{"id":"C2004A00553","name":"Electronic Transactions Act 1999","slug":"electronic-transactions-act-1999","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"162 of 1999","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":38564,"registerId":"commonwealth-C2004A00553-1775056556897","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"Part 1","sectionType":"part","heading":"Introduction","content":"## Part 1—Introduction","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title","content":"#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Electronic Transactions Act 1999.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement","content":"#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (2) If this Act does not commence under subsection (1) within the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, it commences on the first day after the end of that period.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Object","content":"#### 3 Object\n\n  The object of this Act is to provide a regulatory framework that:\n    (a) recognises the importance of the information economy to the future economic and social prosperity of Australia; and\n    (b) facilitates the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (c) promotes business and community confidence in the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (d) enables business and the community to use electronic communications in their dealings with government.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Simplified outline","content":"#### 4 Simplified outline\n\n  The following is a simplified outline of this Act:\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place by means of one or more electronic communications.\n\n• The following requirements imposed under a law of the Commonwealth can be met in electronic form:\n\n(a) a requirement to give information in writing;\n\n(b) a requirement to provide a signature;\n\n(c) a requirement to produce a document;\n\n(d) a requirement to record information;\n\n(e) a requirement to retain a document.\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, provision is made for determining the time and place of the dispatch and receipt of an electronic communication.\n\n• The purported originator of an electronic communication is bound by it for the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n\n• Part 2A contains provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications, including provisions (relating to the internet in particular) for the following:\n\n(a) an unaddressed proposal to form a contract is to be regarded as an invitation to make offers, rather than as an offer that if accepted would result in a contract;\n\n(b) a contract formed automatically is not invalid, void or unenforceable because there was no human review or intervention;\n\n(c) a portion of an electronic communication containing an input error can be withdrawn in certain circumstances;\n\n(d) the application of certain provisions of Part 2 to the extent they do not apply of their own force.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Definitions","content":"#### 5 Definitions\n\n  (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> addressee of an electronic communication means a person who is intended by the originator to receive the electronic communication, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> automated message system means a computer program or an electronic or other automated means used to initiate an action or respond to data messages in whole or in part, without review or intervention by a natural person each time an action is initiated or a response is generated by the system.\n\n> Commonwealth entity means:\n\n    (a) a Minister; or\n    (b) an officer or employee of the Commonwealth; or\n    (c) a person who holds or performs the duties of an office under a law of the Commonwealth; or\n    (d) an authority of the Commonwealth; or\n    (e) an employee of an authority of the Commonwealth.\n\n> consent includes consent that can reasonably be inferred from the conduct of the person concerned.\n\n> data includes the whole or part of a computer program within the meaning of the Copyright Act 1968.\n\n> data storage device means any article or material (for example, a disk) from which information is capable of being reproduced, with or without the aid of any other article or device.\n\n> electronic communication means:\n\n    (a) a communication of information in the form of data, text or images by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy; or\n    (b) a communication of information in the form of speech by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy, where the speech is processed at its destination by an automated voice recognition system.\n\n> information means information in the form of data, text, images or speech.\n\n> information system means a system for generating, sending, receiving, storing or otherwise processing electronic communications.\n\n> information technology requirements includes software requirements.\n\n> non‑profit body means a body that is not carried on for the purposes of profit or gain to its individual members and is, by the terms of the body’s constitution, prohibited from making any distribution, whether in money, property or otherwise, to its members.\n\n> originator of an electronic communication means a person by whom, or on whose behalf, the electronic communication has been sent or generated before storage, if any, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> performance of a contract includes non‑performance of the contract.\n\n> place of business means:\n\n    (a) in relation to a person, other than an entity referred to in paragraph (b)—a place where the person maintains a non‑transitory establishment to pursue an economic activity other than the temporary provision of goods or services out of a specific location; or\n    (b) in relation to a government, an authority of a government or a non‑profit body—a place where any operations or activities are carried out by that government, authority or body.\n\n> transaction includes:\n\n    (a) any transaction in the nature of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (b) any statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (c) any transaction of a non‑commercial nature.\n  (2) Before 1 July 2001, in this Act (other than this section):\n\n> law of the Commonwealth means a law of the Commonwealth specified in the regulations.","sortOrder":5},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":"Crown to be bound","content":"#### 6 Crown to be bound\n\n  This Act binds the Crown in all its capacities.","sortOrder":6},{"sectionNumber":"7","sectionType":"section","heading":"External Territories","content":"#### 7 External Territories\n\n  This Act extends to all the external Territories.","sortOrder":7},{"sectionNumber":"7A","sectionType":"section","heading":"Exemptions under the regulations","content":"#### 7A Exemptions under the regulations\n\n  (1) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply:\n    (a) to transactions, requirements, permissions, electronic communications or other matters specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section; or\n    (b) in circumstances specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section.\n  (2) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply to specified laws of the Commonwealth.","sortOrder":8},{"sectionNumber":"7B","sectionType":"section","heading":"Other exemptions","content":"#### 7B Other exemptions\n\n  Exemptions for courts and tribunals\n  (1) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not apply to the practice and procedure of a court or tribunal. For this purpose, practice and procedure includes all matters in relation to which rules of court may be made.\n  Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (2) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not affect the operation of:\n    (a) the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that makes provision for the way in which evidence is given in proceedings in a court.","sortOrder":9},{"sectionNumber":"Part 2","sectionType":"part","heading":"Application of legal requirements to electronic communications","content":"An Act to facilitate electronic transactions, and for other purposes\n\n## Part 1—Introduction\n\n#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Electronic Transactions Act 1999.\n\n#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (2) If this Act does not commence under subsection (1) within the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, it commences on the first day after the end of that period.\n\n#### 3 Object\n\n  The object of this Act is to provide a regulatory framework that:\n    (a) recognises the importance of the information economy to the future economic and social prosperity of Australia; and\n    (b) facilitates the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (c) promotes business and community confidence in the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (d) enables business and the community to use electronic communications in their dealings with government.\n\n#### 4 Simplified outline\n\n  The following is a simplified outline of this Act:\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place by means of one or more electronic communications.\n\n• The following requirements imposed under a law of the Commonwealth can be met in electronic form:\n\n(a) a requirement to give information in writing;\n\n(b) a requirement to provide a signature;\n\n(c) a requirement to produce a document;\n\n(d) a requirement to record information;\n\n(e) a requirement to retain a document.\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, provision is made for determining the time and place of the dispatch and receipt of an electronic communication.\n\n• The purported originator of an electronic communication is bound by it for the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n\n• Part 2A contains provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications, including provisions (relating to the internet in particular) for the following:\n\n(a) an unaddressed proposal to form a contract is to be regarded as an invitation to make offers, rather than as an offer that if accepted would result in a contract;\n\n(b) a contract formed automatically is not invalid, void or unenforceable because there was no human review or intervention;\n\n(c) a portion of an electronic communication containing an input error can be withdrawn in certain circumstances;\n\n(d) the application of certain provisions of Part 2 to the extent they do not apply of their own force.\n\n#### 5 Definitions\n\n  (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> addressee of an electronic communication means a person who is intended by the originator to receive the electronic communication, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> automated message system means a computer program or an electronic or other automated means used to initiate an action or respond to data messages in whole or in part, without review or intervention by a natural person each time an action is initiated or a response is generated by the system.\n\n> Commonwealth entity means:\n\n    (a) a Minister; or\n    (b) an officer or employee of the Commonwealth; or\n    (c) a person who holds or performs the duties of an office under a law of the Commonwealth; or\n    (d) an authority of the Commonwealth; or\n    (e) an employee of an authority of the Commonwealth.\n\n> consent includes consent that can reasonably be inferred from the conduct of the person concerned.\n\n> data includes the whole or part of a computer program within the meaning of the Copyright Act 1968.\n\n> data storage device means any article or material (for example, a disk) from which information is capable of being reproduced, with or without the aid of any other article or device.\n\n> electronic communication means:\n\n    (a) a communication of information in the form of data, text or images by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy; or\n    (b) a communication of information in the form of speech by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy, where the speech is processed at its destination by an automated voice recognition system.\n\n> information means information in the form of data, text, images or speech.\n\n> information system means a system for generating, sending, receiving, storing or otherwise processing electronic communications.\n\n> information technology requirements includes software requirements.\n\n> non‑profit body means a body that is not carried on for the purposes of profit or gain to its individual members and is, by the terms of the body’s constitution, prohibited from making any distribution, whether in money, property or otherwise, to its members.\n\n> originator of an electronic communication means a person by whom, or on whose behalf, the electronic communication has been sent or generated before storage, if any, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> performance of a contract includes non‑performance of the contract.\n\n> place of business means:\n\n    (a) in relation to a person, other than an entity referred to in paragraph (b)—a place where the person maintains a non‑transitory establishment to pursue an economic activity other than the temporary provision of goods or services out of a specific location; or\n    (b) in relation to a government, an authority of a government or a non‑profit body—a place where any operations or activities are carried out by that government, authority or body.\n\n> transaction includes:\n\n    (a) any transaction in the nature of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (b) any statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (c) any transaction of a non‑commercial nature.\n  (2) Before 1 July 2001, in this Act (other than this section):\n\n> law of the Commonwealth means a law of the Commonwealth specified in the regulations.\n\n#### 6 Crown to be bound\n\n  This Act binds the Crown in all its capacities.\n\n#### 7 External Territories\n\n  This Act extends to all the external Territories.\n\n#### 7A Exemptions under the regulations\n\n  (1) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply:\n    (a) to transactions, requirements, permissions, electronic communications or other matters specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section; or\n    (b) in circumstances specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section.\n  (2) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply to specified laws of the Commonwealth.\n\n#### 7B Other exemptions\n\n  Exemptions for courts and tribunals\n  (1) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not apply to the practice and procedure of a court or tribunal. For this purpose, practice and procedure includes all matters in relation to which rules of court may be made.\n  Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (2) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not affect the operation of:\n    (a) the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that makes provision for the way in which evidence is given in proceedings in a court.\n\n## Part 2—Application of legal requirements to electronic communications\n\n### Division 1—General rule about validity of transactions for the purposes of laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 8 Validity of electronic transactions\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place wholly or partly by means of one or more electronic communications.\n  (2) The general rule in subsection (1) does not apply in relation to the validity of a transaction to the extent to which another, more specific provision of this Part deals with the validity of the transaction.\n\n### Division 2—Requirements under laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 9 Writing\n\n  Requirement to give information in writing\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to give information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person gives the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is required to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Permission to give information in writing\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to give information in writing, the person may give the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is permitted to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is permitted to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (3) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting information to be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Giving information\n  (4) This section applies to a requirement or permission to give information, whether the expression give, send or serve, or any other expression, is used.\n  (5) For the purposes of this section, giving information includes, but is not limited to, the following:\n    (a) making an application;\n    (b) making or lodging a claim;\n    (c) giving, sending or serving a notification;\n    (d) lodging a return;\n    (e) making a request;\n    (f) making a declaration;\n    (g) lodging or issuing a certificate;\n    (h) making, varying or cancelling an election;\n    (i) lodging an objection;\n    (j) giving a statement of reasons.\n\n#### 10 Signature\n\n  Requirement for signature\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, the signature of a person is required, that requirement is taken to have been met in relation to an electronic communication if:\n    (a) in all cases—a method is used to identify the person and to indicate the person’s intention in respect of the information communicated; and\n    (b) in all cases—the method used was either:\n    (i) as reliable as appropriate for the purpose for which the electronic communication was generated or communicated, in the light of all the circumstances, including any relevant agreement; or\n    (ii) proven in fact to have fulfilled the functions described in paragraph (a), by itself or together with further evidence; and\n    (c) if the signature is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the method used as mentioned in paragraph (a) be in accordance with particular information technology requirements—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the signature is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the signature is required to be given consents to that requirement being met by way of the use of the method mentioned in paragraph (a).\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (2) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring:\n    (a) an electronic communication to contain an electronic signature (however described); or\n    (b) an electronic communication to contain a unique identification in an electronic form; or\n    (c) a particular method to be used in relation to an electronic communication to identify the originator of the communication and to indicate the originator’s intention in respect of the information communicated.\n  (3) The reference in subsection (1) to a law that requires a signature includes a reference to a law that provides consequences for the absence of a signature.\n\n#### 11 Production of document\n\n  Requirement to produce a document\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person produces, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is required to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is required to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Permission to produce a document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, then, instead of producing the document in that form, the person may produce, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is permitted to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is permitted to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Integrity of information\n  (3) For the purposes of this section, the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (4) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting electronic forms of documents to be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Exemption—migration and citizenship documents\n  (5) Schedule 1 has effect.