E-Commence & Legislation

I . Legislation interpretation

Introduction

The Electronic Commerce Act , 2000 , S .O . c17 (ECA , 2000 is an Ontario statute in force since Oct 16 , 2000 , intended to regulate and secure electronic commerce (e-commerce ) transactions within the country and across its bs

E-commerce is defined as the complete set of processes that support commercial /business activities on a network . It encompasses a wide range of business activities and processes , from e-banking to offshore manufacturing to e-logistics . These include information analysis , credit cards , Automated Teller Machines (ATM , telephone banking , enterprise resource planning

systems (ERP , data mining , data warehousing , and "Web commerce (the purchase of goods and services over the World Wide Web usually with secure connection (HTTPS , a special server protocol that encrypts confidential ing data for customer protection , with e-shopping carts and with electronic payment services , like credit card payment authorizations

The ECA was passed by the 37th Legislature , 1st Session . It was introduced as Bill 88 , An Act to promote the use of information technology in commercial and other transactions by resolving legal uncertainties and removing statutory barriers that affect electronic communication ' The First Reading was Tuesday , June 13 , 2000 , and the Second Reading Wednesday , June 21 , 2000 . It was evaluated by Committee on Tuesday , October 03 , 2000 , and was read a Third time on Tuesday October 10 , 2000 . It attained Royal Assent on Monday , October 16 . 2000

General Provisions

The ECA gives to electronic transactions the same validity as transactions "Electronic " includes created , recorded , transmitted or stored in digital form or in other intangible form by electronic magnetic or optical means or by any other means that has capabilities for creation , recording , transmission or storage similar to those means Any legal requirement that writing be used , that form be available in a certain form , that a document be signed , or an original document provided or retained is satisfied if certain general criteria of consent , reliability , availability , and subsequent usability . The Act confers this status of electronic communications by eliminating any invalidity or unenforceability by reason only of the information or document being in electronic form

Usage of the Act

No one is required to use the ECA , provide or accept documents or information in electronic form without their consent . The absence of consent by a party may invalidate a contract based entirely on an electronic document . However there are provisions for implied consent based on a person 's actions (Section 3 (2

The ECA also applies to public as well as private bodies , and so regulates municipalities and regional government interactions with taxpayers and among themselves (Section 3 (3 . These interactions are sometimes referred to as e-Government (from electronic government , also known as e-gov , digital government , or online government refers to government 's use of information and communication technology (ICT ) to exchange information and services with citizens , businesses , and other arms of government . e-Government may be applied by legislature judiciary , or administration , in to improve internal efficiency the delivery of public services , or processes of democratic governance The...