|
ICC
rules on e-contracting are on their way
 |
| My
finger twitched - how much will it cost my company? |
Paris,
15 September 2003
- The International Chamber of Commerce has started drafting voluntary
rules to help companies negotiate contracts electronically. At the same
time, ICC has expressed serious concerns about a projected international
convention governing e-contracts.
The new ICC instrument,
named "E-Terms 2004", is expected to be available for use by
the end of June next year. It is a logical extension of ICC's array of
rules, model contract clauses and guidelines that feature daily in countless
paper-based international business transactions. Among the best known
are the standard trade definitions, Incoterms 2000, and ICC's rules governing
letters of credit known as UCP 500.
ICC legal and IT experts
have expressed misgivings about the draft convention tabled by the United
Nations Conference on International Trade Law, which governments will
be considering at an UNCITRAL conference in Vienna in November.
Business objections
centre on the inflexibility of a convention, doubts about its capacity
to cater for a rapidly evolving electronic business environment, and the
likelihood that it would take many years to become law.
Professor Charles
Debattista, a British international trade law expert who has a key role
in drafting ICC rules, said: "ICC has a long history of business
self-regulation. Its various self-regulatory instruments are modified
as often as changing business conditions warrant. This kind of flexibility
is especially necessary for e-contracting."
At issue is regulation
of the whole range of electronic techniques used in negotiating and concluding
contracts. These include the use of data messages such as electronic data
interchange (EDI), e-mail and even older technologies, such as telegrams,
telex or telecopy.
In arguments presented
to UNCITRAL, ICC said any international legal framework for electronic
contracting should be based on a careful assessment of need, and be useful,
practical and
affordable for companies of all sizes.
Christopher Kuner,
the international lawyer who represents ICC at UNCITRAL, said business
hoped the UN body, with its vast experience in international trade law,
would provide input to ICC work on e-contracting.
He said: "Instruments
used should avoid giving the impression that electronic contracting is
fundamentally different from contracting through any other media."
Mr Kuner added: "International
commerce has over many years adapted with remarkable speed and pragmatism
to other technological advances without revisiting the fundamentals of
international commerce."
ICC experts said electronic
contracting in practice was presenting fewer problems than sometimes feared.
But there were a number of problems that had to overcome, chief among
them the lack of formality in electronic exchanges that exposed parties
to the risk of making an unintended contractual commitment.
ICC's Jonas Astrup
said: "The danger is that people may click themselves into a contract
by mistake, and we have to find a way to exclude that possibility. Doubts
about the authenticity and validity of electronic signatures must be overcome."
He added: "Our
experts are convinced that these uncertainties can be largely overcome
by the various solutions that ICC is now developing. We are planning to
put E-terms 2004 at the disposal of international traders during the first
half of 2004."
For further information
contact Jonas Astrup, ICC Policy Manager, Commission on Commercial Law
and Practice tel + 33 1 49 53 28 26; email: Click here to send a mailClick here to send a mail
Commission
on Commercial Law and Practice
|