Guangdong Takes the Lead in Regulating E-commerce Transactions

According to the Guangdong Information Industry Department, last year the value of electronic transactions in the province amounted to over Rmb20 billion, and accounted for about one eighth of the total value of electronic transactions in China. The absence of a detailed legal platform for such activities has been a significant obstacle to further development of the electronic commerce industry. The uncertainty resulting from the lack of relevant laws has also lead to legal disputes. The Regulations mark a new era for e-commerce in China. Though they are only applicable to activity in one province, they lay down special provisions on key issues in electronic transactions in China for the first time that can be used as a model for legislation at the national level.

Rules and Problems before the Regulations

The term "e-commerce" is commonly used to refer to various economic activities conducted online, including electronic contracts and memoranda, advertising and online sales of goods, services and information. Most of these are in fact merely contractual transactions done through the Internet and in an electronic form. Therefore, the purposes and basic rules of general contract law are still applicable to electronic transactions. However it has been rightly concluded that electronic contracts may never appear on a piece of paper, may involve instantaneous transactions, may involve minimal or no negotiation or interaction, and may involve no human interaction at all. Legal problems arising from these features may not be properly resolved by the traditional approach taken under general contract law.