Le E-Commerce

LA SAGESSE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF LAW

“THE ELECTRONIC COMMERCE”

Abi Abdallah Jennifer

Nassereddine Mansour

International Commercial Law.

Dr. Jabbour Karen

2017

SUMMARY

Introduction

I- The formation of online contracts under the principals of the U.S. law.

A- The online offers and acceptances through e-mail and websites.

B- The electronic signature requirement and its legal effect.

II- The international E-Contracting legal issues.

A- The applicable law on electronic contracts.

B- E-commerce and the Lebanese legal system.

Conclusion

Introduction

For decades commerce has been based on the concept of customers coming to the store to conduct their business. They have placed their orders, received the products, paid for it and taken it with them. Alternatively, they have placed their orders, had them delivered, been invoiced, and then paid for them. Regardless of when orders were paid for and delivered, customers still needed to visit the store to conduct business transactions.

But the development of new technological innovations, such as the internet, has brought on changes for the market. The internet offers a world-wide network; it connects individuals and businesses and creates a global marketplace, which enables the companies to reach consumers at any place and any time and the consumers to search and gather information about products and services online. This is how the E-commerce has begun.

By “Electronic commerce”, we mean the use of the global Internet for purchase and sale of goods and services, including service and support after the sale.

E-commerce actually started in the 1970s when larger corporations created private networks to share information with business partners and suppliers. This process was called Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Then the very first legitimate online transaction goes to Dan Kohn in August 1994, who created a website called NetMarket, and sold a CD for 12.48$ to a friend in Philadelphia, who used data encryption software to send his credit card number securely.

In other terms, E-commerce generates incredible opportunities, for both vendors and consumers. The ability of sending and receiving data via electronic networks gives vendors favorable means to deliver products including any necessary information directly to the consumer with lower cost than normal methods.^[1] Meanwhile consumers gain numerous choices for purchasing goods and services from any market in the world.

Although, the concept of e-commerce is broader than internet shopping. It encloses all commercial transactions based on the electronic processing and transmission of data, text, sound and image. Electronic transactions can be made between a company and a consumer or between different companies, it is actually divided into three major types all with different characteristics:

• Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce which encompasses all electronic transactions of goods or services conducted ​​between companies. Such as to sell, produce goods and services, and transfer payments and capitals.
• Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce, according to Patton “applies to any business or organization that sells its products or services to consumers over the internet for their own use.”^[2] In other words it’s a direct sale between the supplier and the individual consumer, i.e. Amazon.
• Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) e-commerce is defined as exchanges between or among consumers.^[3] Generally, these transactions are conducted through a third party, which provides the online platform where the transactions are actually carried out. i.e. E-Bay, OLX

Therefore, The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its 2016 Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-Commerce Index, measured the readiness of countries to engage in online commerce. Globally, Luxembourg ranks first, followed by Iceland, Norway, Canada, and Japan. And Lebanon ranked 48th among 137 countries, improving 3 spots from its 2014 rank. Lebanon also stood in the 5th position among 14 Arab countries covered by the report.

However one of the key aspects of electronic commerce is entering into transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and services, which involves entering into online contractual agreements by creating an enforceable online contract between the vendor and the seller.

Therefore most written contracts are signed by both parties indicating their intention to be bound. In fact, in many cases the law requires that a contract be signed in order for it to be enforceable.

In other terms electronic commerce has resulted in electronic contracts which enables people to gather vital information for conducting successful business transactions and  form contracts.  With the help of a simple click, world-wide business is possible with no huge expenditure or investment and the desired result is seen in minutes and seconds instead of  hours and days unlike olden days.^[4]

In the first chapter we will discuss the online contracts under the principles of the U.S. law, from their inception to their completion, divided in two section; the formation of the online contract ; online offers and acceptances and the electronic signature requirement. The second chapter will deal with the international legal issues arising from an e-contract. Also divided in two section, the first one considers which country’s or state’s laws will govern the contract the subject of any dispute. The second section will discuss the e-commerce in the Lebanese legal system.

I- The formation of online contracts under principals of the U.S. law.

1. The online offers and acceptances through e-mail or websites.

A contract as we understand it today is an agreement between two or more parties to create legal obligations between them. This assumes the mutual exchange of concordant fulfilled by the acceptance of an offer. An electronic contract or ‘E-contract” may simply be described as a contract that has been formed through the use of electronic communications.

It is the introduction of the internet that now allows people to enter into agreements, regardless of geographical locations, international borders and time differences. Examples of electronic contracts include buying and selling goods, booking airline tickets and banking transactions. Almost any transaction or contract that can occur face-to-face can now occur electronically. And by contracting online, businesses can improve efficiencies, reduce paperwork, and streamline their operations.

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