Are electronic signatures already law in Europe?
Yes. The EU has issued two Directives. First, the E Commerce Directive [2000/31/EC OJ L178 17 July 2000]. This applies to ‘Information Society Services’ – provided for remuneration at a distance by electronic means at the individual request of a recipient. National Laws must not prevent effective use of e-contracts deprive such contracts of legal effect or validity. The UK was supposed to implement the Directive by January 2002, but the DTI acknowledges it will be summer before this happens. There are problems with this Directive, not least because on issues of legal liability it starts from the premise that the laws of the country of origin apply to a dispute, whereas other recent EU regulations – such as the controversial ‘Brussels Regulation’ that comes into force in March 2002 – say that the laws of the country of destination prevail. The second Directive is the Electronic Signatures Directive [OJ L 013 19/01/200 p0012-0020 Adopted by Euro Parliament 13 Dec 1999]. This creates two
