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A review of electronic signatures regulations: do they facilitate or impede international electronic commerce?

Published: 13 August 2006 Publication History

Abstract

This paper intends to critically review the regulations on electronic signatures (e-signatures) around the world and examine their possible impact on the development of international electronic commerce (e-commerce). Do they facilitate the e-commerce development as expected? If not, why? This paper will examine this issue from an international and comparative perspective, and particularly looks at the US, the UK, Germany and China. It is argued that the landscape of e-signatures regulations is divergent and fragmentary, which, to some extent, impedes the flow of international e-commerce. More efforts are needed to achieve a harmonized and coherent regulatory framework.

References

[1]
UNCITRAL (2001), The Model Law on Electronic Signature 2001, available at: www.uncitral.org.
[2]
Koger J. L., "You Sign, E-sign, We all Fall Down: Why the United States Should not Crown the Marketplace as Primary Legislator of E-signatures", 11 Transnat'l L. & Contemp. Probs. 501.
[3]
Lorna Brazell, Electronic Signatures Law and Regulation, (1st Ed, London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2004), P. 2.
[4]
Fischer, S. F. (2001) "Saving Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in A virtual World? A Comparative Look at Recent Global E-signature Legislation", 7 Boston University Journal of Science & Technology Law 230
[5]
Christina Spyrelli, 'Electronic Signatures: A Transatlantic Bridge? An EU and US Legal Approach Towards Electronic Authentication', The Journal of Information, Law and Technology (JILT) 2002(2).
[6]
Here it refers to the previous Digital Signature Act 1997.
[7]
Article 5(1) of the Directive on Electronic Commerce.
[8]
Article 6(3)(a) of the UNCITRAL Model Law, supra note 1.
[9]
Section 17 of the Singapore Electronic Transactions Act 1998.
[10]
See for example, Article 8, 9, 11 of UNCITRAL Model Law 2001; Article 6 of Directive on Electronic Signatures.
[11]
California Secretary of State, Frequently Asked Questions about Digital Signature Law and Regulation, http://www.ss.ca.gov/digsig/digsigfaq.htm. (last visited on 2 August, 2005)
[12]
Robert A. Wittie & Jane K. Winn, "Electronic Records and Signatures Under the Federal E-Sign Legislation and the UETA", 56 BUS. LAW. 295 (2000).
[13]
ABA, "Digital Signature Guidelines: Legal Infrastructure for Certification Authorities and Secure Electronic Commerce", 1996, http://www.abanet.org/scitech/ec/isc/dsgfree.html. (last visited on 5 August, 2005)
[14]
See Internet Law & Policy Forum, "Survey of International Electronic Digital Signature Initiatives (1998) http://www.ilpf.org/groups/survey.htm.
[16]
Sec. 106(5) of E-Sign.
[17]
Sec. 106(2) of E-Sign.
[18]
Sec. 106(5) of E-Sign.
[19]
Sec. 101(a)(1) of E-Sign.
[20]
Sec. 101(a)(2) of E-Sign.
[21]
See John S. Stolz & John D. Cromie, "Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act", available at: http://www.cfg-lawfirm.com/articles/oneclick.html. (last visited on 26 July, 2005).
[22]
Sec. 101(b)(1) of E-Sign.
[23]
Sec. 101(b)(2) of E-Sign.
[24]
Sec. 101(c)(1)(A) of E-Sign.
[25]
Sec. 101(c)(1)(D) of E-Sign.
[26]
[27]
Sec. 301(a)(1) of E-Sign.
[28]
Sec. 301(a)(1) of E-Sign.
[29]
Section 2 of the ESR.
[30]
Section 7 of the ECA.
[31]
DTI, "Guide to the Electronic Communications Act 2000", p.5, available at: www.dti.gov.uk.
[32]
DTI, "Explanatory Notes to Electronic Communications Act 2000", Para. 43, available at www.hmso.gov.uk.
[33]
Jos Dumortier etc, "The Legal and Market Aspect of Electronic Signature", p. 215, available at: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/trust/electronic_sig_report.pdf.
[34]
See Section 4 of the ESR.
[35]
Article 3 and 4 of the Directive.
[36]
Article 4 of the Directive.
[37]
Article 3(7) of the Directive.
[38]
Section 2(1) of SigG.
[39]
Section 2(2) of SigG.
[40]
Section 2(3) of SigG.
[41]
§ 126(3) of BGB.
[42]
§ 126a of BGB
[43]
§ 371a of the Code of Civil Procedure.
[44]
See Dumortier, supra note 33, p72.
[45]
See Dumortier, supra note 33, p189.
[46]
§ 4 of SigG.
[47]
§ 12 of SigG.
[48]
See Dumortier, supra note 33, p190.
[49]
Article 5(1) of Directive
[50]
Art. 2 of ESL.
[51]
Art. 14 of ESL.
[52]
Article 13 of ESL.
[53]
Art. 13 of ESL.
[54]
Art. 3(1) of ESL.
[55]
Art. 3(2) of ESL.
[56]
Art. 20 of ESL.
[57]
Art. 15 of ESL.
[58]
Art. 18 of ESL; Art. 6 of AMECS.
[59]
Art. 17 of ESL; Art. 5 of AMECS.
[60]
Art. 26 of ESL; Art. 42 of AMECS.
[61]
The approved convention is available at: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/488/80/PDF/N0548880.pdf?OpenElement (visited on 3 March 2000.)

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      cover image ACM Other conferences
      ICEC '06: Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Electronic commerce: The new e-commerce: innovations for conquering current barriers, obstacles and limitations to conducting successful business on the internet
      August 2006
      624 pages
      ISBN:1595933921
      DOI:10.1145/1151454
      Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 13 August 2006

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      Author Tags

      1. electronic commerce
      2. electronic signature
      3. regulation

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