[LINK] The Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000

[stewart carter]

Paul Montgomery wrote:

>Lest the Victorians try to take credit for this, it must be said that this 
>Act is a mirror of the Commonwealth Electronic Transactions Act. NSW has 
>also passed mirror legislation, and other states are following. The 
>previous Victorian Kennett government actually tried to push through its 
>own laws, which would have been a disaster for interstate business 
>contracts, but thankfully Bracks' boys have decided to knuckle under. The 
>passing of the mirror Acts is actually a big win for Daryl Williams, the 
>Federal A-G.
>
>Those among you who are interested (wasn't Link originally supposed to be 
>for librarians?!?) can read the article I have written for the upcoming 
>May/June issue of Image & Data Manager magazine on this topic, and visit 
>the A-G's site for updates on each state's progress:
>
>http://www.law.gov.au/ecommerce

Paul, this is all wrong. And instead of slagging off at Victorians and 
praising Darryl Williams you ought to be thanking us and criticising the A-G.

The historical facts are that Victoria's repeated threat to go it alone 
with its pioneering digital signature legislation under the Kennett 
government eventually forced the federal government's hand. ( As it was 
always intended to do)

It is Victoria that deserves any credit there is to be had for pushing 
Australia into the Electronic Transactions Law.

And far from 'Bracks boys' having decided to 'knuckle under',  the 
Victorian legislation is not, in fact, a mirror image of the federal Act.

As I wrote in the Age and in my eCommerce Report at the time ( 1 May ), 
eminent legal experts in this area said that the Victorian Act is close to 
the federal act, but different in a number of important respects.

The definition of consent is different, effective dates are different, 
exemptions are different and, most importantly, the state law covers the 
private sector whereas the federal law only relates to Commonwealth 
government agencies

Moreover with only two states thus far enacting companion legislation to 
the federal act, Williams preferred federalist approach to getting national 
laws in this area is looking increasingly flawed as every day passes.


Cheers
Stewart Carter
Publisher/Editor
eCommerce Report
GPO Box 1240L
Melbourne Australia 3001
www.ecommercereport.com.au
mail@ecommercereport.com.au
Phone 61 (0) 3 9347 5254 or mobile 61 (0) 411 477 149