New service will build
confidence in online co
ntracts
Paris, 16
August 1999 -- The
International Chamber of Commerce has begun final tests of a repository of terms
used in electronic contracts. By helping to overcome legal uncertainties, this
new ICC service will place the full business development potential of the Internet
at the disposal of all categories of e-commerce user.
The E-terms Repository service
will be available on the ICC website early in 2000. Terms accepted will be assigned
unique reference numbers, so that parties can easily incorporate them into electronic
contracts.
Documents will also be time-stamped
and digitally signed before publication in the E-Terms Repository. Using terms
held by a neutral third party vouching for their integrity and authenticity,
rather than by one of the contracting parties, greatly enhances legal certainty.
The terms themselves fall
under four categories:
- proprietary terms, such
as general conditions of an on-line merchant or service bureau
- public documents, such
as the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce
- terms or standard e-commerce
notices that are promoted with the intention of becoming best practices facilitating
Internet commerce
- documents and clauses
that have been formally adopted as ICC best practices, like ICC GUIDEC (General
Usage for International Digitally Ensured Commerce) or ICC Guidelines on Advertising
and Marketing on the Internet.
Incorporation by reference
of legally relevant terms into contracts is central to many ICC instruments.
The practice reduces transaction costs for contracting parties. Incoterms, for
instance, are incorporated into a contract by simple reference to a code such
as "FOB (...named port of shipment) Incoterms 2000". The E-Terms service is
an innovation aimed at improving this legal technique with the assistance of
interactive technology.
The E-Terms service will
provide a unique new instrument to facilitate e-commerce. Many transactions
completed over the Internet are too small to justify elaborate contracts involving
extensive negotiation and involve no more than a brief exchange of e-mails.
Incorporation of E-Terms will also help parties overcome technical problems
such as size constraints inherent in certain authenticating devices.
More information about E-Terms
will be available by October 1999. Companies desiring to participate in the
initial roll-out should contact Christiaan van der Valk, email Click here to send a mail
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