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The following provisions have effect:\n    (a) the generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document;\n    (b) the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.\n\n#### 12 Retention\n\n  Recording of information\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to record information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person records the information in electronic form, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of the recording of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the regulations require that the information be recorded, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  Retention of written document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to retain, for a particular period, a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person retains an electronic form of the document throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the regulations require that the electronic form of the document be retained on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Retention of electronic communications\n  (4) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person (the first person) is required to retain, for a particular period, information that was the subject of an electronic communication, that requirement is taken to be met if the first person retains, or causes another person to retain, in electronic form, the information throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, the method of retaining the information in electronic form provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the electronic communication; and\n    (c) in all cases—throughout that period, the first person also retains, or causes the other person to retain, in electronic form, such additional information obtained by the first person as is sufficient to enable the identification of the following:\n    (i) the origin of the electronic communication;\n    (ii) the destination of the electronic communication;\n    (iii) the time when the electronic communication was sent;\n    (iv) the time when the electronic communication was received; and\n    (d) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the additional information covered by paragraph (c), it was reasonable to expect that the additional information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (e) if the regulations require that the information be retained, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement is met throughout that period.\n  (5) For the purposes of subsection (4), the integrity of information that was the subject of an electronic communication is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (a) this section; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n  does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.\n\n### Division 3—Other provisions relating to laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 14 Time of dispatch\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the time of dispatch of the electronic communication is:\n    (a) the time when the electronic communication leaves an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator; or\n    (b) if the electronic communication has not left an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator—the time when the electronic communication is received by the addressee.\n\n> Note: Paragraph (b) would apply to a case where the parties exchange electronic communications through the same information system.\n\n  (2) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched under section 14B.\n\n#### 14A Time of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the time of receipt of the electronic communication is the time when the electronic communication becomes capable of being retrieved by the addressee at an electronic address designated by the addressee; or\n    (b) the time of receipt of the electronic communication at another electronic address of the addressee is the time when both:\n    (i) the electronic communication has become capable of being retrieved by the addressee at that address; and\n    (ii) the addressee has become aware that the electronic communication has been sent to that address.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of the electronic communication, it is to be assumed that the electronic communication is capable of being retrieved by the addressee when it reaches the addressee’s electronic address.\n  (3) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been received under section 14B.\n\n#### 14B Place of dispatch and place of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched at the place where the originator has its place of business; and\n    (b) the electronic communication is taken to have been received at the place where the addressee has its place of business.\n  (2) For the purposes of the application of subsection (1) to an electronic communication:\n    (a) a party’s place of business is assumed to be the location indicated by that party, unless another party demonstrates that the party making the indication does not have a place of business at that location; and\n    (b) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has only one place of business, it is to be assumed that that place is the party’s place of business; and\n    (c) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, the place of business is that which has the closest relationship to the underlying transaction, having regard to the circumstances known to or contemplated by the parties at any time before or at the conclusion of the transaction; and\n    (d) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, but paragraph (c) does not apply—it is to be assumed that the party’s principal place of business is the party’s only place of business; and\n    (e) if a party is a natural person and does not have a place of business—it is to be assumed that the party’s place of business is the place of the party’s habitual residence.\n  (3) A location is not a place of business merely because that is:\n    (a) where equipment and technology supporting an information system used by a party are located; or\n    (b) where the information system may be accessed by other parties.\n  (4) The sole fact that a party makes use of a domain name or email address connected to a specific country does not create a presumption that its place of business is located in that country.\n\n#### 15 Attribution of electronic communications\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the purported originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the purported originator of the electronic communication is bound by that communication only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n  (2) Subsection (1) is not intended to affect the operation of a law (whether written or unwritten) that makes provision for:\n    (a) conduct engaged in by a person within the scope of the person’s actual or apparent authority to be attributed to another person; or\n    (b) a person to be bound by conduct engaged in by another person within the scope of the other person’s actual or apparent authority.\n  Certain provisions of the Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (5) This section does not affect the operation of:\n    (a) section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that provides for a statement made by a person to be treated as an admission made by a party to a proceeding in a court.\n\n## Part 2A—Additional provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications\n\n#### 15A Application and operation of this Part\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Part applies to the use of electronic communications in connection with the formation or performance of a contract between parties, and so applies:\n    (a) whether some or all of the parties are located within Australia or elsewhere; and\n    (b) whether the contract is for business purposes, for personal, family or household purposes, or for other purposes.\n  (2) This Part applies to or in relation to a contract only if:\n    (a) the proper law of the contract is (or would on its formation be) the law of a State or Territory; and\n    (b) at the time the contract is formed, there is no law of that State or Territory in terms substantially the same as this Part.\n\n#### 15B Invitation to treat regarding contracts\n\n  (1) A proposal to form a contract made through one or more electronic communications that:\n    (a) is not addressed to one or more specific parties; and\n    (b) is generally accessible to parties making use of information systems;\n  is to be considered as an invitation to make offers, unless it clearly indicates the intention of the party making the proposal to be bound in case of acceptance.\n  (2) Subsection (1) extends to proposals that make use of interactive applications for the placement of orders through information systems.\n\n#### 15C Use of automated message systems for contract formation—non‑intervention of natural person\n\n  A contract formed by:\n    (a) the interaction of an automated message system and a natural person; or\n    (b) the interaction of automated message systems;\n  is not invalid, void or unenforceable on the sole ground that no natural person reviewed or intervened in each of the individual actions carried out by the automated message systems or the resulting contract.\n\n#### 15D Error in electronic communications regarding contracts\n\n  (1) This section applies in relation to a statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) a natural person makes an input error in an electronic communication exchanged with the automated message system of another party; and\n    (b) the automated message system does not provide the person with an opportunity to correct the error;\n  the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has the right to withdraw the portion of the electronic communication in which the input error was made if:\n    (c) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, notifies the other party of the error as soon as possible after having learned of the error and indicates that he or she made an error in the electronic communication; and\n    (d) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has not used or received any material benefit or value from the goods or services, if any, received from the other party.\n  (3) The right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section is not of itself a right to rescind or otherwise terminate a contract.\n  (4) The consequences (if any) of the exercise of the right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section are to be determined in accordance with any applicable rule of law.\n\n> Note: In some circumstances the withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication may invalidate the entire communication or render it ineffective for the purposes of contract formation (see paragraph 241 of the UNCITRAL explanatory note for the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, done at New York on 23 November 2005).\n\n#### 15E Application of Act in relation to contracts\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of sections 8 and 14 to 14B apply to:\n    (a) a transaction constituted by or relating to a contract; or\n    (b) an electronic communication relating to the formation or performance of a contract;\n  in the same way as they apply to a transaction or electronic communication referred to in those sections, and so apply as if the words “For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth” and “under a law of the Commonwealth” were omitted.\n  (2) However, this Part (including subsection (1)) does not apply to or in relation to a contract to the extent that:\n    (a) Part 2 would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory (that is in substantially the same terms as Part 2) would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied.\n\n> Note: This section applies provisions of Part 2 to contracts or proposed contracts to the extent (if any) that those provisions do not apply merely because they are expressed to apply in relation to “a law of the Commonwealth”. This section also disapplies the provisions of Part 2A to the extent that Part 2 would apply of its own force. An example where Part 2 may not apply of its own force is where a contract is being negotiated in a State or Territory from a supplier located overseas.\n\n#### 15F No interference with powers and functions of another jurisdiction\n\n  (1) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of a State; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution;\n  this Part does not so operate.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution if it were assumed that the Territory were a State;\n  this Part does not so operate.\n\n## Part 3—Miscellaneous\n\n#### 16 Regulations\n\n  The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n\n#### 17 Transitional provisions—Electronic Transactions Amendment Act 2011\n\n  (1) Regulations made under this Act before the commencement of section 7A and in force immediately before that commencement continue in force as if that section had been in force when they were made.\n  (2) Subject to subsection (3):\n    (a) section 15B extends to proposals made before the commencement date; and\n    (b) section 15C extends to actions carried out before the commencement date; and\n    (c) section 15D extends to statements, declarations, demands, notices or requests, including offers and the acceptance of offers, made or given before the commencement date.\n  (3) Subsection (2) and Part 2A do not apply in relation to contracts formed before the commencement date.\n  (4) In subsections (2) and (3), commencement date means the date of commencement of Part 2A.","sortOrder":10},{"sectionNumber":"Division 1","sectionType":"division","heading":"General rule about validity of transactions for the purposes of laws of the Commonwealth","content":"An Act to facilitate electronic transactions, and for other purposes\n\n## Part 1—Introduction\n\n#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Electronic Transactions Act 1999.\n\n#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (2) If this Act does not commence under subsection (1) within the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, it commences on the first day after the end of that period.\n\n#### 3 Object\n\n  The object of this Act is to provide a regulatory framework that:\n    (a) recognises the importance of the information economy to the future economic and social prosperity of Australia; and\n    (b) facilitates the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (c) promotes business and community confidence in the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (d) enables business and the community to use electronic communications in their dealings with government.\n\n#### 4 Simplified outline\n\n  The following is a simplified outline of this Act:\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place by means of one or more electronic communications.\n\n• The following requirements imposed under a law of the Commonwealth can be met in electronic form:\n\n(a) a requirement to give information in writing;\n\n(b) a requirement to provide a signature;\n\n(c) a requirement to produce a document;\n\n(d) a requirement to record information;\n\n(e) a requirement to retain a document.\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, provision is made for determining the time and place of the dispatch and receipt of an electronic communication.\n\n• The purported originator of an electronic communication is bound by it for the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n\n• Part 2A contains provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications, including provisions (relating to the internet in particular) for the following:\n\n(a) an unaddressed proposal to form a contract is to be regarded as an invitation to make offers, rather than as an offer that if accepted would result in a contract;\n\n(b) a contract formed automatically is not invalid, void or unenforceable because there was no human review or intervention;\n\n(c) a portion of an electronic communication containing an input error can be withdrawn in certain circumstances;\n\n(d) the application of certain provisions of Part 2 to the extent they do not apply of their own force.\n\n#### 5 Definitions\n\n  (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> addressee of an electronic communication means a person who is intended by the originator to receive the electronic communication, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> automated message system means a computer program or an electronic or other automated means used to initiate an action or respond to data messages in whole or in part, without review or intervention by a natural person each time an action is initiated or a response is generated by the system.\n\n> Commonwealth entity means:\n\n    (a) a Minister; or\n    (b) an officer or employee of the Commonwealth; or\n    (c) a person who holds or performs the duties of an office under a law of the Commonwealth; or\n    (d) an authority of the Commonwealth; or\n    (e) an employee of an authority of the Commonwealth.\n\n> consent includes consent that can reasonably be inferred from the conduct of the person concerned.\n\n> data includes the whole or part of a computer program within the meaning of the Copyright Act 1968.\n\n> data storage device means any article or material (for example, a disk) from which information is capable of being reproduced, with or without the aid of any other article or device.\n\n> electronic communication means:\n\n    (a) a communication of information in the form of data, text or images by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy; or\n    (b) a communication of information in the form of speech by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy, where the speech is processed at its destination by an automated voice recognition system.\n\n> information means information in the form of data, text, images or speech.\n\n> information system means a system for generating, sending, receiving, storing or otherwise processing electronic communications.\n\n> information technology requirements includes software requirements.\n\n> non‑profit body means a body that is not carried on for the purposes of profit or gain to its individual members and is, by the terms of the body’s constitution, prohibited from making any distribution, whether in money, property or otherwise, to its members.\n\n> originator of an electronic communication means a person by whom, or on whose behalf, the electronic communication has been sent or generated before storage, if any, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> performance of a contract includes non‑performance of the contract.\n\n> place of business means:\n\n    (a) in relation to a person, other than an entity referred to in paragraph (b)—a place where the person maintains a non‑transitory establishment to pursue an economic activity other than the temporary provision of goods or services out of a specific location; or\n    (b) in relation to a government, an authority of a government or a non‑profit body—a place where any operations or activities are carried out by that government, authority or body.\n\n> transaction includes:\n\n    (a) any transaction in the nature of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (b) any statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (c) any transaction of a non‑commercial nature.\n  (2) Before 1 July 2001, in this Act (other than this section):\n\n> law of the Commonwealth means a law of the Commonwealth specified in the regulations.