30 June 2000.
See related: http://cryptome.org/esigs-suck.htm
From: "Zarate, Robert" <rzarate@steptoe.com>
To: <jya@jya.com>
Subject: President Signs E-SIGN (Supplement to E-Commerce Law Week, Issue
109)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 18:09:29 -0400
From: Stewart Baker (sbaker@steptoe.com)
Eric Greenwald (egreenwald@steptoe.com)
Supplement to E-Commerce Law Week, Issue 109
For more, link to Law and the Net:
http://www.steptoe.com/webdoc.nsf/lawnet-main/main
On June 30, President Clinton signed into law the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (E-SIGN) bill. During a signing ceremony held in Philadelphia's Congress Hall, the President affixed his "John Hancock" to the document, granting legal recognition to electronic records and signatures and eliminating formal requirements that certain document exist and be maintained in tangible form.
Although the President signed the bill electronically, demonstrating the same digital signature technology that will allow consumers and businesses to conduct transactions entirely online, he first signed the document with pen and ink -- as E-SIGN deals with commercial contracts and does not contemplate a change in the method for signing bills into law.
It is important to note, however, that the enactment of E-SIGN does not end the discussion concerning online transactions. For some companies, there is a continued urgency in seeking the adoption of state legislation such as the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). For example, section 201 of E-SIGN allows for the creation of electronic negotiable instruments, but it limits the application of those provisions to loans secured by real property. This means that other forms of electronic promissory notes will not be granted legal recognition unless the parties seek enforcement in a jurisdiction that has adopted UETA or a similar state law provision.
Moreover, it is not entirely clear how the preemption provision of E-SIGN will apply to existing and future state law. The language of the new law explicitly allows state law to "limit, modify, or supersede" E-SIGN, but only where consistent with the terms of E-SIGN or, in the case of UETA, where adopted as recommended by NCCUSL (the drafters of UETA). In other words, the drama of electronic records and signatures is not complete, and the conclusion will be played out in state capitol buildings and federal court houses.
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