LC: Introduction of new clauses to Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill 2003

Following is a speech by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, in moving the committee stage amendments to introduce new clauses to the Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill 2003 in the Legislative Council today (June 23) :

Madam Chairman,

I move that the new clauses read out just now be read the second time.

The proposed new clauses 2A and 7A seek to amend sections 3 and 13 of the ETO respectively. As I have said earlier, the ETO is a generic legal framework that accords electronic record and digital signature the same legal recognition as that of their paper-based counterparts. There are however certain exclusions from the application of this electronic process. Section 3 provides for exclusion of the matters in Schedule 1 to the ETO, such as wills and oaths, from the application of the electronic process, while section 13 provides for exclusion of the judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings in Schedule 2 from the electronic process. These exclusions were made because of, for example, the solemnity, significance and complexity of the transactions as well as the readiness of the concerned parties to deal with the related documents in electronic form.

One of the proposals in the Bill is to add a new section 5A and a new Schedule 3 to stipulate that, for the documents that are required or permitted to be served by post or in person under the provisions set out in new Schedule 3, the service of the documents in the form of electronic record will be accepted. To make the application of exclusions consistent, the matters and proceedings set out in Schedules 1 and 2 should also be excluded from the application of new section 5A. We therefore propose to add new clauses 2A and 7A to effect the exclusion. New clauses 22A and 22B are consequential amendments to the headings of Schedules 1 and 2 to reflect the expanded scope of exclusion.

The proposed new clause 20A is to state explicitly that any list of repositories of digital certificates maintained by recognised certification authorities published in the Gazette by the Director of Information Technology Services under section 45(2) is not subsidiary legislation.

All the amendments that I have mentioned have been discussed and endorsed by the Bills Committee. I hope the Committee would support their passage.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

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