\n\n#### 6 Crown to be bound\n\n  This Act binds the Crown in all its capacities.\n\n#### 7 External Territories\n\n  This Act extends to all the external Territories.\n\n#### 7A Exemptions under the regulations\n\n  (1) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply:\n    (a) to transactions, requirements, permissions, electronic communications or other matters specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section; or\n    (b) in circumstances specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section.\n  (2) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply to specified laws of the Commonwealth.\n\n#### 7B Other exemptions\n\n  Exemptions for courts and tribunals\n  (1) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not apply to the practice and procedure of a court or tribunal. For this purpose, practice and procedure includes all matters in relation to which rules of court may be made.\n  Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (2) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not affect the operation of:\n    (a) the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that makes provision for the way in which evidence is given in proceedings in a court.\n\n## Part 2—Application of legal requirements to electronic communications\n\n### Division 1—General rule about validity of transactions for the purposes of laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 8 Validity of electronic transactions\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place wholly or partly by means of one or more electronic communications.\n  (2) The general rule in subsection (1) does not apply in relation to the validity of a transaction to the extent to which another, more specific provision of this Part deals with the validity of the transaction.\n\n### Division 2—Requirements under laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 9 Writing\n\n  Requirement to give information in writing\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to give information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person gives the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is required to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Permission to give information in writing\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to give information in writing, the person may give the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is permitted to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is permitted to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (3) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting information to be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Giving information\n  (4) This section applies to a requirement or permission to give information, whether the expression give, send or serve, or any other expression, is used.\n  (5) For the purposes of this section, giving information includes, but is not limited to, the following:\n    (a) making an application;\n    (b) making or lodging a claim;\n    (c) giving, sending or serving a notification;\n    (d) lodging a return;\n    (e) making a request;\n    (f) making a declaration;\n    (g) lodging or issuing a certificate;\n    (h) making, varying or cancelling an election;\n    (i) lodging an objection;\n    (j) giving a statement of reasons.\n\n#### 10 Signature\n\n  Requirement for signature\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, the signature of a person is required, that requirement is taken to have been met in relation to an electronic communication if:\n    (a) in all cases—a method is used to identify the person and to indicate the person’s intention in respect of the information communicated; and\n    (b) in all cases—the method used was either:\n    (i) as reliable as appropriate for the purpose for which the electronic communication was generated or communicated, in the light of all the circumstances, including any relevant agreement; or\n    (ii) proven in fact to have fulfilled the functions described in paragraph (a), by itself or together with further evidence; and\n    (c) if the signature is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the method used as mentioned in paragraph (a) be in accordance with particular information technology requirements—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the signature is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the signature is required to be given consents to that requirement being met by way of the use of the method mentioned in paragraph (a).\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (2) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring:\n    (a) an electronic communication to contain an electronic signature (however described); or\n    (b) an electronic communication to contain a unique identification in an electronic form; or\n    (c) a particular method to be used in relation to an electronic communication to identify the originator of the communication and to indicate the originator’s intention in respect of the information communicated.\n  (3) The reference in subsection (1) to a law that requires a signature includes a reference to a law that provides consequences for the absence of a signature.\n\n#### 11 Production of document\n\n  Requirement to produce a document\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person produces, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is required to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is required to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Permission to produce a document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, then, instead of producing the document in that form, the person may produce, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is permitted to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is permitted to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Integrity of information\n  (3) For the purposes of this section, the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (4) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting electronic forms of documents to be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Exemption—migration and citizenship documents\n  (5) Schedule 1 has effect.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The following provisions have effect:\n    (a) the generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document;\n    (b) the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.\n\n#### 12 Retention\n\n  Recording of information\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to record information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person records the information in electronic form, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of the recording of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the regulations require that the information be recorded, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  Retention of written document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to retain, for a particular period, a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person retains an electronic form of the document throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the regulations require that the electronic form of the document be retained on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Retention of electronic communications\n  (4) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person (the first person) is required to retain, for a particular period, information that was the subject of an electronic communication, that requirement is taken to be met if the first person retains, or causes another person to retain, in electronic form, the information throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, the method of retaining the information in electronic form provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the electronic communication; and\n    (c) in all cases—throughout that period, the first person also retains, or causes the other person to retain, in electronic form, such additional information obtained by the first person as is sufficient to enable the identification of the following:\n    (i) the origin of the electronic communication;\n    (ii) the destination of the electronic communication;\n    (iii) the time when the electronic communication was sent;\n    (iv) the time when the electronic communication was received; and\n    (d) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the additional information covered by paragraph (c), it was reasonable to expect that the additional information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (e) if the regulations require that the information be retained, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement is met throughout that period.\n  (5) For the purposes of subsection (4), the integrity of information that was the subject of an electronic communication is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (a) this section; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n  does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.\n\n### Division 3—Other provisions relating to laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 14 Time of dispatch\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the time of dispatch of the electronic communication is:\n    (a) the time when the electronic communication leaves an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator; or\n    (b) if the electronic communication has not left an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator—the time when the electronic communication is received by the addressee.\n\n> Note: Paragraph (b) would apply to a case where the parties exchange electronic communications through the same information system.\n\n  (2) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched under section 14B.\n\n#### 14A Time of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the time of receipt of the electronic communication is the time when the electronic communication becomes capable of being retrieved by the addressee at an electronic address designated by the addressee; or\n    (b) the time of receipt of the electronic communication at another electronic address of the addressee is the time when both:\n    (i) the electronic communication has become capable of being retrieved by the addressee at that address; and\n    (ii) the addressee has become aware that the electronic communication has been sent to that address.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of the electronic communication, it is to be assumed that the electronic communication is capable of being retrieved by the addressee when it reaches the addressee’s electronic address.\n  (3) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been received under section 14B.\n\n#### 14B Place of dispatch and place of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched at the place where the originator has its place of business; and\n    (b) the electronic communication is taken to have been received at the place where the addressee has its place of business.\n  (2) For the purposes of the application of subsection (1) to an electronic communication:\n    (a) a party’s place of business is assumed to be the location indicated by that party, unless another party demonstrates that the party making the indication does not have a place of business at that location; and\n    (b) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has only one place of business, it is to be assumed that that place is the party’s place of business; and\n    (c) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, the place of business is that which has the closest relationship to the underlying transaction, having regard to the circumstances known to or contemplated by the parties at any time before or at the conclusion of the transaction; and\n    (d) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, but paragraph (c) does not apply—it is to be assumed that the party’s principal place of business is the party’s only place of business; and\n    (e) if a party is a natural person and does not have a place of business—it is to be assumed that the party’s place of business is the place of the party’s habitual residence.\n  (3) A location is not a place of business merely because that is:\n    (a) where equipment and technology supporting an information system used by a party are located; or\n    (b) where the information system may be accessed by other parties.\n  (4) The sole fact that a party makes use of a domain name or email address connected to a specific country does not create a presumption that its place of business is located in that country.\n\n#### 15 Attribution of electronic communications\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the purported originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the purported originator of the electronic communication is bound by that communication only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n  (2) Subsection (1) is not intended to affect the operation of a law (whether written or unwritten) that makes provision for:\n    (a) conduct engaged in by a person within the scope of the person’s actual or apparent authority to be attributed to another person; or\n    (b) a person to be bound by conduct engaged in by another person within the scope of the other person’s actual or apparent authority.\n  Certain provisions of the Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (5) This section does not affect the operation of:\n    (a) section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that provides for a statement made by a person to be treated as an admission made by a party to a proceeding in a court.\n\n## Part 2A—Additional provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications\n\n#### 15A Application and operation of this Part\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Part applies to the use of electronic communications in connection with the formation or performance of a contract between parties, and so applies:\n    (a) whether some or all of the parties are located within Australia or elsewhere; and\n    (b) whether the contract is for business purposes, for personal, family or household purposes, or for other purposes.\n  (2) This Part applies to or in relation to a contract only if:\n    (a) the proper law of the contract is (or would on its formation be) the law of a State or Territory; and\n    (b) at the time the contract is formed, there is no law of that State or Territory in terms substantially the same as this Part.\n\n#### 15B Invitation to treat regarding contracts\n\n  (1) A proposal to form a contract made through one or more electronic communications that:\n    (a) is not addressed to one or more specific parties; and\n    (b) is generally accessible to parties making use of information systems;\n  is to be considered as an invitation to make offers, unless it clearly indicates the intention of the party making the proposal to be bound in case of acceptance.\n  (2) Subsection (1) extends to proposals that make use of interactive applications for the placement of orders through information systems.\n\n#### 15C Use of automated message systems for contract formation—non‑intervention of natural person\n\n  A contract formed by:\n    (a) the interaction of an automated message system and a natural person; or\n    (b) the interaction of automated message systems;\n  is not invalid, void or unenforceable on the sole ground that no natural person reviewed or intervened in each of the individual actions carried out by the automated message systems or the resulting contract.\n\n#### 15D Error in electronic communications regarding contracts\n\n  (1) This section applies in relation to a statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) a natural person makes an input error in an electronic communication exchanged with the automated message system of another party; and\n    (b) the automated message system does not provide the person with an opportunity to correct the error;\n  the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has the right to withdraw the portion of the electronic communication in which the input error was made if:\n    (c) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, notifies the other party of the error as soon as possible after having learned of the error and indicates that he or she made an error in the electronic communication; and\n    (d) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has not used or received any material benefit or value from the goods or services, if any, received from the other party.\n  (3) The right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section is not of itself a right to rescind or otherwise terminate a contract.\n  (4) The consequences (if any) of the exercise of the right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section are to be determined in accordance with any applicable rule of law.\n\n> Note: In some circumstances the withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication may invalidate the entire communication or render it ineffective for the purposes of contract formation (see paragraph 241 of the UNCITRAL explanatory note for the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, done at New York on 23 November 2005).\n\n#### 15E Application of Act in relation to contracts\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of sections 8 and 14 to 14B apply to:\n    (a) a transaction constituted by or relating to a contract; or\n    (b) an electronic communication relating to the formation or performance of a contract;\n  in the same way as they apply to a transaction or electronic communication referred to in those sections, and so apply as if the words “For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth” and “under a law of the Commonwealth” were omitted.\n  (2) However, this Part (including subsection (1)) does not apply to or in relation to a contract to the extent that:\n    (a) Part 2 would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory (that is in substantially the same terms as Part 2) would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied.\n\n> Note: This section applies provisions of Part 2 to contracts or proposed contracts to the extent (if any) that those provisions do not apply merely because they are expressed to apply in relation to “a law of the Commonwealth”. This section also disapplies the provisions of Part 2A to the extent that Part 2 would apply of its own force. An example where Part 2 may not apply of its own force is where a contract is being negotiated in a State or Territory from a supplier located overseas.\n\n#### 15F No interference with powers and functions of another jurisdiction\n\n  (1) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of a State; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution;\n  this Part does not so operate.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution if it were assumed that the Territory were a State;\n  this Part does not so operate.\n\n## Part 3—Miscellaneous\n\n#### 16 Regulations\n\n  The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n\n#### 17 Transitional provisions—Electronic Transactions Amendment Act 2011\n\n  (1) Regulations made under this Act before the commencement of section 7A and in force immediately before that commencement continue in force as if that section had been in force when they were made.\n  (2) Subject to subsection (3):\n    (a) section 15B extends to proposals made before the commencement date; and\n    (b) section 15C extends to actions carried out before the commencement date; and\n    (c) section 15D extends to statements, declarations, demands, notices or requests, including offers and the acceptance of offers, made or given before the commencement date.\n  (3) Subsection (2) and Part 2A do not apply in relation to contracts formed before the commencement date.