The Electronic Communications Act 2000 received Royal Assent on 25 May 2000. The Act is intended to make electronic commerce much easier.
The main provisions of the Act are:
- giving legal certainty to documents created and sent electronically;
- creating a framework for legally binding electronic signatures; and
- sweeping away requirements that documents must be in paper form.
Among specific proposals to follow from the Act are:
- allowing companies to send annual reports to shareholders electronically;
- allowing companies to accept nominations and proxy votes electronically;
- creating a system of electronic conveyancing of property;
- letting national statistics be submitted electronically;
- allowing electronic authentication of documents for court purposes;
- allowing website versions of Acts to be admissible in court;
- letting the Financial Services Authority communicate electronically with the bodies it regulates.
These proposals are in addition to those allowing tax to be filed and paid electronically, and letting company forms be downloaded.
All parts of the Act come into force from Royal Assent apart from those which relate to electronic signatures and telecommunications licences. The former comes into effect on 25 July 2000. An electronic signature works by having a block set up on the computer which can be activated by the signatory using special codes. The electronic signature can then be recognised by other computers. It is believed that an electronic signature will be more secure with greater protection from forgery than the written signature.
[2000]