United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce (Model Law on E-Commerce) (MLEC)
The Model Law on Electronic Commerce (MLEC) purports to enable and facilitate commerce conducted using electronic means by providing national legislators with a set of internationally acceptable rules aimed at removing legal obstacles and increasing legal predictability for electronic commerce. In particular, it is intended to overcome obstacles arising from statutory provisions that may not be varied contractually by providing equal treatment to paper-based and electronic information. Such equal treatment is essential for enabling the use of paperless communication, thus fostering efficiency in international trade.
Besides formulating the legal notions of non-discrimination, technological neutrality and functional equivalence, the MLEC establishes rules for the formation and validity of contracts concluded by electronic means, for the attribution of data messages, for the acknowledgement of receipt and for determining the time and place of dispatch and receipt of data messages.