\n  (4) In subsections (2) and (3), commencement date means the date of commencement of Part 2A.","sortOrder":11},{"sectionNumber":"8","sectionType":"section","heading":"Validity of electronic transactions","content":"#### 8 Validity of electronic transactions\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place wholly or partly by means of one or more electronic communications.\n  (2) The general rule in subsection (1) does not apply in relation to the validity of a transaction to the extent to which another, more specific provision of this Part deals with the validity of the transaction.","sortOrder":12},{"sectionNumber":"Division 2","sectionType":"division","heading":"Requirements under laws of the Commonwealth","content":"An Act to facilitate electronic transactions, and for other purposes\n\n## Part 1—Introduction\n\n#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Electronic Transactions Act 1999.\n\n#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (2) If this Act does not commence under subsection (1) within the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, it commences on the first day after the end of that period.\n\n#### 3 Object\n\n  The object of this Act is to provide a regulatory framework that:\n    (a) recognises the importance of the information economy to the future economic and social prosperity of Australia; and\n    (b) facilitates the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (c) promotes business and community confidence in the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (d) enables business and the community to use electronic communications in their dealings with government.\n\n#### 4 Simplified outline\n\n  The following is a simplified outline of this Act:\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place by means of one or more electronic communications.\n\n• The following requirements imposed under a law of the Commonwealth can be met in electronic form:\n\n(a) a requirement to give information in writing;\n\n(b) a requirement to provide a signature;\n\n(c) a requirement to produce a document;\n\n(d) a requirement to record information;\n\n(e) a requirement to retain a document.\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, provision is made for determining the time and place of the dispatch and receipt of an electronic communication.\n\n• The purported originator of an electronic communication is bound by it for the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n\n• Part 2A contains provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications, including provisions (relating to the internet in particular) for the following:\n\n(a) an unaddressed proposal to form a contract is to be regarded as an invitation to make offers, rather than as an offer that if accepted would result in a contract;\n\n(b) a contract formed automatically is not invalid, void or unenforceable because there was no human review or intervention;\n\n(c) a portion of an electronic communication containing an input error can be withdrawn in certain circumstances;\n\n(d) the application of certain provisions of Part 2 to the extent they do not apply of their own force.\n\n#### 5 Definitions\n\n  (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> addressee of an electronic communication means a person who is intended by the originator to receive the electronic communication, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> automated message system means a computer program or an electronic or other automated means used to initiate an action or respond to data messages in whole or in part, without review or intervention by a natural person each time an action is initiated or a response is generated by the system.\n\n> Commonwealth entity means:\n\n    (a) a Minister; or\n    (b) an officer or employee of the Commonwealth; or\n    (c) a person who holds or performs the duties of an office under a law of the Commonwealth; or\n    (d) an authority of the Commonwealth; or\n    (e) an employee of an authority of the Commonwealth.\n\n> consent includes consent that can reasonably be inferred from the conduct of the person concerned.\n\n> data includes the whole or part of a computer program within the meaning of the Copyright Act 1968.\n\n> data storage device means any article or material (for example, a disk) from which information is capable of being reproduced, with or without the aid of any other article or device.\n\n> electronic communication means:\n\n    (a) a communication of information in the form of data, text or images by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy; or\n    (b) a communication of information in the form of speech by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy, where the speech is processed at its destination by an automated voice recognition system.\n\n> information means information in the form of data, text, images or speech.\n\n> information system means a system for generating, sending, receiving, storing or otherwise processing electronic communications.\n\n> information technology requirements includes software requirements.\n\n> non‑profit body means a body that is not carried on for the purposes of profit or gain to its individual members and is, by the terms of the body’s constitution, prohibited from making any distribution, whether in money, property or otherwise, to its members.\n\n> originator of an electronic communication means a person by whom, or on whose behalf, the electronic communication has been sent or generated before storage, if any, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> performance of a contract includes non‑performance of the contract.\n\n> place of business means:\n\n    (a) in relation to a person, other than an entity referred to in paragraph (b)—a place where the person maintains a non‑transitory establishment to pursue an economic activity other than the temporary provision of goods or services out of a specific location; or\n    (b) in relation to a government, an authority of a government or a non‑profit body—a place where any operations or activities are carried out by that government, authority or body.\n\n> transaction includes:\n\n    (a) any transaction in the nature of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (b) any statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (c) any transaction of a non‑commercial nature.\n  (2) Before 1 July 2001, in this Act (other than this section):\n\n> law of the Commonwealth means a law of the Commonwealth specified in the regulations.\n\n#### 6 Crown to be bound\n\n  This Act binds the Crown in all its capacities.\n\n#### 7 External Territories\n\n  This Act extends to all the external Territories.\n\n#### 7A Exemptions under the regulations\n\n  (1) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply:\n    (a) to transactions, requirements, permissions, electronic communications or other matters specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section; or\n    (b) in circumstances specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section.\n  (2) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply to specified laws of the Commonwealth.\n\n#### 7B Other exemptions\n\n  Exemptions for courts and tribunals\n  (1) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not apply to the practice and procedure of a court or tribunal. For this purpose, practice and procedure includes all matters in relation to which rules of court may be made.\n  Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (2) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not affect the operation of:\n    (a) the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that makes provision for the way in which evidence is given in proceedings in a court.\n\n## Part 2—Application of legal requirements to electronic communications\n\n### Division 1—General rule about validity of transactions for the purposes of laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 8 Validity of electronic transactions\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place wholly or partly by means of one or more electronic communications.\n  (2) The general rule in subsection (1) does not apply in relation to the validity of a transaction to the extent to which another, more specific provision of this Part deals with the validity of the transaction.\n\n### Division 2—Requirements under laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 9 Writing\n\n  Requirement to give information in writing\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to give information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person gives the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is required to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Permission to give information in writing\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to give information in writing, the person may give the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is permitted to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is permitted to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (3) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting information to be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Giving information\n  (4) This section applies to a requirement or permission to give information, whether the expression give, send or serve, or any other expression, is used.\n  (5) For the purposes of this section, giving information includes, but is not limited to, the following:\n    (a) making an application;\n    (b) making or lodging a claim;\n    (c) giving, sending or serving a notification;\n    (d) lodging a return;\n    (e) making a request;\n    (f) making a declaration;\n    (g) lodging or issuing a certificate;\n    (h) making, varying or cancelling an election;\n    (i) lodging an objection;\n    (j) giving a statement of reasons.\n\n#### 10 Signature\n\n  Requirement for signature\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, the signature of a person is required, that requirement is taken to have been met in relation to an electronic communication if:\n    (a) in all cases—a method is used to identify the person and to indicate the person’s intention in respect of the information communicated; and\n    (b) in all cases—the method used was either:\n    (i) as reliable as appropriate for the purpose for which the electronic communication was generated or communicated, in the light of all the circumstances, including any relevant agreement; or\n    (ii) proven in fact to have fulfilled the functions described in paragraph (a), by itself or together with further evidence; and\n    (c) if the signature is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the method used as mentioned in paragraph (a) be in accordance with particular information technology requirements—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the signature is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the signature is required to be given consents to that requirement being met by way of the use of the method mentioned in paragraph (a).\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (2) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring:\n    (a) an electronic communication to contain an electronic signature (however described); or\n    (b) an electronic communication to contain a unique identification in an electronic form; or\n    (c) a particular method to be used in relation to an electronic communication to identify the originator of the communication and to indicate the originator’s intention in respect of the information communicated.\n  (3) The reference in subsection (1) to a law that requires a signature includes a reference to a law that provides consequences for the absence of a signature.\n\n#### 11 Production of document\n\n  Requirement to produce a document\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person produces, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is required to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is required to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Permission to produce a document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, then, instead of producing the document in that form, the person may produce, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is permitted to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is permitted to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Integrity of information\n  (3) For the purposes of this section, the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (4) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting electronic forms of documents to be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Exemption—migration and citizenship documents\n  (5) Schedule 1 has effect.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The following provisions have effect:\n    (a) the generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document;\n    (b) the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.\n\n#### 12 Retention\n\n  Recording of information\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to record information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person records the information in electronic form, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of the recording of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the regulations require that the information be recorded, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  Retention of written document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to retain, for a particular period, a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person retains an electronic form of the document throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the regulations require that the electronic form of the document be retained on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Retention of electronic communications\n  (4) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person (the first person) is required to retain, for a particular period, information that was the subject of an electronic communication, that requirement is taken to be met if the first person retains, or causes another person to retain, in electronic form, the information throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, the method of retaining the information in electronic form provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the electronic communication; and\n    (c) in all cases—throughout that period, the first person also retains, or causes the other person to retain, in electronic form, such additional information obtained by the first person as is sufficient to enable the identification of the following:\n    (i) the origin of the electronic communication;\n    (ii) the destination of the electronic communication;\n    (iii) the time when the electronic communication was sent;\n    (iv) the time when the electronic communication was received; and\n    (d) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the additional information covered by paragraph (c), it was reasonable to expect that the additional information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (e) if the regulations require that the information be retained, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement is met throughout that period.\n  (5) For the purposes of subsection (4), the integrity of information that was the subject of an electronic communication is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (a) this section; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n  does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.\n\n### Division 3—Other provisions relating to laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 14 Time of dispatch\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the time of dispatch of the electronic communication is:\n    (a) the time when the electronic communication leaves an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator; or\n    (b) if the electronic communication has not left an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator—the time when the electronic communication is received by the addressee.\n\n> Note: Paragraph (b) would apply to a case where the parties exchange electronic communications through the same information system.\n\n  (2) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched under section 14B.\n\n#### 14A Time of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the time of receipt of the electronic communication is the time when the electronic communication becomes capable of being retrieved by the addressee at an electronic address designated by the addressee; or\n    (b) the time of receipt of the electronic communication at another electronic address of the addressee is the time when both:\n    (i) the electronic communication has become capable of being retrieved by the addressee at that address; and\n    (ii) the addressee has become aware that the electronic communication has been sent to that address.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of the electronic communication, it is to be assumed that the electronic communication is capable of being retrieved by the addressee when it reaches the addressee’s electronic address.\n  (3) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been received under section 14B.\n\n#### 14B Place of dispatch and place of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched at the place where the originator has its place of business; and\n    (b) the electronic communication is taken to have been received at the place where the addressee has its place of business.\n  (2) For the purposes of the application of subsection (1) to an electronic communication:\n    (a) a party’s place of business is assumed to be the location indicated by that party, unless another party demonstrates that the party making the indication does not have a place of business at that location; and\n    (b) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has only one place of business, it is to be assumed that that place is the party’s place of business; and\n    (c) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, the place of business is that which has the closest relationship to the underlying transaction, having regard to the circumstances known to or contemplated by the parties at any time before or at the conclusion of the transaction; and\n    (d) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, but paragraph (c) does not apply—it is to be assumed that the party’s principal place of business is the party’s only place of business; and\n    (e) if a party is a natural person and does not have a place of business—it is to be assumed that the party’s place of business is the place of the party’s habitual residence.\n  (3) A location is not a place of business merely because that is:\n    (a) where equipment and technology supporting an information system used by a party are located; or\n    (b) where the information system may be accessed by other parties.\n  (4) The sole fact that a party makes use of a domain name or email address connected to a specific country does not create a presumption that its place of business is located in that country.\n\n#### 15 Attribution of electronic communications\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the purported originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the purported originator of the electronic communication is bound by that communication only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n  (2) Subsection (1) is not intended to affect the operation of a law (whether written or unwritten) that makes provision for:\n    (a) conduct engaged in by a person within the scope of the person’s actual or apparent authority to be attributed to another person; or\n    (b) a person to be bound by conduct engaged in by another person within the scope of the other person’s actual or apparent authority.