Records management in an electronic environment

This pamphlet by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History is one in a series titled Electronic Records Management Guidelines. This pamphlet addresses records management in an electronic environment, its legal framework, the South Carolina Uniform Electronic Transactions Act and SCDAH Electronic Records Program

Digital Signature Law of the United Nations, European Union, United Kingdom and United States: Promotion of Growth in E-Commerce With Enhanced Security

Digital signatures enhance the ability of contracting parties to authenticate electronic communication. Sophisticated encryption and decryption technology is used to verify the identity of the other party to the electronic transaction. Digital signature law, necessary for adjudication of disputes between parties in e-commerce, is still in its infancy. This article covers basic digital signature law of the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The United Nations’ Model Law of Electronic Commerce of 1996 (“MLEC”) had many implications. The MLEC approved the utilization of electronic signatures, stated that electronic signatures would have the same legal impact as an ink signature, and remained technologically-neutral, i.e., did not mandate the utilization of any specific type of technology. The admissibility of “advanced” electronic signatures in legal proceedings and seemed to favor the more sophisticated technologies such as public-key-infrastructure (“PKI”). Utilization of PKI would provide the ultimate in digital signature security. The United Kingdom enacted the Electronic Communications Act in 2000. The Act recognized the validity of electronic signatures and affirmed their admissibility as evidence in court. Furthermore, the United Kingdom’s Electronic Signatures Regulations went into force in 2002. The purpose of the regulations was to implement certain provisions of the European Union’s E-Signatures Directive. However, the United Kingdom remained technologically-neutral. In the 1990s, most states in the United States adopted some form of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, which mandates broad recognition of electronic signatures. In order to achieve more uniformity in the laws of the states, the United States. federal government enacted “E- Sign” in 2000, which preempted all existing state law unless it was the original form of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. Unfortunately, United States jurisdictions now have a “patchwork quilt” of dissimilar law regarding digital signatures. The United States is technologically-neutral. The article concludes with recommendations for improvement of digital signature laws

Washington\u27s Electronic Signature Act: An Anachronism in the New Millennium

Today, electronic contracting is at the forefront of how consumers, governments, and businesses conduct their affairs. Over the last several decades, electronic contracting has taken on new forms that have raised doubts about contract formation and enforceability. In order to facilitate commerce, the federal government and forty-nine states have responded by passing legislation that gives broad legal recognition to electronic signatures. Washington State is currently the only state that has not updated its electronic signature statute to comport with modern technology and ways of doing business. As a result, Washington’s Electronic Authentication Act is likely preempted by federal law, and it presents an uncertain environment for electronic contracting. This Comment argues that Washington should join the overwhelming majority of states in adopting the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act to optimize its statutory framework for facilitating electronic contracting

Selected Re-Emerging and Emerging Trends in Oil and Gas Law as a Result of Production From Shale Formations

Taking the statements in the above paragraph as true, there is also another consequence to these developments. There has been a proliferation of oil and gas leasing and drilling in areas that have little prior experience, or little recent experience, with such activities. This has caused a resurgence of oil and gas law and raised issues that have been either dormant or nonexistent. This Article will address some of the re-emerging and emerging oil and gas litigation issues that are the byproduct of shale development activities. Specifically, this Article will discuss: 1. Production in paying quantities and shut-in royalties; 2. Oil and gas lease drafting, and in particular, the use of termination clauses; 3. The impact of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act on oil and gas law; and 4. Allegations of groundwater contamination caused by hydraulic fracture stimulation

Estudio Comparativo de la Formacion de Contratos Electronicos en el Derecho Estadounidense con Referencia al Derecho International y al Derecho Mexicano

The author presents the underlying fundamental contractual principles in American law, and in this respect, tire Uniform Commercial Code, with particular emphasis in how electronic transactions are regulating, and therefore in the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, and the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act. Concerning international law, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and concerning Mexican law, with reference to the Commerce Code and the Federal Civil Code

The E-Sign Act: The Means to Effectively Facilitate the Growth and Development of E-Commerce

In this new world of electronic communications and digital information technology, e-commerce is not only forcing companies to redefine the means of conducting their business, but it is also changing the basic legal infrastructure. There is currently an enormous amount of activity underway by the states to clarify the law regarding the conduct of e-commerce transactions. Though the various state legislative initiatives, including the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, show an agreement among the states to develop a legal infrastructure that will support the use of security procedures with the public policy goal of further facilitating the growth and development of e-commerce, there is little agreement among the states on how to attain such a goal. Unlike the current state electronic signature legislation, the E-Sign Act provides three key components, uniformity, flexibility, and predictability, and will prove to be the means to successfully facilitate the growth and development of e-commerce