Australia to update eCommerce laws
Australia’s federal and state governments have agreed to update their electronic commerce laws enabling the Australian government to sign on to a United Nations Convention on the use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts.
The decision was made at the latest meeting of the Standing Committee of federal and state Attorney’s General (SCAG) on the 16th and 17th of April.
A communiqué issued after the meeting said the Attorneys had agreed to amend their existing Electronic Transactions Acts.
“Ministers have agreed that amendments to the uniform Electronic Transactions Acts that could implement the UN Convention on Electronic Communications in International Contracts should be drafted. “
The decision was no surprise as Federal Attorney-General, Robert McLelland, MHR, released a discussion paper late last year inviting comment on the proposal.
As we reported at the time, in the words of the discussion paper itself:
“Most of the amendments required to update these laws to bring them into line with the Convention are not considered significant…”
And, as SCAG reported, submissions on the proposed updates were uniformly in favour.
“Submissions from the business community and other interested groups all supported proposed amendments that will allow Australia to accede to the Convention on Electronic Contracting.”
Even so, the development is significant, if only because the some of the various state ETA’s are slightly different and a re-draft provides the opportunity to standardize them.
The Convention is an update on the UN’s model law, and provides the legal certainty underpinning business and transactions conducted via the Internet.
For more information go to
www.scag.gov.au
To download the discussion paper go to
www.ag.gov.au
See also
www.ecommercereport.com.au/story45.php
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