\n  Certain provisions of the Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (5) This section does not affect the operation of:\n    (a) section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that provides for a statement made by a person to be treated as an admission made by a party to a proceeding in a court.\n\n## Part 2A—Additional provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications\n\n#### 15A Application and operation of this Part\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Part applies to the use of electronic communications in connection with the formation or performance of a contract between parties, and so applies:\n    (a) whether some or all of the parties are located within Australia or elsewhere; and\n    (b) whether the contract is for business purposes, for personal, family or household purposes, or for other purposes.\n  (2) This Part applies to or in relation to a contract only if:\n    (a) the proper law of the contract is (or would on its formation be) the law of a State or Territory; and\n    (b) at the time the contract is formed, there is no law of that State or Territory in terms substantially the same as this Part.\n\n#### 15B Invitation to treat regarding contracts\n\n  (1) A proposal to form a contract made through one or more electronic communications that:\n    (a) is not addressed to one or more specific parties; and\n    (b) is generally accessible to parties making use of information systems;\n  is to be considered as an invitation to make offers, unless it clearly indicates the intention of the party making the proposal to be bound in case of acceptance.\n  (2) Subsection (1) extends to proposals that make use of interactive applications for the placement of orders through information systems.\n\n#### 15C Use of automated message systems for contract formation—non‑intervention of natural person\n\n  A contract formed by:\n    (a) the interaction of an automated message system and a natural person; or\n    (b) the interaction of automated message systems;\n  is not invalid, void or unenforceable on the sole ground that no natural person reviewed or intervened in each of the individual actions carried out by the automated message systems or the resulting contract.\n\n#### 15D Error in electronic communications regarding contracts\n\n  (1) This section applies in relation to a statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) a natural person makes an input error in an electronic communication exchanged with the automated message system of another party; and\n    (b) the automated message system does not provide the person with an opportunity to correct the error;\n  the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has the right to withdraw the portion of the electronic communication in which the input error was made if:\n    (c) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, notifies the other party of the error as soon as possible after having learned of the error and indicates that he or she made an error in the electronic communication; and\n    (d) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has not used or received any material benefit or value from the goods or services, if any, received from the other party.\n  (3) The right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section is not of itself a right to rescind or otherwise terminate a contract.\n  (4) The consequences (if any) of the exercise of the right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section are to be determined in accordance with any applicable rule of law.\n\n> Note: In some circumstances the withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication may invalidate the entire communication or render it ineffective for the purposes of contract formation (see paragraph 241 of the UNCITRAL explanatory note for the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, done at New York on 23 November 2005).\n\n#### 15E Application of Act in relation to contracts\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of sections 8 and 14 to 14B apply to:\n    (a) a transaction constituted by or relating to a contract; or\n    (b) an electronic communication relating to the formation or performance of a contract;\n  in the same way as they apply to a transaction or electronic communication referred to in those sections, and so apply as if the words “For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth” and “under a law of the Commonwealth” were omitted.\n  (2) However, this Part (including subsection (1)) does not apply to or in relation to a contract to the extent that:\n    (a) Part 2 would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory (that is in substantially the same terms as Part 2) would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied.\n\n> Note: This section applies provisions of Part 2 to contracts or proposed contracts to the extent (if any) that those provisions do not apply merely because they are expressed to apply in relation to “a law of the Commonwealth”. This section also disapplies the provisions of Part 2A to the extent that Part 2 would apply of its own force. An example where Part 2 may not apply of its own force is where a contract is being negotiated in a State or Territory from a supplier located overseas.\n\n#### 15F No interference with powers and functions of another jurisdiction\n\n  (1) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of a State; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution;\n  this Part does not so operate.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution if it were assumed that the Territory were a State;\n  this Part does not so operate.\n\n## Part 3—Miscellaneous\n\n#### 16 Regulations\n\n  The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n\n#### 17 Transitional provisions—Electronic Transactions Amendment Act 2011\n\n  (1) Regulations made under this Act before the commencement of section 7A and in force immediately before that commencement continue in force as if that section had been in force when they were made.\n  (2) Subject to subsection (3):\n    (a) section 15B extends to proposals made before the commencement date; and\n    (b) section 15C extends to actions carried out before the commencement date; and\n    (c) section 15D extends to statements, declarations, demands, notices or requests, including offers and the acceptance of offers, made or given before the commencement date.\n  (3) Subsection (2) and Part 2A do not apply in relation to contracts formed before the commencement date.\n  (4) In subsections (2) and (3), commencement date means the date of commencement of Part 2A.","sortOrder":13},{"sectionNumber":"9","sectionType":"section","heading":"Writing","content":"#### 9 Writing\n\n  Requirement to give information in writing\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to give information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person gives the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is required to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Permission to give information in writing\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to give information in writing, the person may give the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is permitted to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is permitted to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (3) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting information to be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Giving information\n  (4) This section applies to a requirement or permission to give information, whether the expression give, send or serve, or any other expression, is used.\n  (5) For the purposes of this section, giving information includes, but is not limited to, the following:\n    (a) making an application;\n    (b) making or lodging a claim;\n    (c) giving, sending or serving a notification;\n    (d) lodging a return;\n    (e) making a request;\n    (f) making a declaration;\n    (g) lodging or issuing a certificate;\n    (h) making, varying or cancelling an election;\n    (i) lodging an objection;\n    (j) giving a statement of reasons.","sortOrder":14},{"sectionNumber":"10","sectionType":"section","heading":"Signature","content":"#### 10 Signature\n\n  Requirement for signature\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, the signature of a person is required, that requirement is taken to have been met in relation to an electronic communication if:\n    (a) in all cases—a method is used to identify the person and to indicate the person’s intention in respect of the information communicated; and\n    (b) in all cases—the method used was either:\n    (i) as reliable as appropriate for the purpose for which the electronic communication was generated or communicated, in the light of all the circumstances, including any relevant agreement; or\n    (ii) proven in fact to have fulfilled the functions described in paragraph (a), by itself or together with further evidence; and\n    (c) if the signature is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the method used as mentioned in paragraph (a) be in accordance with particular information technology requirements—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the signature is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the signature is required to be given consents to that requirement being met by way of the use of the method mentioned in paragraph (a).\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (2) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring:\n    (a) an electronic communication to contain an electronic signature (however described); or\n    (b) an electronic communication to contain a unique identification in an electronic form; or\n    (c) a particular method to be used in relation to an electronic communication to identify the originator of the communication and to indicate the originator’s intention in respect of the information communicated.\n  (3) The reference in subsection (1) to a law that requires a signature includes a reference to a law that provides consequences for the absence of a signature.","sortOrder":15},{"sectionNumber":"11","sectionType":"section","heading":"Production of document","content":"#### 11 Production of document\n\n  Requirement to produce a document\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person produces, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is required to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is required to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Permission to produce a document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, then, instead of producing the document in that form, the person may produce, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is permitted to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is permitted to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Integrity of information\n  (3) For the purposes of this section, the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (4) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting electronic forms of documents to be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Exemption—migration and citizenship documents\n  (5) Schedule 1 has effect.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The following provisions have effect:\n    (a) the generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document;\n    (b) the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.","sortOrder":16},{"sectionNumber":"12","sectionType":"section","heading":"Retention","content":"#### 12 Retention\n\n  Recording of information\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to record information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person records the information in electronic form, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of the recording of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the regulations require that the information be recorded, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  Retention of written document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to retain, for a particular period, a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person retains an electronic form of the document throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the regulations require that the electronic form of the document be retained on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Retention of electronic communications\n  (4) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person (the first person) is required to retain, for a particular period, information that was the subject of an electronic communication, that requirement is taken to be met if the first person retains, or causes another person to retain, in electronic form, the information throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, the method of retaining the information in electronic form provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the electronic communication; and\n    (c) in all cases—throughout that period, the first person also retains, or causes the other person to retain, in electronic form, such additional information obtained by the first person as is sufficient to enable the identification of the following:\n    (i) the origin of the electronic communication;\n    (ii) the destination of the electronic communication;\n    (iii) the time when the electronic communication was sent;\n    (iv) the time when the electronic communication was received; and\n    (d) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the additional information covered by paragraph (c), it was reasonable to expect that the additional information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (e) if the regulations require that the information be retained, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement is met throughout that period.\n  (5) For the purposes of subsection (4), the integrity of information that was the subject of an electronic communication is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (a) this section; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n  does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.","sortOrder":17},{"sectionNumber":"Division 3","sectionType":"division","heading":"Other provisions relating to laws of the Commonwealth","content":"An Act to facilitate electronic transactions, and for other purposes\n\n## Part 1—Introduction\n\n#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Electronic Transactions Act 1999.\n\n#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (2) If this Act does not commence under subsection (1) within the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, it commences on the first day after the end of that period.\n\n#### 3 Object\n\n  The object of this Act is to provide a regulatory framework that:\n    (a) recognises the importance of the information economy to the future economic and social prosperity of Australia; and\n    (b) facilitates the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (c) promotes business and community confidence in the use of electronic transactions; and\n    (d) enables business and the community to use electronic communications in their dealings with government.\n\n#### 4 Simplified outline\n\n  The following is a simplified outline of this Act:\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place by means of one or more electronic communications.\n\n• The following requirements imposed under a law of the Commonwealth can be met in electronic form:\n\n(a) a requirement to give information in writing;\n\n(b) a requirement to provide a signature;\n\n(c) a requirement to produce a document;\n\n(d) a requirement to record information;\n\n(e) a requirement to retain a document.\n\n• For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, provision is made for determining the time and place of the dispatch and receipt of an electronic communication.\n\n• The purported originator of an electronic communication is bound by it for the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n\n• Part 2A contains provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications, including provisions (relating to the internet in particular) for the following:\n\n(a) an unaddressed proposal to form a contract is to be regarded as an invitation to make offers, rather than as an offer that if accepted would result in a contract;\n\n(b) a contract formed automatically is not invalid, void or unenforceable because there was no human review or intervention;\n\n(c) a portion of an electronic communication containing an input error can be withdrawn in certain circumstances;\n\n(d) the application of certain provisions of Part 2 to the extent they do not apply of their own force.\n\n#### 5 Definitions\n\n  (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> addressee of an electronic communication means a person who is intended by the originator to receive the electronic communication, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> automated message system means a computer program or an electronic or other automated means used to initiate an action or respond to data messages in whole or in part, without review or intervention by a natural person each time an action is initiated or a response is generated by the system.\n\n> Commonwealth entity means:\n\n    (a) a Minister; or\n    (b) an officer or employee of the Commonwealth; or\n    (c) a person who holds or performs the duties of an office under a law of the Commonwealth; or\n    (d) an authority of the Commonwealth; or\n    (e) an employee of an authority of the Commonwealth.\n\n> consent includes consent that can reasonably be inferred from the conduct of the person concerned.\n\n> data includes the whole or part of a computer program within the meaning of the Copyright Act 1968.\n\n> data storage device means any article or material (for example, a disk) from which information is capable of being reproduced, with or without the aid of any other article or device.\n\n> electronic communication means:\n\n    (a) a communication of information in the form of data, text or images by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy; or\n    (b) a communication of information in the form of speech by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy, where the speech is processed at its destination by an automated voice recognition system.\n\n> information means information in the form of data, text, images or speech.\n\n> information system means a system for generating, sending, receiving, storing or otherwise processing electronic communications.\n\n> information technology requirements includes software requirements.\n\n> non‑profit body means a body that is not carried on for the purposes of profit or gain to its individual members and is, by the terms of the body’s constitution, prohibited from making any distribution, whether in money, property or otherwise, to its members.\n\n> originator of an electronic communication means a person by whom, or on whose behalf, the electronic communication has been sent or generated before storage, if any, but does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to the electronic communication.\n\n> performance of a contract includes non‑performance of the contract.\n\n> place of business means:\n\n    (a) in relation to a person, other than an entity referred to in paragraph (b)—a place where the person maintains a non‑transitory establishment to pursue an economic activity other than the temporary provision of goods or services out of a specific location; or\n    (b) in relation to a government, an authority of a government or a non‑profit body—a place where any operations or activities are carried out by that government, authority or body.\n\n> transaction includes:\n\n    (a) any transaction in the nature of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (b) any statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract, agreement or other arrangement; and\n    (c) any transaction of a non‑commercial nature.