The UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce (MLEC) establishes a legal framework for electronic commerce by adopting principles of non-discrimination, technological neutrality, and functional equivalence. It aims to remove legal obstacles to electronic commerce by providing that electronic documents and communications cannot be denied validity solely due to their electronic form. The MLEC also establishes rules for e-contract formation and validation of electronic signatures and messages. It was the first international legislative text to adopt these core principles underpinning modern electronic commerce law.
The UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce (MLEC) establishes a legal framework for electronic commerce by adopting principles of non-discrimination, technological neutrality, and functional equivalence. It aims to remove legal obstacles to electronic commerce by providing that electronic documents and communications cannot be denied validity solely due to their electronic form. The MLEC also establishes rules for e-contract formation and validation of electronic signatures and messages. It was the first international legislative text to adopt these core principles underpinning modern electronic commerce law.
The UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce (MLEC) establishes a legal framework for electronic commerce by adopting principles of non-discrimination, technological neutrality, and functional equivalence. It aims to remove legal obstacles to electronic commerce by providing that electronic documents and communications cannot be denied validity solely due to their electronic form. The MLEC also establishes rules for e-contract formation and validation of electronic signatures and messages. It was the first international legislative text to adopt these core principles underpinning modern electronic commerce law.
The UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce (MLEC) establishes a legal framework for electronic commerce by adopting principles of non-discrimination, technological neutrality, and functional equivalence. It aims to remove legal obstacles to electronic commerce by providing that electronic documents and communications cannot be denied validity solely due to their electronic form. The MLEC also establishes rules for e-contract formation and validation of electronic signatures and messages. It was the first international legislative text to adopt these core principles underpinning modern electronic commerce law.
Date of adoption: 12 June 1996 (additional article 5 bis adopted in 1998)
Purpose
The Model Law on Electronic Commerce (MLEC) purports to enable and facilitate commerce conducted using electronic means by providing national legislators with a set of internationally acceptable rules aimed at removing legal obstacles and increasing legal predictability for electronic commerce. In particular, it is intended to overcome obstacles arising from statutory provisions that may not be varied contractually by providing equal treatment to paper-based and electronic information. Such equal treatment is essential for enabling the use of paperless communication, thus fostering efficiency in international trade.
Why is it relevant?
The MLEC was the first legislative text to adopt the fundamental principles of non- discrimination, technological neutrality and functional equivalence that are widely regarded as the founding elements of modern electronic commerce law. The principle of non-discrimination ensures that a document would not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely on the grounds that it is in electronic form. The principle of technological neutrality mandates the adoption of provisions that are neutral with respect to technology used. In light of the rapid technological advances, neutral rules aim at accommodating any future development without further legislative work. The functional equivalence principle lays out criteria under which electronic communications may be considered equivalent to paper-based communications. In particular, it sets out the specific requirements that electronic communications need to meet in order to fulfil the same purposes and functions that certain notions in the traditional paper-based system - for example, "writing," "original," "signed," and "record"- seek to achieve.
Key provisions
Besides formulating the legal notions of non-discrimination, technological neutrality
and functional equivalence, the MLEC establishes rules for the formation and validity of contracts concluded by electronic means, for the attribution of data messages, for the acknowledgement of receipt and for determining the time and place of dispatch and receipt of data messages.
It should be noted that certain provisions of the MLEC were amended by the Electronic Communications Convention in light of recent electronic commerce practice. Moreover, part II of the MLEC, dealing with electronic commerce in connection with carriage of goods, has been complemented by other legislative texts, including the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (the "Rotterdam Rules") and may be the object of additional work of UNCITRAL in the future.
Additional information
The Model Law is accompanied by a Guide to Enactment, which provides
background and explanatory information to assist States in preparing the necessary legislative provisions and may guide other users of the text.
The CLOUT (Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts) system contains cases relating to the application of the Model Law on Electronic Commerce. UNCITRAL E-SIGNATURES Date of adoption: 5 July 2001 Purpose
The Model Law on Electronic Signatures (MLES) aims to enable and facilitate the use of electronic signatures by establishing criteria of technical reliability for the equivalence between electronic and hand-written signatures. Thus, the MLES may assist States in establishing a modern, harmonized and fair legislative framework to address effectively the legal treatment of electronic signatures and give certainty to their status.
Why is it relevant?
The increased use of electronic authentication techniques as substitutes for
handwritten signatures and other traditional authentication procedures suggested the need for a specific legal framework to reduce uncertainty as to the legal effect that may result from the use of electronic means. In response to such needs, the MLES builds on the fundamental principle underlying article 7 of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce with respect to the fulfilment of the signature function in an electronic environment by following a technology-neutral approach, which avoids favouring the use of any specific technology or process. This means in practice that legislation based on this Model Law may recognize both digital signatures based on cryptography (such as public key infrastructure - PKI) and electronic signatures using other technologies.
Key provisions
The MLES is based on the fundamental principles common to all UNCITRAL texts relating to electronic commerce, namely non-discrimination, technological neutrality and functional equivalence. The MLES establishes criteria of technical reliability for the equivalence between electronic and hand-written signatures as well as basic rules of conduct that may serve as guidelines for assessing duties and liabilities for the signatory, the relying party and trusted third parties intervening in the signature process. Finally, the MLES contains provisions favouring the recognition of foreign certificates and electronic signatures based on a principle of substantive equivalence that disregards the place of origin of the foreign signature.
Additional information
The Model Law is accompanied by a Guide to Enactment, which provides
background and explanatory information to assist States in preparing the necessary legislative provisions and may guide other users of the text.
