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Electronic commerce gets boost with passage of bill
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Posted on Feb 19 2001
Unknown to many, the Senate last February 9, quietly and without much fanfare passed the CNMI’s electronic commerce law.
The passage of House Bill No. 12-226, or the Commonwealth Electronic Records and Signatures Act of 2000, puts the CNMI a step closer to joining a handful of countries who have adopted an e-commerce law.
With Governor Pedro P. Tenorio openly supporting the bill, it is safe to say that the bill’s enactment is in the bag.
Authored by Representative William Torres, HB 12-226 essentially encourages the propagation of electronic commerce and online government by creating a legal framework for transactions made over the realm of cyberspace.
The wordings of the first provision of Section 2 is especially important as it finally answered the legality of electronic records and signatures entered in by people buying products and contracting services over the Internet.
The provision reads: “To facilitate and promote electronic commerce and online government by clarifying the legal status of electronic records and signatures in the context of writing and signing requirements.”
With the questions over legality of contracts entered in cyberspace settled, confidence in the use of electronic commerce is expected to rise.
HB 12-226 also seeks to promote e-commerce and online government through the operation of free market forces. It also hopes to facilitate electronic transactions consistent with other applicable laws as well.
The e-commerce law also espouses the development of the legal and business infrastructure necessary to support and encourage electronic commerce and online government.
However, even without an e-commerce law, many Internet-savvy residents of the CNMI have already taken to ordering products and contracting services online. This is especially true with items not easily obtained locally and had to be sourced from the mainland.
With the expected signing of HB 12-226, technology firms with an eye of tapping the island’s e-commerce potential may just be in the corner.
The Commonwealth’s e-commerce law is patterned after the United States’ Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act or E-Sign Act, which was signed only by President Clinton last June 2000.
