Papers From The Electronic Commerce Law Seminar

Insight into where the law and commerce meet in e-commerce transactions in this fast-moving emerging business phenomenon. Coverage includes conducting and enforcing electronic transactions; doing business online and enforcing electronic transations; overcomimng the legal barriers to digital commerce.

So rapid have been the developments of e-commerce, that it is now frequently said that this is the future of any commerce and that it carries the potential for enormous growth - at least for the business to business ("B2B") sector. This text covers some important legal issues arising in e-commerce.

These conference proceedings contain eight papers by renowned Polish and German authors on important questions of the law of e-commerce. Along with questions on conclusion of contract and burden of proof, Law of E-Commerce in Poland and Germany focuses on the field of banking law and law of financial services.

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: This paper was written during my studies at Georgia State University, Atlanta in Fall 2000 in the context of an exchange program between Georgia State University and Technische Universität Darmstadt. Its subject is the new contract law in electronic commerce. The paper starts with an illustration of the situation of legal uncertainty prior to the establishment of a specific contract law in electronic commerce. Many laws governing contract formation were drafted before the existence of electronic messaging and did not adequately address the challenges of electronic transactions. Furthermore, electronic transactions were often hindered by the diversity of state laws. This situation was considered to place some severe legal obstacles to the development of electronic commerce. In 1997, President Clinton and Vice President Gore unveiled their Framework for Global Electronic Commerce. This issue defined the main goals for the future development of both domestic and global electronic commerce. The general objective was to establish a Uniform Commercial Code for this ascending sector of commerce in order to facilitate and enforce electronic transactions. The legislative efforts to achieve those goals recently resulted in two uniform acts, the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), and the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-sign Act). The paper deals with these new legislative approaches. Aside from the presentation of the scopes of the different acts the paper focuses on their fundamental principles and major provisions. Furthermore, it discusses the new enactments in the context of a selection of fundamental legal issues raised by electronic commerce. This discussion finally shows that, although there have been a number of serious endeavors to achieve the above mentioned goals by drafting several electronic commerce statutes, the recent enactments relating to contract law in electronic commerce are not able to achieve the goals set out in the Framework for Global Electronic Commerce. There still remain significant legal obstacles that prohibit electronic commerce from reaching its full potential. Zusammenfassung: Diese Arbeit wurde während meines Studienaufenthaltes an der Georgia State University, Atlanta im Herbstsemester 2000 im Rahmen eines Austauschprogramms zwischen der Georgia State University und der Technischen [...]

In the past six years, more than 55 countries have begun adopting UNCITRAL's (United National Commission on International Trade Law) Model Laws of 1999 and 2001 regarding the use and validity of e-signatures. Dozens of pieces of legislation and legislative proposals now exist around the world on the subject of e-signatures. While the model laws may look the same on paper, in practice they can vary widely. Finally, you can be certain that your clients are in compliance when using digital signatures. The Center for International Legal Studies, in cooperation with UNCITRAL, has gathered experts in over 25 jurisdictions to analyze the impact of these standards in their respective domestic e-commerce regimes. These experts show how the Model Laws are actually implemented today in each of these countries. Now you can have on-the-ground feedback about how UNCITRAL's Uniform Rules on Electronic Signatures, the Model Law on Electronic Commerce 1996, and the Model Law on Electronic Signatures 2001 are being implemented. A must have reference for: - Any lawyer working on a business transaction or contract using the Internet to exchange forms - Government Lawyers - Intellectual Property Lawyers Topics covered include: - Application and enforceability of electronic transactions - Defining key terms, including 'writing, ' 'signature, ' and 'original' documents - Legal recognition of data messages - Formation of contracts - Attribution of data messages - Retention of data messages - Trustworthiness of e-signature - Electronic Commerce Analyzes the global impact of: - UNCITRAL's Uniform Rules on Electronic Signatures - Model Law on Electronic Commerce 1996 - Model Law on Electronic Signatures 2001