\n  (2) Before 1 July 2001, in this Act (other than this section):\n\n> law of the Commonwealth means a law of the Commonwealth specified in the regulations.\n\n#### 6 Crown to be bound\n\n  This Act binds the Crown in all its capacities.\n\n#### 7 External Territories\n\n  This Act extends to all the external Territories.\n\n#### 7A Exemptions under the regulations\n\n  (1) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply:\n    (a) to transactions, requirements, permissions, electronic communications or other matters specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section; or\n    (b) in circumstances specified, or of classes specified, in the regulations for the purposes of this section.\n  (2) The regulations may provide that all or specified provisions of this Act do not apply to specified laws of the Commonwealth.\n\n#### 7B Other exemptions\n\n  Exemptions for courts and tribunals\n  (1) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not apply to the practice and procedure of a court or tribunal. For this purpose, practice and procedure includes all matters in relation to which rules of court may be made.\n  Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (2) Part 2A and Division 2 of Part 2 do not affect the operation of:\n    (a) the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that makes provision for the way in which evidence is given in proceedings in a court.\n\n## Part 2—Application of legal requirements to electronic communications\n\n### Division 1—General rule about validity of transactions for the purposes of laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 8 Validity of electronic transactions\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, a transaction is not invalid because it took place wholly or partly by means of one or more electronic communications.\n  (2) The general rule in subsection (1) does not apply in relation to the validity of a transaction to the extent to which another, more specific provision of this Part deals with the validity of the transaction.\n\n### Division 2—Requirements under laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 9 Writing\n\n  Requirement to give information in writing\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to give information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person gives the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is required to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Permission to give information in writing\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to give information in writing, the person may give the information by means of an electronic communication, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time the information was given, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the information be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (c) if the information is permitted to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the information—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the information is permitted to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the information is permitted to be given consents to the information being given by way of electronic communication.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (3) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting information to be given, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Giving information\n  (4) This section applies to a requirement or permission to give information, whether the expression give, send or serve, or any other expression, is used.\n  (5) For the purposes of this section, giving information includes, but is not limited to, the following:\n    (a) making an application;\n    (b) making or lodging a claim;\n    (c) giving, sending or serving a notification;\n    (d) lodging a return;\n    (e) making a request;\n    (f) making a declaration;\n    (g) lodging or issuing a certificate;\n    (h) making, varying or cancelling an election;\n    (i) lodging an objection;\n    (j) giving a statement of reasons.\n\n#### 10 Signature\n\n  Requirement for signature\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, the signature of a person is required, that requirement is taken to have been met in relation to an electronic communication if:\n    (a) in all cases—a method is used to identify the person and to indicate the person’s intention in respect of the information communicated; and\n    (b) in all cases—the method used was either:\n    (i) as reliable as appropriate for the purpose for which the electronic communication was generated or communicated, in the light of all the circumstances, including any relevant agreement; or\n    (ii) proven in fact to have fulfilled the functions described in paragraph (a), by itself or together with further evidence; and\n    (c) if the signature is required to be given to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that the method used as mentioned in paragraph (a) be in accordance with particular information technology requirements—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the signature is required to be given to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the signature is required to be given consents to that requirement being met by way of the use of the method mentioned in paragraph (a).\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (2) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring:\n    (a) an electronic communication to contain an electronic signature (however described); or\n    (b) an electronic communication to contain a unique identification in an electronic form; or\n    (c) a particular method to be used in relation to an electronic communication to identify the originator of the communication and to indicate the originator’s intention in respect of the information communicated.\n  (3) The reference in subsection (1) to a law that requires a signature includes a reference to a law that provides consequences for the absence of a signature.\n\n#### 11 Production of document\n\n  Requirement to produce a document\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person produces, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is required to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is required to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is required to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Permission to produce a document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is permitted to produce a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, then, instead of producing the document in that form, the person may produce, by means of an electronic communication, an electronic form of the document, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the communication, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time the communication was sent, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that an electronic form of the document be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements, by means of a particular kind of electronic communication—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (d) if the document is permitted to be produced to a Commonwealth entity, or to a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity, and the entity requires that particular action be taken by way of verifying the receipt of the document—the entity’s requirement has been met; and\n    (e) if the document is permitted to be produced to a person who is neither a Commonwealth entity nor a person acting on behalf of a Commonwealth entity—the person to whom the document is permitted to be produced consents to the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of the document.\n  Integrity of information\n  (3) For the purposes of this section, the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Certain other laws not affected\n  (4) This section does not affect the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth that makes provision for or in relation to requiring or permitting electronic forms of documents to be produced, in accordance with particular information technology requirements:\n    (a) on a particular kind of data storage device; or\n    (b) by means of a particular kind of electronic communication.\n  Exemption—migration and citizenship documents\n  (5) Schedule 1 has effect.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The following provisions have effect:\n    (a) the generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document;\n    (b) the production, by means of an electronic communication, of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (i) this section; or\n    (ii) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n    does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.\n\n#### 12 Retention\n\n  Recording of information\n  (1) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to record information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person records the information in electronic form, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of the recording of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) if the regulations require that the information be recorded, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  Retention of written document\n  (2) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person is required to retain, for a particular period, a document that is in the form of paper, an article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the person retains an electronic form of the document throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, the method of generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the document; and\n    (b) in all cases—at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document, it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (c) if the regulations require that the electronic form of the document be retained on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement has been met.\n  (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the integrity of information contained in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Retention of electronic communications\n  (4) If, under a law of the Commonwealth, a person (the first person) is required to retain, for a particular period, information that was the subject of an electronic communication, that requirement is taken to be met if the first person retains, or causes another person to retain, in electronic form, the information throughout that period, where:\n    (a) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, it was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (b) in all cases—having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, the method of retaining the information in electronic form provided a reliable means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information contained in the electronic communication; and\n    (c) in all cases—throughout that period, the first person also retains, or causes the other person to retain, in electronic form, such additional information obtained by the first person as is sufficient to enable the identification of the following:\n    (i) the origin of the electronic communication;\n    (ii) the destination of the electronic communication;\n    (iii) the time when the electronic communication was sent;\n    (iv) the time when the electronic communication was received; and\n    (d) in all cases—at the time of commencement of the retention of the additional information covered by paragraph (c), it was reasonable to expect that the additional information would be readily accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and\n    (e) if the regulations require that the information be retained, in electronic form, on a particular kind of data storage device—that requirement is met throughout that period.\n  (5) For the purposes of subsection (4), the integrity of information that was the subject of an electronic communication is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from:\n    (a) the addition of any endorsement; or\n    (b) any immaterial change;\n  which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.\n  Copyright\n  (6) The generation of an electronic form of a document for the purposes of:\n    (a) this section; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to this section;\n  does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work or other subject matter embodied in the document.\n\n### Division 3—Other provisions relating to laws of the Commonwealth\n\n#### 14 Time of dispatch\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the time of dispatch of the electronic communication is:\n    (a) the time when the electronic communication leaves an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator; or\n    (b) if the electronic communication has not left an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator—the time when the electronic communication is received by the addressee.\n\n> Note: Paragraph (b) would apply to a case where the parties exchange electronic communications through the same information system.\n\n  (2) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched under section 14B.\n\n#### 14A Time of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the time of receipt of the electronic communication is the time when the electronic communication becomes capable of being retrieved by the addressee at an electronic address designated by the addressee; or\n    (b) the time of receipt of the electronic communication at another electronic address of the addressee is the time when both:\n    (i) the electronic communication has become capable of being retrieved by the addressee at that address; and\n    (ii) the addressee has become aware that the electronic communication has been sent to that address.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of the electronic communication, it is to be assumed that the electronic communication is capable of being retrieved by the addressee when it reaches the addressee’s electronic address.\n  (3) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been received under section 14B.\n\n#### 14B Place of dispatch and place of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched at the place where the originator has its place of business; and\n    (b) the electronic communication is taken to have been received at the place where the addressee has its place of business.\n  (2) For the purposes of the application of subsection (1) to an electronic communication:\n    (a) a party’s place of business is assumed to be the location indicated by that party, unless another party demonstrates that the party making the indication does not have a place of business at that location; and\n    (b) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has only one place of business, it is to be assumed that that place is the party’s place of business; and\n    (c) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, the place of business is that which has the closest relationship to the underlying transaction, having regard to the circumstances known to or contemplated by the parties at any time before or at the conclusion of the transaction; and\n    (d) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, but paragraph (c) does not apply—it is to be assumed that the party’s principal place of business is the party’s only place of business; and\n    (e) if a party is a natural person and does not have a place of business—it is to be assumed that the party’s place of business is the place of the party’s habitual residence.\n  (3) A location is not a place of business merely because that is:\n    (a) where equipment and technology supporting an information system used by a party are located; or\n    (b) where the information system may be accessed by other parties.\n  (4) The sole fact that a party makes use of a domain name or email address connected to a specific country does not create a presumption that its place of business is located in that country.\n\n#### 15 Attribution of electronic communications\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the purported originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the purported originator of the electronic communication is bound by that communication only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n  (2) Subsection (1) is not intended to affect the operation of a law (whether written or unwritten) that makes provision for:\n    (a) conduct engaged in by a person within the scope of the person’s actual or apparent authority to be attributed to another person; or\n    (b) a person to be bound by conduct engaged in by another person within the scope of the other person’s actual or apparent authority.\n  Certain provisions of the Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (5) This section does not affect the operation of:\n    (a) section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that provides for a statement made by a person to be treated as an admission made by a party to a proceeding in a court.\n\n## Part 2A—Additional provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications\n\n#### 15A Application and operation of this Part\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Part applies to the use of electronic communications in connection with the formation or performance of a contract between parties, and so applies:\n    (a) whether some or all of the parties are located within Australia or elsewhere; and\n    (b) whether the contract is for business purposes, for personal, family or household purposes, or for other purposes.\n  (2) This Part applies to or in relation to a contract only if:\n    (a) the proper law of the contract is (or would on its formation be) the law of a State or Territory; and\n    (b) at the time the contract is formed, there is no law of that State or Territory in terms substantially the same as this Part.\n\n#### 15B Invitation to treat regarding contracts\n\n  (1) A proposal to form a contract made through one or more electronic communications that:\n    (a) is not addressed to one or more specific parties; and\n    (b) is generally accessible to parties making use of information systems;\n  is to be considered as an invitation to make offers, unless it clearly indicates the intention of the party making the proposal to be bound in case of acceptance.\n  (2) Subsection (1) extends to proposals that make use of interactive applications for the placement of orders through information systems.\n\n#### 15C Use of automated message systems for contract formation—non‑intervention of natural person\n\n  A contract formed by:\n    (a) the interaction of an automated message system and a natural person; or\n    (b) the interaction of automated message systems;\n  is not invalid, void or unenforceable on the sole ground that no natural person reviewed or intervened in each of the individual actions carried out by the automated message systems or the resulting contract.\n\n#### 15D Error in electronic communications regarding contracts\n\n  (1) This section applies in relation to a statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) a natural person makes an input error in an electronic communication exchanged with the automated message system of another party; and\n    (b) the automated message system does not provide the person with an opportunity to correct the error;\n  the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has the right to withdraw the portion of the electronic communication in which the input error was made if:\n    (c) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, notifies the other party of the error as soon as possible after having learned of the error and indicates that he or she made an error in the electronic communication; and\n    (d) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has not used or received any material benefit or value from the goods or services, if any, received from the other party.\n  (3) The right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section is not of itself a right to rescind or otherwise terminate a contract.