Electronic Commerce Law Goes International With New UN Treaty

A new UN Treaty designed to facilitate electronic commerce -- the Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Commerce -- will take effect in November of this year. Although only two major commercial nations (China and Singapore) have ratified the Convention so far, companies that do international business can expect to see their trading partners attempt to incorporate its terms into their contracts. Consequently, American companies and their lawyers need to start familiarizing themselves with how the Convention works.