[1] The following states have ratified, accepted, approved, acceded to, or succeeded to the Electronic Communications Convention:[1] The Electronic Communications Convention has been signed, but not yet ratified, by the Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Iran, Lebanon, Madagascar, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
[3] Other states that have publicly declared their intention of adopting the Electronic Communications Convention include Australia,[4] Mauritius,[5] and Thailand.
[6] Canada has prepared uniform legislation to facilitate the adoption of the ECC at the State level,[7] which has been enacted by Ontario[8] and Saskatchewan.
[9] Similar legislation has been prepared in the United States[10] and on 10 February 2016 President Obama sent a message to the Senate asking for accession of the convention.
[14] As a result, the Electronic Communications Convention addresses different policy goals: 1) it removes obstacles arising from formal requirements contained in other international trade law treaties; 2) it provides a common substantive core to the law of electronic communications, thus ensuring a higher level of uniformity both in the legislative text and in its interpretation; 3) it updates and complements the provisions of the MLEC and of the MLES; 4) it provides core legislation on electronic communications to those States not having yet any, or having partial and insufficient provisions.
With respect to substantive provisions, the Electronic Communications Convention builds extensively, on the fundamental principles of the uniform law of electronic commerce developed by UNCITRAL (non-discrimination, technological neutrality, functional equivalence, and irrelevance of place of origin) as well as on several specific articles of the MLEC and of the MLES.
[16] The Electronic Communications Convention is also inspired by a number of provisions of the CISG, especially in the parts relating to scope of application, to general principles and to final clauses.
Article 6 builds on the notion of "place of business" introduced by the CISG and adapts it to the electronic environment.
Similar considerations apply to the use of a domain name or electronic mail address connected to a specific country.
The outcome of such broad approach is that the notion of electronic communication encompasses the use of different technologies, including, e.g., SMS, but also digital audio and video recording.
2(1)(b) ECC excludes from the scope of application of the convention certain fields that already enjoy uniform legal provisions, contractually (e.g., international payments systems) or otherwise (e.g., treaties relating to securities held with an intermediary).
This exclusion is due to the fact that uniform legal standards for the functional equivalence of notions such as “possession” in the electronic world have yet to be developed.
These exceptions could be similar to those made in corresponding national legislation: Singapore has lodged this type of declaration upon ratification of the Electronic Communications Convention.
This is a provision common in international trade law treaties, where freedom of contract is considered an overarching principle.
Article 9 ECC is the core provision establishing the parameters for functional equivalence between electronic and paper-based communications.
Article 17 ECC sets forth the applicable rules for those cases where electronic communications fall under the legislative authority of a regional economic integration organisation (REIO).
Article 17(4) contains the "disconnection clause" that should ensure that REIOs' legal regimes are unaffected by the operation of the Electronic Communications Convention.
The relationship between ECC and CISG relates to the issues such as formation of contracts, including the time and place of dispatch and receipt of electronic communications, and the use of automated agents; and the satisfaction of form requirements such as "writing", "original" and "signed" through functional equivalence rules.
The reason for the exclusion is that those two treaties contain provisions on negotiable documents, which are excluded from the scope of the ECC (art.
The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, 2008 (the "Rotterdam Rules"), which was also prepared by UNCITRAL and contains provisions on electronic transferable records, was concluded after the ECC.
Article 20(2) ECC indicates that the convention will apply also to all other treaties where the exchange of electronic communications is relevant, unless a State declares not to be bound by this provision.