\n  (4) The consequences (if any) of the exercise of the right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section are to be determined in accordance with any applicable rule of law.\n\n> Note: In some circumstances the withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication may invalidate the entire communication or render it ineffective for the purposes of contract formation (see paragraph 241 of the UNCITRAL explanatory note for the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, done at New York on 23 November 2005).\n\n#### 15E Application of Act in relation to contracts\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of sections 8 and 14 to 14B apply to:\n    (a) a transaction constituted by or relating to a contract; or\n    (b) an electronic communication relating to the formation or performance of a contract;\n  in the same way as they apply to a transaction or electronic communication referred to in those sections, and so apply as if the words “For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth” and “under a law of the Commonwealth” were omitted.\n  (2) However, this Part (including subsection (1)) does not apply to or in relation to a contract to the extent that:\n    (a) Part 2 would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory (that is in substantially the same terms as Part 2) would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied.\n\n> Note: This section applies provisions of Part 2 to contracts or proposed contracts to the extent (if any) that those provisions do not apply merely because they are expressed to apply in relation to “a law of the Commonwealth”. This section also disapplies the provisions of Part 2A to the extent that Part 2 would apply of its own force. An example where Part 2 may not apply of its own force is where a contract is being negotiated in a State or Territory from a supplier located overseas.\n\n#### 15F No interference with powers and functions of another jurisdiction\n\n  (1) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of a State; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution;\n  this Part does not so operate.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution if it were assumed that the Territory were a State;\n  this Part does not so operate.\n\n## Part 3—Miscellaneous\n\n#### 16 Regulations\n\n  The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n\n#### 17 Transitional provisions—Electronic Transactions Amendment Act 2011\n\n  (1) Regulations made under this Act before the commencement of section 7A and in force immediately before that commencement continue in force as if that section had been in force when they were made.\n  (2) Subject to subsection (3):\n    (a) section 15B extends to proposals made before the commencement date; and\n    (b) section 15C extends to actions carried out before the commencement date; and\n    (c) section 15D extends to statements, declarations, demands, notices or requests, including offers and the acceptance of offers, made or given before the commencement date.\n  (3) Subsection (2) and Part 2A do not apply in relation to contracts formed before the commencement date.\n  (4) In subsections (2) and (3), commencement date means the date of commencement of Part 2A.","sortOrder":18},{"sectionNumber":"14","sectionType":"section","heading":"Time of dispatch","content":"#### 14 Time of dispatch\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the time of dispatch of the electronic communication is:\n    (a) the time when the electronic communication leaves an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator; or\n    (b) if the electronic communication has not left an information system under the control of the originator or of the party who sent it on behalf of the originator—the time when the electronic communication is received by the addressee.\n\n> Note: Paragraph (b) would apply to a case where the parties exchange electronic communications through the same information system.\n\n  (2) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched under section 14B.","sortOrder":19},{"sectionNumber":"14A","sectionType":"section","heading":"Time of receipt","content":"#### 14A Time of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the time of receipt of the electronic communication is the time when the electronic communication becomes capable of being retrieved by the addressee at an electronic address designated by the addressee; or\n    (b) the time of receipt of the electronic communication at another electronic address of the addressee is the time when both:\n    (i) the electronic communication has become capable of being retrieved by the addressee at that address; and\n    (ii) the addressee has become aware that the electronic communication has been sent to that address.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of the electronic communication, it is to be assumed that the electronic communication is capable of being retrieved by the addressee when it reaches the addressee’s electronic address.\n  (3) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been received under section 14B.","sortOrder":20},{"sectionNumber":"14B","sectionType":"section","heading":"Place of dispatch and place of receipt","content":"#### 14B Place of dispatch and place of receipt\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:\n    (a) the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched at the place where the originator has its place of business; and\n    (b) the electronic communication is taken to have been received at the place where the addressee has its place of business.\n  (2) For the purposes of the application of subsection (1) to an electronic communication:\n    (a) a party’s place of business is assumed to be the location indicated by that party, unless another party demonstrates that the party making the indication does not have a place of business at that location; and\n    (b) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has only one place of business, it is to be assumed that that place is the party’s place of business; and\n    (c) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, the place of business is that which has the closest relationship to the underlying transaction, having regard to the circumstances known to or contemplated by the parties at any time before or at the conclusion of the transaction; and\n    (d) if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than one place of business, but paragraph (c) does not apply—it is to be assumed that the party’s principal place of business is the party’s only place of business; and\n    (e) if a party is a natural person and does not have a place of business—it is to be assumed that the party’s place of business is the place of the party’s habitual residence.\n  (3) A location is not a place of business merely because that is:\n    (a) where equipment and technology supporting an information system used by a party are located; or\n    (b) where the information system may be accessed by other parties.\n  (4) The sole fact that a party makes use of a domain name or email address connected to a specific country does not create a presumption that its place of business is located in that country.","sortOrder":21},{"sectionNumber":"15","sectionType":"section","heading":"Attribution of electronic communications","content":"#### 15 Attribution of electronic communications\n\n  (1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the purported originator and the addressee of an electronic communication, the purported originator of the electronic communication is bound by that communication only if the communication was sent by the purported originator or with the authority of the purported originator.\n  (2) Subsection (1) is not intended to affect the operation of a law (whether written or unwritten) that makes provision for:\n    (a) conduct engaged in by a person within the scope of the person’s actual or apparent authority to be attributed to another person; or\n    (b) a person to be bound by conduct engaged in by another person within the scope of the other person’s actual or apparent authority.\n  Certain provisions of the Evidence Act 1995 etc. not affected\n  (5) This section does not affect the operation of:\n    (a) section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory that corresponds to section 87 or 88 of the Evidence Act 1995; or\n    (c) a law of a State or Territory, or a rule of common law, that provides for a statement made by a person to be treated as an admission made by a party to a proceeding in a court.","sortOrder":22},{"sectionNumber":"Part 2A","sectionType":"part","heading":"Additional provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications","content":"## Part 2A—Additional provisions applying to contracts involving electronic communications","sortOrder":23},{"sectionNumber":"15A","sectionType":"section","heading":"Application and operation of this Part","content":"#### 15A Application and operation of this Part\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Part applies to the use of electronic communications in connection with the formation or performance of a contract between parties, and so applies:\n    (a) whether some or all of the parties are located within Australia or elsewhere; and\n    (b) whether the contract is for business purposes, for personal, family or household purposes, or for other purposes.\n  (2) This Part applies to or in relation to a contract only if:\n    (a) the proper law of the contract is (or would on its formation be) the law of a State or Territory; and\n    (b) at the time the contract is formed, there is no law of that State or Territory in terms substantially the same as this Part.","sortOrder":24},{"sectionNumber":"15B","sectionType":"section","heading":"Invitation to treat regarding contracts","content":"#### 15B Invitation to treat regarding contracts\n\n  (1) A proposal to form a contract made through one or more electronic communications that:\n    (a) is not addressed to one or more specific parties; and\n    (b) is generally accessible to parties making use of information systems;\n  is to be considered as an invitation to make offers, unless it clearly indicates the intention of the party making the proposal to be bound in case of acceptance.\n  (2) Subsection (1) extends to proposals that make use of interactive applications for the placement of orders through information systems.","sortOrder":25},{"sectionNumber":"15C","sectionType":"section","heading":"Use of automated message systems for contract formation—non‑intervention of natural person","content":"#### 15C Use of automated message systems for contract formation—non‑intervention of natural person\n\n  A contract formed by:\n    (a) the interaction of an automated message system and a natural person; or\n    (b) the interaction of automated message systems;\n  is not invalid, void or unenforceable on the sole ground that no natural person reviewed or intervened in each of the individual actions carried out by the automated message systems or the resulting contract.","sortOrder":26},{"sectionNumber":"15D","sectionType":"section","heading":"Error in electronic communications regarding contracts","content":"#### 15D Error in electronic communications regarding contracts\n\n  (1) This section applies in relation to a statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) a natural person makes an input error in an electronic communication exchanged with the automated message system of another party; and\n    (b) the automated message system does not provide the person with an opportunity to correct the error;\n  the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has the right to withdraw the portion of the electronic communication in which the input error was made if:\n    (c) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, notifies the other party of the error as soon as possible after having learned of the error and indicates that he or she made an error in the electronic communication; and\n    (d) the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has not used or received any material benefit or value from the goods or services, if any, received from the other party.\n  (3) The right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section is not of itself a right to rescind or otherwise terminate a contract.\n  (4) The consequences (if any) of the exercise of the right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section are to be determined in accordance with any applicable rule of law.\n\n> Note: In some circumstances the withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication may invalidate the entire communication or render it ineffective for the purposes of contract formation (see paragraph 241 of the UNCITRAL explanatory note for the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, done at New York on 23 November 2005).","sortOrder":27},{"sectionNumber":"15E","sectionType":"section","heading":"Application of Act in relation to contracts","content":"#### 15E Application of Act in relation to contracts\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of sections 8 and 14 to 14B apply to:\n    (a) a transaction constituted by or relating to a contract; or\n    (b) an electronic communication relating to the formation or performance of a contract;\n  in the same way as they apply to a transaction or electronic communication referred to in those sections, and so apply as if the words “For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth” and “under a law of the Commonwealth” were omitted.\n  (2) However, this Part (including subsection (1)) does not apply to or in relation to a contract to the extent that:\n    (a) Part 2 would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied; or\n    (b) a law of a State or Territory (that is in substantially the same terms as Part 2) would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied.\n\n> Note: This section applies provisions of Part 2 to contracts or proposed contracts to the extent (if any) that those provisions do not apply merely because they are expressed to apply in relation to “a law of the Commonwealth”. This section also disapplies the provisions of Part 2A to the extent that Part 2 would apply of its own force. An example where Part 2 may not apply of its own force is where a contract is being negotiated in a State or Territory from a supplier located overseas.","sortOrder":28},{"sectionNumber":"15F","sectionType":"section","heading":"No interference with powers and functions of another jurisdiction","content":"#### 15F No interference with powers and functions of another jurisdiction\n\n  (1) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of a State; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution;\n  this Part does not so operate.\n  (2) If:\n    (a) apart from this subsection, this Part would operate so as to prevent or interfere with the exercise of the powers, or the performance of the functions or duties, of the government of the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory; and\n    (b) that operation would be invalid because of the Constitution if it were assumed that the Territory were a State;\n  this Part does not so operate.","sortOrder":29},{"sectionNumber":"Part 3","sectionType":"part","heading":"Miscellaneous","content":"## Part 3—Miscellaneous","sortOrder":30},{"sectionNumber":"16","sectionType":"section","heading":"Regulations","content":"#### 16 Regulations\n\n  The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.","sortOrder":31},{"sectionNumber":"17","sectionType":"section","heading":"Transitional provisions—Electronic Transactions Amendment Act 2011","content":"#### 17 Transitional provisions—Electronic Transactions Amendment Act 2011\n\n  (1) Regulations made under this Act before the commencement of section 7A and in force immediately before that commencement continue in force as if that section had been in force when they were made.\n  (2) Subject to subsection (3):\n    (a) section 15B extends to proposals made before the commencement date; and\n    (b) section 15C extends to actions carried out before the commencement date; and\n    (c) section 15D extends to statements, declarations, demands, notices or requests, including offers and the acceptance of offers, made or given before the commencement date.\n  (3) Subsection (2) and Part 2A do not apply in relation to contracts formed before the commencement date.\n  (4) In subsections (2) and (3), commencement date means the date of commencement of Part 2A.","sortOrder":32}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"circular_definition","section":"5(1) - definition of 'performance of a contract'","severity":"medium","reasoning":"By definitional logic, 'performance' and 'non-performance' are antonyms. Defining one to include the other collapses a meaningful legal distinction. While the legislative intent is to ensure the Act's provisions apply even where a breach or failure to perform is at issue, the drafting creates an absurdity: a party who has done nothing whatsoever has technically 'performed' the contract within the meaning of this Act. Any provision of the Act that refers to 'performance of a contract' is thereby rendered ambiguous in a fundamental way.","confidence":0.92,"description":"The Act defines 'performance of a contract' to include 'non-performance of the contract'. This is a direct logical contradiction embedded in a definitional provision: the absence of a thing is defined as an instance of that thing."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"5(2) - definition of 'law of the Commonwealth' before 1 July 2001","severity":"medium","reasoning":"An Act of Parliament whose substantive operation is contingent on subordinate legislation is constitutionally and logically anomalous. During the transitional period, the Act's entire operative framework could have been rendered a dead letter by the executive simply declining to specify any laws. The tail (regulations) wagged the dog (the Act).","confidence":0.85,"description":"Before 1 July 2001, 'law of the Commonwealth' is defined to mean only a Commonwealth law specified in the regulations. This means the Act's operative provisions (ss 8-15) only applied to laws the executive chose to nominate, allowing the executive to effectively nullify the entire Act by simply not making any regulations, or to selectively apply it. The date has long passed, but the provision illustrates that the Act could have been rendered entirely inoperative at its commencement by executive inaction."},{"type":"other","section":"15A(2) - application of Part 2A","severity":"low","reasoning":"While the cooperative federalism rationale is clear, the practical effect is that the scope of Part 2A is perpetually uncertain and shrinks as State legislatures act. A party cannot know at the time of contracting whether Part 2A applies without conducting a survey of all relevant State/Territory legislation and determining whether it is 'substantially the same'. This uncertainty undermines the Act's stated object of promoting confidence in electronic transactions.","confidence":0.78,"description":"Part 2A applies to a contract only if, at the time of formation, the relevant State or Territory has no law in substantially the same terms as Part 2A. This creates a perverse incentive: the Commonwealth's own legislative provision is designed to self-destruct in any jurisdiction that enacts equivalent legislation. The more successful the Commonwealth is in encouraging State adoption of equivalent laws, the less Part 2A applies, potentially creating coverage gaps as States progressively adopt similar laws."