ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights some US and European Union (EU) policies in respect of electronic commerce and the legal harmonisation of specific issues relating to e-commerce at the UN Commission on International Trade Law’s and EU levels, alongside the initiatives from international organisations. Emergence of any new technology raises interesting issues for policy makers, law makers and other stakeholders, more so where the technology is expected to have a wide economic impact and is readily embraced. The Internet as an information and communications medium can be used for a variety of purposes other than conducting electronic commerce. The difference between the Internet and Electronic Data Interchange is that, in the latter, the communications take place within a closed network. The Economic Community Convention is meant to apply to electronic communications where they are used in the formation stages of a contract or in the performance of the contract.
