On July 3, President Clinton signed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act ("E-SIGN"), a statute that establishes the legal validity of electronic contracts, consumer disclosures, and recordkeeping. This key piece of legislation will have dramatic effects on e-commerce.
What Does The New Law Cover?
E–SIGN is perhaps best thought of as the "No-Paper-Needed Act." It authorizes the use of electronic means instead of paper to meet legal requirements in three broad areas: electronic contracts and signatures, consumer disclosures, and recordkeeping.
- Electronic Contracts and Signatures
. The heart of the new law is a preemptive rule that overrides contrary laws and regulations to establish that the legal validity of transaction documents (electronic signatures, contracts, and records) cannot be denied solely because they are in electronic form. The Act applies to all signatures, contracts, or other records "relating" to a "transaction," which is broadly defined to
