1996 12 16. The 85th plenary session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law adopted the Model Law on Electronic Commerce, which is the first unified law on electronic commerce in the world. Its purpose is to provide a set of internationally recognized legal rules for countries to refer to when formulating their own e-commerce legal norms, and to promote the use of modern communication and information storage means. For the purposes of this Law:
(a) "Data message" means information generated, stored or transmitted by electronic means, optical means or similar means, including but not limited to electronic data interchange, e-mail, telegram, telex or fax;
(b) "Electronic data interchange" refers to the transmission of electronic information between computers using agreed standards to specify the information structure;
(c) The "originator" of a data message means a person who can be identified as the person who sent or generated the data message by himself or on his behalf and may then store it, but does not include the person who handled the data message as an intermediary;
(d) The "addressee" of a data message means the person who the originator intends to receive the data message, but does not include the person who handles the data message as an intermediary;
(e) "Intermediary" means, with respect to a particular data message, a person who sends, receives or stores a data message on behalf of another person or provides other services related to the data message;
(f) "Information system" means a system for generating, sending, receiving, storing or otherwise processing data messages. (1) When interpreting this Law, we should take into account its international origin and the necessity of promoting its uniform application and observing good faith.
(2) Problems governed by this Law and problems for which solutions are not clearly stipulated in this Law shall be solved according to the general principles on which this Law is based. (1) Unless otherwise specified, the provisions of Chapter III may be modified by agreement between the parties who generate, send, receive, store or otherwise process data messages.
(2) Paragraph (1) of this article shall not affect the rights that may exist to amend any legal rules mentioned in Chapter II by agreement.
Chapter II Application of Legal Requirements to Data Messages (1) If the law requires information to be in written form, and if the information contained in data messages can be retrieved for future reference, that requirement is met.
(2) This paragraph will apply whether the requirements mentioned in paragraph (1) of this article are in the form of obligations or not, and whether the law only stipulates the consequences of non-written information.
(3) The provisions of this article shall not apply to the following situations: [-]. (1) If the law requires a data message to be signed by one person, this requirement is met in the following cases:
(a) Use a method to identify the person and show that the person approved the information contained in the data message.
Information; and
(b) in all the circumstances, including according to any relevant agreement, the method used is reliable, which is important for generating or
The purpose of transmitting data messages is also appropriate.
(2) This paragraph will apply whether the requirements mentioned in paragraph (1) of this article are in the form of obligations or not, and whether the law only stipulates the consequences when there is no signature.
(3) The provisions of this article shall not apply to the following situations: [-]. (1) If the law requires information to be presented or retained in its original form, a data message meets this requirement if:
(a) There is a way to reliably ensure that information is generated in its final form for the first time, as a data message or as a
For other purposes, the information maintains its integrity; and
(b) If information needs to be displayed, it can be displayed to the person who watches the information.
(2) This paragraph will apply whether the requirements mentioned in paragraph (1) of this article take the form of obligation or not, and whether the law only stipulates the consequences of not presenting or retaining information in its original form.
(3) For the purpose of paragraph (a) of this article (1):
(a) The criteria for evaluating completeness shall be other than endorsement and what happens in ordinary transmission, storage and display.
Whether the relevant information is complete and has not changed except for any changes; and
(b) The required reliability standard should be evaluated according to the purpose of generating information and referring to all relevant circumstances.
(5) The provisions of this article shall not apply to the following situations: [-]. (1) In any legal proceedings, the application of evidence rules shall not deny the admissibility of data messages as evidence for any of the following reasons:
(a) Only if it is a data message; or
(b) If this is the best evidence that the witness can reasonably expect, it is not original evidence.
(2) Information in the form of data messages should be given appropriate evidential weight. When evaluating the evidential power of data messages, we should consider the reliability of the method of generating, storing or transmitting data messages, the reliability of the method of maintaining information integrity, the method used to identify the originator and any other relevant factors. (1) If the law requires the retention of certain documents, records or information, these requirements can be met by retaining data messages as long as the following conditions are met:
(a) The information contained therein can be retrieved for future reference; and
(b) The data message is retained in the format when it was generated, sent or received, or in a format that can prove the accurate reproduction of the information generated, sent or received; and
(c) Retain any information that can be used to identify the source and destination of data messages and the date and time when messages are sent or received.
(2) The obligation to keep documents, records or information according to the provisions of paragraph (1) is not as good as any information only used to enable the message to be sent or received.
(3) Anyone can use the services of any other person to meet the requirements mentioned in paragraph (1) as long as the conditions listed in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of (1) are met. (1) As far as the conclusion of a contract is concerned, unless otherwise agreed by the parties, both the offer and the acceptance of the offer can be expressed in the form of data messages. If a contract is concluded by using data messages, the validity or enforceability of the contract shall not be denied simply because of the use of data messages.
