Uniform Electronic Transactions Act


The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act is one of the several United States Uniform Acts proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Forty-nine states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted the UETA. Its purpose is to harmonize state laws concerning retention of paper records and the validity of electronic signatures.

Overview

The act was approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and is adopted on a state-by-state basis giving them the option to accept or reject the guideline set forth in the act.
This act is a precursor to the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) in 2000.

Breakdown of the law

The text of the UETA is available on the Uniform Law Commission website.
;Section 2: Definitions:
;Section 3: Scope
;Section 4: Application "...applies to any electronic record or electronic signature created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored"
;Section 5: states that transactions are not required to be in electronic form
;Section 5:: This applies only to transactions between parties each of which has agreed to conduct transactions by electronic means. Whether the parties agree to conduct a transaction by electronic means is determined from the context and surrounding circumstances, including the parties' conduct.
;Section 6: The application and intended purpose of the Act is listed, which is intended, "to facilitate and promote commerce and governmental transactions by validating and authorizing the use of electronic records and electronic signatures"
;Section 7: Legal recognition of electronic signatures, records, and contracts
;Section 8: Provides that the information be available to all parties.
;Section 9: Attribution and effect of an electronic record and electronic signatures
;Section 10: Errors and changes
;Section 11: Permits a notary public and other authorized officers to act electronically, effectively removing the stamp/seal requirements.
;Section 12: The requirement of "retention of records" is satisfied by retaining an electronic record
;Section 13: Admissibility
;Section 14: Automated transactions
;Section 15: Defines the "Time and Place" aspects of electronic transmissions.
;Section 16 outlines transferable records
;Section 17-19 have been bracketed as optional provisions to be considered for adoption by each State.

UETA laws

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UETA articles and opinions

  • Archived from on 2011-07-28.
  • Archived from on 2011-07-21.