THE E-COMMERCE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT

Bangkok, November, 2002

David Marsh

Legal Issues

E-COMMERCE DEFINED

“Electronic commerce covers any form of business or administrative transaction or information exchange that is executed using any information and communications technology”

Legal Issues

DEMATERIALISATION

Ease of reproduction

Difficulty of detecting alteration

Absence of originality

Anonymity of source

Legal Issues

LANGUAGE IN STATUTES

Document

Writing

Signature

Instrument

Legal Issues

COMMUNICATION I

Face to face

Post

Telegraph/telegram

Telephone

Telex

Legal Issues

COMMUNICATION II

Fax

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)

E-mail

The internet

Legal Issues

THE ROLE OF THE UN

UNCTAD

UNCITRAL

UN/CEFACT

Legal Issues

TECHNICAL STANDARDS

TRADACOMS

UN/EDIFACT

ANSI X 12

HTML

XML

Eb/XML

OASIS

Legal Issues

LEGAL SYSTEMS

Common law

Civil or Roman law

Scandinavian law

European Law

Legal Issues

TYPES OF SOLUTIONS

Contractual

Legislative

Self regulatory

International convention

Legal Issues

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

Contractual forms

Technical Standards

Data Protection

E-Commerce IP issues

Security and cryptology

Criminal issues

Legal Issues

THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Facilitation

Regulation

Legal Issues

SECURITY

Technical security

Commercial security

Legal security

National security

Legal Issues

SECURITY II

Monitoring

Intercept capability

Service provider “black boxes”

Commercial cost

Tipping off

Lawful business practice

Legal Issues

SIGNATURES

Requirements of form

Mechanical signatures

Intention to sign

Proof

The EU Digital Signatures Directive

National legislation

Legal Issues

VALID SIGNATURES!

Legal Issues

ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES

Standardisation of technology

Recognition of root authorities

Harmonisation of commercial codes

Modernisation of enforcement procedures

Legal Issues

INTERCHANGE AGREEMENTS

TPAs

long term relationships

repeatable dataflows

secure payment

agreed standards

call-off processes

Legal Issues

UN/CEFACT RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendation 26 - TPAs

Recommendation 31 - Contract formation

Recommendation 32 - Codes of conduct

Current work

— Certification authority standards

— ODR

— ebXML legal issues

Legal Issues

FISCAL ISSUES

“…… should we tax the internet?”

“How should we tax the internet?”

Direct and indirect taxes

International aspects of taxation

Legal Issues

DATA PROTECTION

Data protection EU directive

Registration

Personal data

Consent

Confidentiality

Proper use

Correction of errors

Legal Issues

OTHER CURRENT ISSUES

Hacking

Spamming

Viruses

Bombing

Thank you for listening

Questions

DAVID MARSH