E-commerce (Electronic-Commerce) is a kind of business which is omnipresent in the global world of business. It has helped in removing geographical barriers and limitations of doing business. E-commerce essentially involves doing business transactions like buying and selling goods and services virtually i.e. through the online platform. Ultimately, E-commerce has become an indispensable part of our lives because of the easy access, convenience, speed, universality it brings with itself. What help in executing and smooth functioning of e-commerce are E-contracts.
In terms of business growth, the digital era of commercial transactions has produced unanticipated outcomes. Electronic contracts are one of the most important aspects of digital economic transactions. As businesses become more digitalized, the need to transition from traditional contracts to electronic contracts has developed.
E-contracts are an essential part of E-commerce. E-contract is the execution of commercial transactions electronically or digitally. Buyers and sellers come together and form e-contracts in the process of doing business deals through E-commerce.[1] E-contract is legally recognized and enforced by law, and thus, it helps in increasing the trust of the parties involved in e-commerce. Hence, E-commerce and E-contracts go hand in hand.[2]
Apart from these developments, what has effectively boomed and increased the prevalence of E-commerce is the COVID-19 pandemic. In the pandemic, many of us had to resort to online shopping via E-commerce websites or apps for essential commodities, etc.[3] In the lockdown, people who were apprehensive or unwilling, or unaware had no option but to enter into E-commerce platforms and ultimately into E-contracts.[4] The pandemic really helped in further development of E-commerce and E-contracts which justifies the demand of it being stringent and flexible at the same time so that the needs of all the parties involved in E-commerce are catered to.[5]
It goes without saying that even after the lockdown was lifted, there has been a substantial rise in consumers relying on E-commerce entering into E-contracts on a day-to-day basis for various commodities or services with visible growth in faith and reliance on E-contracts.[6] Business communities also rely on E-contracts for transacting their business deals (B2B Commerce) because of the trustworthy and fast ways it provides businesses.[7]
The formation and validation of E-contracts require some essential conditions to be met with, similar to the traditional contracts i.e. paper-based contracts. The only difference between the process of E-contracts and paper-contracts is that e-contracts are created and executed electronically by using internet services whereas, paper contracts are not.[8]
In India, E-contract is governed primarily by the Indian Contract Act, 1872; The Information Technology Act, 2000 and The Indian Evidence Act, 1872. The Indian Courts also recognize and give judgements in the favour of E-contracts.[9]
The global rise of E-commerce was accelerated by advances in digital technology and networking. Businesses used Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to conduct e-transactions in the 1960s[10]. When the Internet was first utilised for commerce in 1991, E-commerce was largely welcomed[11].
With the introduction of the World Wide Web in 1990, a substantial number of businesses began to provide their services via their websites[12]. Consider Amazon and eBay, which were among the first companies to revolutionise e-commerce. The notion of E-commerce was originally popularised in India by Rediff in the late 1990s[13]. IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited) was the first corporation in India to create an E-commerce portal[14].
The Model Law on E-commerce was adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in 1996. In January 1997, the United Nations General Assembly urged that countries consider this model when enacting or updating their laws[15]. As a result, the Indian Parliament passed the Information Technology Act in 2000 to legalise E-commerce transactions in India and to keep up with the globalisation of trade and transactions as a result of technological advancements[16]. The following International Conventions and Conferences offer the rules and regulations that regulate E-commerce and, ultimately, E-contracts[17].
The Brussels Convention on Jurisdiction and Recognition of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, 1968; the Convention On The Law Applicable To Contractual Obligations, June 19, 1980 (known as “the Rome Convention”); the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCPIL) published a Convention on Exclusive Choice of Court Agreements in Civil and Commercial Matters on June 30, 2005; and the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (New York, 2005)[18] are relevant International Conventions and conferences in this regard.
