It means that when electronic documents, bills or other documents have the same functions as traditional paper documents, bills or other documents, their legal effect should be affirmed and treated equally in law.
2. The principle of media neutrality
It means that the law should treat whether the transaction adopts paper media or electronic media (or other media) equally, and should not treat it differently or give different legal effects because of the different media used in the transaction.
3, the principle of technology neutrality
It means that the law treats the technical means of e-commerce equally, does not restrict or prohibit the use of any technology, and does not treat specific technologies differently in legal effect.
4, the principle of minimum degree
It means that e-commerce legislation is only to remove the existing obstacles for e-commerce, not to establish a new systematic e-commerce law, but to formulate a new e-commerce law to the minimum extent and apply the existing laws to e-commerce as much as possible.
Principle of systematicness and necessity
Systematization refers to the better implementation of laws in any country. A key requirement is that laws should be compatible with each other and form a perfect legal system. Similarly, the implementation of e-commerce law must be compatible and coordinated with other laws. On the other hand, if the existing laws create obstacles to the development of e-commerce, they should be amended. Therefore, e-commerce legislation not only means making new laws, but also means changing or abolishing these laws. For example, Germany's Law on Information and Communication Services amended the Law on the Use of Communication Services, the Law on the Protection of Personal Information of Communication Services, the Law on Electronic Signature, the Amendment to the Criminal Code, the Amendment to Administrative Violations, the Amendment to the Prohibition of Spreading Immoral Publications to Minors, the Amendment to the Copyright Law and the Amendment to the Price Marking Law. The principle of necessity means that the government should avoid making unnecessary legal rules for commercial activities through the Internet, and only initiate amendments when existing laws are necessary to affect the development of e-commerce; Only when the original laws can not regulate e-commerce activities, it is necessary to formulate new laws and regulations. The purpose of this principle is to build a bridge between e-commerce transactions and traditional trading methods.
Fourth, the principle of functional equivalence.
This is put forward by the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce, which means that data communication enjoys the same legal status and treatment as the corresponding paper documents with the same effect according to the different requirements of the law for paper documents. The existing laws are based on paper documents, and all kinds of information in e-commerce are stored in magnetic media. Once there are legal problems in e-commerce, when the existing laws are applied, because the information in magnetic media is different from paper documents, it is difficult to produce the same legal effect as paper documents, which brings difficulties and confusion to judicial practice. Therefore, e-commerce law should implement the principle of functional equivalence. The emergence of this principle has cleared the obstacles for the application of existing laws in e-commerce and provided strong legal support for the development of e-commerce. For example, e-commerce laws in various countries stipulate that electronic evidence enjoys the same legal status as traditional written evidence.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) principle of international coordination
It means that countries try their best to adopt a set of internationally accepted rules in the process of legislation, so as to eliminate obstacles in traditional laws and create a safer legal environment for e-commerce. E-commerce is a business model without geographical boundaries and national boundaries, so it needs to adopt unified rules more than traditional business activities. In this regard, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce took the lead in establishing some basic principles and laid the foundation for the unification of the basic principles of electronic commerce legislation. In fact, many countries have adopted the basic principles of the Model Law in their legislation. Therefore, China's e-commerce legislation should also be as consistent as possible with the United Nations Model Law on E-commerce, which is conducive to the integration of China's e-commerce norms with the world. At the same time, absorbing the mature legislative experience of other international organizations and developed countries can not only avoid detours, but also reduce the friction and conflict of rules, so that our legislation can be integrated into the global e-commerce environment from the beginning.
The principle of intransitive verbs to protect consumers' rights and interests
But the guiding ideology is that the protection of consumers on the Internet can't be done in other environments. The state should provide a clear, consistent and predictable legal framework to promote the protection of all parties in online transactions. From the perspective of e-commerce legislation in various countries, the e-commerce legislation in the United States focuses on the solution of specific technologies and ignores the protection of consumers' rights and interests. In fact, because the United States is a case law country, the protection of consumers' rights and interests can be well solved. However, European countries focus on the protection of consumers' rights and interests when legislating e-commerce. Since most European countries belong to the civil law system, it is necessary to stipulate the protection of consumers' rights and interests when legislating e-commerce. China belongs to the continental law system. When legislating e-commerce, we should not only solve the technical problems of e-commerce, but also stipulate the protection of consumers' rights and interests.
Seven, the principle of safety
It refers to the establishment of security norms to ensure e-commerce transactions, so that e-commerce can operate in a safe and fair legal environment. The basic goal of commercial law is to ensure the safety of commercial transactions, especially e-commerce law. E-commerce law operates in a virtual environment, and online transactions bring people efficiency as well as insecurity. Because online transactions are global and non-face-to-face transactions, and are based on electronic information or data messages, there are not only unsafe factors in the traditional legal environment, such as the inability of the other party to perform, but also unique risks, such as whether the two parties to the transaction really exist and how creditworthy they are. Therefore, e-commerce law has unique norms to ensure its transaction security, such as digital signature and identity authentication system. Security principle is the basis of mandatory legislation in e-commerce legislation. In the field of civil and commercial transactions, the reason why the law makes mandatory regulations on subject qualification, contract form and contract effectiveness is to ensure transaction safety. For example, the mandatory provisions on certification procedures and certification bodies, the supervision of online transaction format clauses, the supervision of online advertisements, and the provisions on the obligation of presentation in the process of conclusion are all aimed at protecting the security and fairness of transactions.
legal ground
Electronic Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China Article 1 This Law is formulated for the purpose of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of parties involved in electronic commerce, regulating electronic commerce behavior, maintaining market order and promoting the sustained and healthy development of electronic commerce.
Article 2 This Law is applicable to electronic commerce activities in People's Republic of China (PRC).
E-commerce as mentioned in this Law refers to the business activities of selling goods or providing services through information networks such as the Internet.
Where there are provisions in laws and administrative regulations on the sale of goods or the provision of services, such provisions shall prevail. This Law does not apply to financial products and services that provide news information, audio-visual programs, publications and cultural products through information networks.
Article 3 The State encourages the development of new formats of e-commerce, innovates business models, promotes the research and development, popularization and application of e-commerce technology, promotes the construction of e-commerce credit system, creates a market environment conducive to the innovative development of e-commerce, and gives full play to the important role of e-commerce in promoting high-quality development, meeting people's growing needs for a better life and building an open economy.