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Presents an updated version of a paper given by the author at an international conference in Athens 2000. Briefly outlines the development of the internet and e‐commerce and the effect of globalization. Considers the potential for the EU to standardize rules and advance its economic integration agenda. Looks at present EU laws in this area. Covers the unicitral model law on electronic commerce, its merits and its problems. Discusses personal jurisdiction under traditional rules and cyberspace transactions. Concludes that existing legislation must be re‐evaluated in the light of technological advances, the need for a more mobile kind of legal person and the worldwide nature of transactions across territorial boundaries, paperless contracts and digital signatures and the use of self‐regulation are also covered.

In the USA, electronic signatures recently became as legally binding as printed signatures. But the legislation that made electronic signatures legal did nothing to specify how they should be implemented, or what precautions must be taken to ensure the security and validity of the signature process. This paper first reviews the status of electronic signatures in the USA, and compares it to work done by the United Nations. Next, the technology that can be used to implement electronic signatures is summarized. The paper concludes with a discussion of problems and open issues surrounding the use of electronic signatures.

Dubai’s Electronic Transactions Law (“ETL”) is designed to stimulate E‐commerce in the emirate by improving the authenticity and integrity of electronic transactions. The ETL recognizes the legal validity of electronic documents and electronic signatures as acceptable substitutes for paper documents and ink signatures, respectively. Accordingly, electronic records may be used to comply with a statutory writing requirement, original document requirement and retention requirement, and an electronic signature attached to an electronic document may be used to comply with a statutory requirement for a paper‐and‐ink signature. If all parties are in agreement, a contract may be in electronic form and is just as legally enforceable as a written one. The ETL does not mandate Dubai’s governmental agencies to utilize electronic documents, but they may elect to do so. The ETL has created a compulsory system of licensing of Certification Authorities (“CA”). Their role is to ascertain the identity of a subscriber and to attest in an issued Certificate that the electronic signature used by that subscriber belongs to him. The ETL contains a list of computer crimes. The statute establishes a sound framework for E‐commerce, but it could be improved by adding consumer protections, more computer crimes, mandatory Egovernment, I.T. courts and long‐arm jurisdiction. The ETL’s exclusion of wills should be eliminated.

This article explores the relationship between the use of electronic signatures and governance within the pharmaceutical industry. The concept of governance and the use of research to explore the operation of processes of regulation and government intervention remains largely absent in the records management literature and further exploration, through additional original research, presents opportunities to develop records management theory and knowledge of records management practice.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this article is to describe the development of the French legal framework of digital evidence. The ongoing transformations of information in an electronic environment reconsidered fixity and stability of writing. The society needed to construct a new way for guaranteeing records’ authenticity and integrity, considering the necessity of conserving record’s probative value through time. That is the reason why France has published different legal texts since 2000 for establishing some rules.

The article is mainly focused on acts and decrees which constitute this legal framework. It resumes content of the main texts and highlights the great evolutions of French legal framework of digital evidence.

The article showcases two main approaches for guaranteeing records probative value in French Law: one is based on information systems security, and the other is based on electronic signature. Both approaches can be complementary. Their principles are not so different as far as the conclusions of InterPARES work.

This work makes a link between French Law studies and academic archival studies. It showcases the development of principles guaranteeing records’ authenticity and integrity with many quotations from French legal texts.

This paper aims at providing an overview of different approaches toward identity management pertaining to citizen to government (C2G) eGovernment applications.

The paper adopts a comparative law methodology. It asks how different legal systems deal with the same problem. The different legal frameworks of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and the Swiss Canton of Zug are analyzed and compared pertaining to identification and authentication. The process of comparison involves three phases: the descriptive phase (describing and analyzing the legislation to be compared), the identification phase (identifying the differences and similarities between the systems compared) and the explanatory phase (attempting to explain the resemblances and similarities between the systems).

Each of the four countries adopted different legal solutions. This is due to the different legal culture and the existing legal framework in which the legislator, in most cases, seeks to fit in the respective eGovernment solution, rather than adopting a completely new solution.

This study reveals different possibilities for legislatures to regulate electronic C2G procedures, ranging from a combination of electronic identity (eID) and electronic signature to pragmatic eID models in combination with further electronic authentication functionalities. The focus of the study is the legal framework and not the technical solution.

The advent of the e‐commerce age has cried out for uniform rules to govern commercial transactions. The securities industry has obviously been on the front line of this change. The electronic signatures in the Global and National Commerce act is a step in the direction of commercial uniformity. This article examines the act and discusses its potential applications while pointing out certain questions that remain open.

The Digital Signature Project (ELU‐project) is coordinated by the STUZZA, a subsidiary of the leading Austrian business banks. The aim of the project is to establish an infrastructure for applying smart card‐based digital signatures in banking and electronic commerce applications. One important requirement is to conform to all relevant international standards to ensure interoperability in case of a later connection to an international certification infrastructure. One part of the infrastructure is a public directory in the form of an LDAP‐server from which the X.509v3 certificates of the public signature keys can be retrieved. To provide for integrity, strong data authenticity and non‐repudiation of all directory information it was important to apply some security features that have not been standardized for LDAP yet. In this way the user can be sure that he is talking to the trusted directory when retrieving certificates and certificate‐related information. In this paper we give an overview of the project and some insights into some of the interesting parts of the system specification and design.

The use of electronic media in the financial services industry is discussed in light of the regulatory framework in which the industry exists. The authors explore this issue in regards to both the securities and futures regulatory structure.