would contain a short form with fields for the customer's email address, account number (if that helps you operationally) and a submit button with a caption instructing the customer to "click here to confirm your consent to receive statements and other documents electronically." The button itself could be labeled "I consent to e-delivery" or whatever makes your legal counsel comfortable. When the form is submitted, your web server could create any kind of record and internal notification that helps you complete the setup easily. It could also capture the time, the customer's IP address, and anything else that would be handy as evidence that the consent occurred.

Obviously, this type of back-end process could also be hooked up to an online agreement with wording that is identical to the paper document.