United Nations

For information only - not an official document

UNIS/L/172
6 August 2012

The United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts Enters into Force with the Accession by the Dominican Republic

VIENNA, 6 August (UN Information Service) - On 2 August 2012, the Dominican Republic deposited its instrument of accession to the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (the "Electronic Communications Convention"), becoming the third State party to the Convention and triggering the Convention's entry into force on 1 March 2013. Honduras and Singapore are also States parties to the Electronic Communications Convention. Sixteen other States have signed but not yet ratified the Convention.

The Electronic Communications Convention aims to enhance legal certainty and commercial predictability where electronic communications are used in relation to international contracts. It addresses, among other things, the determination of a party's location in an electronic environment; the time and place of dispatch and receipt of electronic communications; the use of automated message systems for contract formation. It also provides the criteria to be used for establishing functional equivalence between electronic communications and paper documents - including "original" paper documents - as well as between electronic authentication methods and hand-written signatures. In doing so, the Electronic Communications Convention builds on the fundamental legal principles and provisions contained in other UNCITRAL texts on electronic commerce, namely, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce, already adopted in some 50 jurisdictions.

The goals of the Electronic Communications Convention include: removing legal obstacles to the use of electronic communications that may arise from the terms of international agreements concluded before the widespread use of electronic media; fostering the modernization and harmonization of existing e-commerce legislation; and providing jurisdictions that have not yet adopted laws on electronic transactions with a modern set of rules for both domestic and international application. Thus, for instance, the adoption of the Electronic Communications Convention removes any doubt about the acceptability of using electronic communications to satisfy written form requirements arising under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 1958 (the "New York Convention") and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, 1980 ("CISG").

The Electronic Communications Convention is open indefinitely for accession and ratification. Further information on the Convention is available on the UNCITRAL website at www.uncitral.org.

***

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. Its mandate is to remove legal obstacles to international trade by progressively modernizing and harmonizing trade law. It prepares legal texts in a number of key areas such as international commercial dispute settlement, electronic commerce, insolvency, international payments, sale of goods, transport law, procurement and infrastructure development. UNCITRAL also provides technical assistance to law reform activities, including assisting Member States to review and assess their law reform needs and to draft the legislation required to implement UNCITRAL texts. The UNCITRAL Secretariat is located in Vienna, Austria.

* *** *

For information contact:

Timothy Lemay
Principal Legal Officer
UNCITRAL Secretariat
Email: timothy.lemay[at]uncitral.org