TechLaw

Yesterday was the deadline for countries to sign the 2005 United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts. Just 18 countries have signed the convention although, according to the UNCITRAL, the convention will remain open indefinitely for accession and ratification.

The countries signing the convention, in no particular order, are:

• Honduras
• Republic of Korea
• Saudi Arabia
• Colombia
• Montenegro
• Iran
• Panama
• Philippines
• Paraguay
• Sierra Leone
• Madagascar
• China
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• Lebanon
• Central African Republic
• Senegal
• Russian Federation

The purpose of the convention is to promote international trade by encouraging the development of uniform rules regarding the use of electronic communications in international contracts. It is curious to me why so many of the signatories are small potatoes economically; perhaps these countries are the ones with the most to gain from increased international trade and increased certainty in business contracts. Curious as well why the United States -- or Canada, or Japan, or all of western Europe -- have not signed the treaty yet either. The convention looks entirely unobjectionable, it has been reviewed and fretted-over by attorneys and uniform law drafters here in the United States, leading international companies support it, and in fact it looks a lot like the 1999 Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.

Information on the UNCITRAL Web site indicates that the convention will become effective six months after the third country has either ratified or acceded to it.