(2) The provisions of this article shall not apply to the following situations: [-]. (1) As far as the sender and the receiver of a data message are concerned, the legal effect, validity or enforceability of a data message shall not be denied just because of the declaration of intent or other forms of declarative data messages.
(2) The provisions of this article shall not apply to the following situations: [-]. (1) If a data message is sent by the originator himself, it is the originator's data message.
(2) As far as the originator and the addressee are concerned, a data message shall be regarded as the originator's data message when it is sent under the following circumstances:
(a) A person authorized to act on behalf of the originator: or
(b) An automated information system designed by the originator or by others.
(3) As between the originator and the addressee, the addressee has the right to regard a data message as the originator's data message and act accordingly under the following circumstances:
(a) In order to determine whether the data message is the originator's data message, the addressee correctly used something.
Inspection procedures agreed by the sponsors; or
(b) The data message received by the addressee is generated by a person's behavior, who, by virtue of his relationship with the originator or any agent of the originator, can use the method that the originator should have used to identify that the data message is indeed from himself.
(4) Subsection (3) does not apply:
(a) Because the addressee receives the notification from the originator and knows that the data message is not the originator's data message, the addressee should have a reasonable time to take corresponding actions; or
(c) In the case mentioned in paragraph (3) (b), from any time when the addressee knew or should have known that the data message was not the originator's data message, provided that he paid due attention to it or used any agreed procedures.
(5) If a data message really belongs to the originator's data message or is regarded as the originator's data message, or the recipient has the right to act according to this inference, the recipient has the right to regard the received data message as the message to be sent by the originator and act according to this inference. If the recipient knows or should know that there is an error in the transmission of the received data message and pays due attention to it or uses any agreed procedures, he has no such right.
(6) The addressee has the right to treat each data message it receives as a separate data message and act accordingly, unless it repeats another data message, and the addressee only knows or should know that the data message is a copy by paying due attention or using any agreed procedure. (1) Paragraphs (2) to (4) of this article are applicable to the case where the originator requests or agrees with the addressee that the data message needs to be confirmed when or before sending the data message.
(2) If the originator has not agreed with the addressee to confirm the receipt in a specific form or method, the data message may be received in a way sufficient to indicate the receipt to the originator.
(a) any automatic or other delivery by the addressee, or
(b) any act of the addressee.
(3) If the originator has stated that the data message is subject to the receipt of confirmation, the data message can be regarded as never sent before the receipt of confirmation.
(4) If the originator has not stated that the data message is subject to the receipt of confirmation, and the originator has not received the confirmation within the specified or agreed time, or has not received the confirmation within a reasonable time within the specified or agreed time:
(a) A notice may be sent to the addressee stating that the acknowledgement of receipt has not been received and setting a reasonable time limit within which the acknowledgement of receipt must be received;
(b) If the acknowledgement is not received within the time limit specified in subparagraph (a), the originator may, after notifying the addressee, regard the data message as never sent, or exercise other rights it has.
(5) If the originator receives the acknowledgement of receipt from the addressee, it can be presumed that the addressee has received the relevant data message. This inference does not mean that the data message is consistent with the received message.
(6) If the received confirmation shows that the relevant data message meets the agreed technical requirements, or when applicable standards are specified, Mom can assume that these requirements have been met.
(7) Apart from the sending or receiving of data messages, this article is not intended to deal with the legal consequences arising from data messages or their acknowledgement of receipt. (1) Unless otherwise agreed by the originator and the addressee, the sending time of the data message shall be the time when it enters the information system beyond the control of the originator or the person sending the data message on behalf of the originator.
(2) Unless otherwise agreed by the originator and the addressee, the time of receipt of a data message shall be determined as follows:
(a) If the addressee specifies the information system for receiving the data message:
(1) Taking the time when the data message enters the designated information system as the time of receipt; or
(2) If the data message is sent to the recipient's information system instead of the designated information system, the time for the recipient to retrieve the data message is the time of receipt;
(c) If the addressee does not specify an information system, the time when the data message enters any information system of the addressee is the time of receipt.
(3) The provisions of paragraph (2) shall apply even if the place where the information system is installed is the same as the place where the data message is deemed to be received according to the provisions of paragraph (4).
(4) Unless otherwise agreed by the originator and the addressee, a data message shall be deemed to have been sent at the place where the originator has his place of business and received at the place where the addressee has his place of business. For the purposes of this paragraph:
(a) If the originator or the addressee has more than one place of business, the place of business which has the closest relationship with the underlying transaction shall prevail; if there is no underlying transaction, the main place of business shall prevail;
(b) If the originator or the addressee has no place of business, reference shall be made to his habitual residence.
(5) The provisions of this article shall not apply to the following situations: [-].