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"17(2) and 17(3) - transitional provisions","severity":"medium","reasoning":"A pre-commencement proposal (caught by s17(2)(a)) would naturally lead to a pre-commencement contract (excluded by s17(3)). The extension to proposals is therefore rendered largely meaningless for contracts formed before commencement, since the very transaction the proposal leads to is excluded. The provisions governing offers are applied without the provisions governing the resulting contracts, creating an incoherent half-application of the contractual regime.","confidence":0.8,"description":"Section 17(2) extends ss 15B, 15C and 15D to proposals, actions, and communications made before the commencement date of Part 2A. Section 17(3) then immediately carves out that subsection (2) and Part 2A do not apply to contracts formed before the commencement date. This creates a logical paradox: the provisions are extended to pre-commencement proposals and actions, but not to the contracts that result from those proposals and actions if those contracts were also formed before commencement."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"14 - Time of dispatch, s14(1)(b)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The entire purpose of having separate dispatch and receipt rules (ss 14 and 14A) is to establish legally significant moments that may differ in time. Section 14(1)(b) defeats this purpose for shared-system communications by making dispatch = receipt. Any law that attaches different legal consequences to dispatch versus receipt would produce the same outcome under both tests in this scenario, rendering the distinction legally meaningless in an increasingly common use case (shared cloud platforms, intranet systems).","confidence":0.82,"description":"Section 14(1)(b) provides that where an electronic communication has not left an information system under the originator's control, the time of dispatch is the time of receipt by the addressee. This means dispatch and receipt are deemed simultaneous, collapsing the legal distinction between the two concepts that sections 14 and 14A are expressly designed to create and regulate."},{"type":"other","section":"14B(2)(c) and 14B(2)(d) - Place of business determination","severity":"low","reasoning":"The trigger for para (d) — that para (c) 'does not apply' — is undefined. Paragraph (c) sets a standard (closest relationship to the underlying transaction) that presumably always produces some answer, making it unclear when it could be said not to apply. If para (c) always applies to multi-location parties, para (d) is superfluous. If para (d) is intended to apply where the closest relationship test is indeterminate, that condition should be expressly stated.","confidence":0.72,"description":"Sections 14B(2)(c) and 14B(2)(d) create a sequential fallback for parties with multiple places of business who have not indicated a place of business. First, the closest relationship to the underlying transaction is used (para (c)). If that does not apply, the principal place of business is assumed to be the only place (para (d)). However, no guidance is given as to when paragraph (c) 'does not apply', creating an unpredictable gap that triggers a legal fiction (treating the principal place as the only place) with no logical connection to reality."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"15D(2) and 15D(3) - Error withdrawal right","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The right granted is simultaneously narrowly defined (withdraw a portion) and potentially catastrophic in effect (the note concedes it may invalidate the entire communication). The provision creates a right but outsources all consequences to other law, making the right itself legally uncertain. A person exercising the right cannot know in advance whether they are withdrawing a clause or destroying an entire contract. This is inconsistent with the Act's objective of promoting confidence in electronic transactions.","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 15D(2) grants a right to 'withdraw the portion of the electronic communication in which the input error was made'. Section 15D(3) then states that this right 'is not of itself a right to rescind or otherwise terminate a contract'. However, s15D(4) provides that consequences are to be determined by applicable law, and the note acknowledges the withdrawal may 'invalidate the entire communication'. The Act therefore creates a right of partial withdrawal while simultaneously disclaiming responsibility for the systemic consequences of that right, leaving parties in legal limbo."},{"type":"other","section":"5(1) - definition of 'electronic communication', paragraph (b)","severity":"low","reasoning":"This creates a situation where the same utterance, transmitted in the same manner, has different legal status depending on the recipient's processing infrastructure — a fact unknown to and uncontrollable by the sender at the time of transmission. A party cannot know at the moment of speaking whether their communication is legally an 'electronic communication' subject to the Act's protections and requirements. This undermines legal certainty.","confidence":0.88,"description":"Electronic communication includes speech communicated by electromagnetic energy only where it 'is processed at its destination by an automated voice recognition system'. This means an ordinary telephone call where a human listens is not an 'electronic communication' under the Act, while the identical speech transmitted via the identical medium becomes an electronic communication if a machine transcribes it at the other end. The legal character of the communication is thus determined by what the recipient does with it, not by any property of the communication itself."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"8(1) - Validity of electronic transactions (general rule)","section_b":"8(2) - Validity of electronic transactions (limitation)","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 8(1) states that a transaction is not invalid because it took place by means of electronic communications. Section 8(2) immediately carves back this rule by providing it does not apply where another provision of Part 2 'more specifically' deals with validity. However, the provisions in Division 2 (ss 9-12) do not deal with 'validity' of transactions per se — they deal with whether specific formal requirements (writing, signature, document production, retention) are 'taken to have been met'. The scope of the carve-out in s8(2) is therefore poorly matched to the provisions it purports to trigger, creating uncertainty about whether s8(1) is displaced whenever Division 2 applies or only in some narrower circumstance."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"15A(2) - Part 2A applies only where State law is absent","section_b":"15E(2) - Part 2A disapplied where Part 2 applies of its own force","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 15A(2) limits Part 2A to contracts governed by State/Territory law where the State/Territory has no substantially equivalent law. Section 15E(2) separately disapplies Part 2A (including s15E(1)) to the extent Part 2 or an equivalent State law would apply of its own force. These two limiting provisions operate on different criteria and could interact to create situations where Part 2A is excluded by s15A(2) on one ground and included by s15E(1) on another, or where both exclusions apply simultaneously. The interaction creates an indeterminate coverage zone with no tiebreaker."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"7B(1) - Courts and tribunals exemption from Division 2 of Part 2","section_b":"9, 10, 11, 12 - Requirements under laws of the Commonwealth","confidence":0.73,"description":"Section 7B(1) exempts court and tribunal practice and procedure from Division 2 of Part 2 (which contains ss 9-12 on writing, signature, document production and retention). However, the same sections 9-12 apply to requirements under 'a law of the Commonwealth' generally, which includes laws that regulate court and tribunal proceedings (e.g., filing requirements under the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976). The exemption covers 'practice and procedure' but the operative sections apply to formal requirements under Commonwealth laws that govern that very practice and procedure. The boundary between what is exempted and what is caught is irresolvably vague."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"15C - Automated contract formation is valid without human intervention","section_b":"15D(2) - Error correction right requires a 'natural person' to have made the error","confidence":0.85,"description":"Section 15C validates contracts formed entirely by automated message systems without any natural person reviewing or intervening. Section 15D(2) grants an error-correction right only where 'a natural person makes an input error'. In a fully automated contract formation scenario validated by s15C, there is no natural person making inputs, so s15D can never apply. The error correction regime is structurally inapplicable to one of the two contract formation scenarios that s15C expressly validates (automated system to automated system), creating a protection gap with no apparent policy justification."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"14 - Time of dispatch","section_b":"14A - Time of receipt","confidence":0.68,"description":"Section 14(1)(b) deems the time of dispatch to be the time of receipt where the communication has not left the originator's information system. Section 14A(1)(a) separately deems the time of receipt to be when the communication 'becomes capable of being retrieved by the addressee'. In a shared-system scenario (as described in the note to s14), dispatch is deemed to occur at the moment of receipt, but receipt under s14A occurs when the communication is capable of being retrieved. If the communication is immediately retrievable upon being placed in the shared system, the two times collapse into one — but if there is any latency or access restriction before retrieval is possible, s14(1)(b) (receipt = dispatch) and s14A(1)(a) (receipt = capability of retrieval) produce inconsistent results for the same communication."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"7A - Regulations may exempt provisions of the Act","section_b":"6 - Crown to be bound","confidence":0.78,"description":"Section 6 binds the Crown to the Act in all its capacities. Section 7A empowers the Governor-General (an instrument of the Crown) to make regulations exempting any or all provisions of the Act from applying to any transactions or circumstances. This means the Crown can, via subordinate legislation, exempt itself from the very Act to which it is bound, substantially undermining the force of s6. The Crown is bound unless and until it decides by regulation not to be."}]},"kimi_summary":{"_metrics":{"source":"grok-batch-everything"},"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":7,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The original 1999 Act was limited to validating electronic transactions (s.8), permitting electronic satisfaction of writing/signature/document requirements (ss.9-12), and basic dispatch/receipt/attribution rules (ss.14-15). The 2011 amendments added Part 2A, significantly expanding scope to detailed contract-formation rules (invitations to treat under s.15B, automated systems under s.15C, input error withdrawal under s.15D) implementing UNCITRAL conventions. This grew the Act beyond its initial regulatory framework for the information economy into prescriptive rules for e-contracting that apply even where Part 2 does not operate of its own force."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple layers of conditional 'if' requirements in core sections (e.g. s.9(1)(a)-(d), s.10(1)(a)-(d), s.11(1)(a)-(e)) with separate rules for Commonwealth entities versus private parties","Extensive definitions in s.5 covering 13+ terms including 'electronic communication', 'place of business', 'automated message system', and 'integrity of information'","Nested exemptions and savings clauses (s.7A, s.7B, s.11(5), Schedule 1) that cross-reference the Evidence Act 1995, Migration Act 1958, Copyright Act 1968, and State/Territory laws","Part 2A overlay for contracts that applies only under specific proper-law conditions (s.15A(2)) and interacts with Part 2 via deeming provisions (s.15E)","Transitional provisions (s.17) and regulation-making powers (s.16) that create ongoing variability"],"plain_english_summary":"**The Electronic Transactions Act 1999** makes electronic communications legally valid for Commonwealth laws in Australia. It ensures a deal or official process cannot be thrown out simply because it happened via email, website form, or other electronic means.\n\nKey rules include:\n- **Writing requirements** can be met by electronic messages if the information is accessible for later use, the recipient (especially government) agrees on the format, and any verification steps are followed (see rules on consent and reliability).\n- **Signatures** can be electronic if a method identifies the person and shows their intent, and it is as reliable as needed for the situation.\n- **Documents** can be produced or retained electronically if the version keeps the information complete and unaltered (except normal changes like adding notes).\n- Clear rules decide exactly **when and where** an electronic message is sent or received, based on when it leaves or arrives at a system, and using the parties' places of business.\n- The sender is only bound by a message if they (or someone with their authority) actually sent it.\n\nA special section covers online contracts: website ads are usually invitations for offers rather than binding offers; contracts made by computers without human checking are valid; and people can withdraw messages with typing errors under strict conditions.\n\nIt affects anyone doing business or dealing with federal government electronically, promoting confidence in the digital economy while allowing exemptions for courts, specific laws, or regulations. It does not override evidence rules or copyright issues in certain cases."},"summary":{"complexity_score":7,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The original 1999 Act focused narrowly on validating electronic transactions and fulfilling Commonwealth law requirements electronically. Scope has expanded via the 2011 amendments (Electronic Transactions Amendment Act 2011) which added Part 2A, extending the Act's reach into private contract formation and performance — including rules about automated contracts, online offer/acceptance mechanics, and error correction rights. This represents a meaningful shift from a government-dealings-focused law to one that also governs purely private commercial and personal online contracting."},"complexity_factors":["Multi-layered conditional structure: most provisions have 'in all cases' conditions plus separate conditions depending on whether the recipient is a Commonwealth entity or a private person","Interaction between Commonwealth law and State/Territory law creates overlapping and sometimes uncertain application — Part 2A specifically only applies where State law doesn't cover the same ground","Distinction between 'required' and 'permitted' actions duplicated across multiple sections (writing, signatures, document production, retention), creating structural repetition that must be carefully parsed","Time and place of dispatch/receipt rules involve multiple scenarios (designated vs non-designated addresses, same information system, server location vs place of business) requiring careful analysis","Attribution rules interact with agency law, Evidence Act provisions, and common law — multiple carve-outs and savings provisions","Part 2A contract provisions are triggered only when State/Territory law is absent, creating a fallback mechanism that requires knowledge of applicable State law to determine if federal law applies","Broad regulation-making power to create exemptions means the Act's actual scope can only be fully understood by also consulting subordinate legislation (regulations)","Wholesale repetition of the entire Act's text multiple times in the provided document creates structural confusion (likely a drafting/extraction error but reflects real complexity in consolidated versions)","UNCITRAL (UN international trade law) basis means interpretation may require reference to international instruments and explanatory notes","Constitutional limitations baked into Part 2A (sections 15F) require knowledge of constitutional law to understand when the Part will not operate"],"plain_english_summary":"## Electronic Transactions Act 1999 — What It Means For You\n\n### The Big Picture\nThis law removes the old barrier that said \"it has to be on paper\" for Commonwealth (federal) legal requirements. It says: **doing things electronically is just as valid as doing them on paper**, as long as certain conditions are met.\n\n### Who Does This Affect?\nEssentially **everyone** who interacts with the federal government or enters into contracts online — individuals, businesses, and government agencies alike.\n\n### What Does It Actually Do?\n\n**1. Electronic dealings with government are valid**\nIf a federal law says you must do something *in writing* — like lodge a tax return, make a claim, sign a form, or keep a record — you can now do it electronically. This covers:\n- Filing applications online\n- Electronic signatures (a reliable method of identifying you and showing your intent, like clicking \"I agree\" or using a digital signature tool)\n- Sending scanned or digital documents instead of paper ones\n- Storing records digitally instead of in filing cabinets\n\n**2. Electronic signatures count**\nYou don't need a traditional handwritten signature. An electronic method works if it reliably identifies you and shows what you intended — like a PIN, a typed name, or a verified digital signature. The government agency can set specific technical requirements for how this works.\n\n**3. Online contracts are legally binding**\nIf you buy something online, that contract is valid even if:\n- No human ever reviewed or approved it (e.g., automated checkout systems)\n- A website displays a product to everyone — that's an *invitation to make an offer*, not an automatic binding offer (so the retailer can decline your \"acceptance\" in some circumstances)\n- You made a typo when ordering — you may have the right to *withdraw* (take back) the mistaken part of your message, as long as you tell the other party quickly and haven't already used what you bought\n\n**4. When did the email arrive?**\nThe law sets clear rules about *when* an electronic message is legally sent and received:\n- **Sent**: when it leaves your system\n- **Received**: when it arrives at the recipient's electronic address and can be retrieved\n- **Where**: treated as sent from, and received at, each party's place of business (not where their server is located, and not based on their email domain)\n\n**5. Who is responsible for a message?**\nYou're only legally bound by an electronic message if *you* sent it, or someone sent it *with your permission*. If someone hacks your account and sends a message in your name, you're generally not bound by it.\n\n### Important Limits\n- **Courts and tribunals**: These rules about electronic requirements don't apply to court procedures — courts have their own rules\n- **Evidence laws**: This Act doesn't change the rules about what counts as evidence in court\n- **Exemptions**: The government can make regulations to carve out specific situations where electronic methods don't apply (e.g., certain migration and citizenship documents are exempt)\n- **Consent required**: If you're sending electronic information to a *private person* (not a government body), they must *consent* to receiving it electronically — consent can be implied from their behaviour\n- **State/Territory contracts**: The contract rules in Part 2A only apply where State/Territory law doesn't already cover the same ground"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act extends the baseline rule that electronic communications satisfy legal formalities under Commonwealth law (s 8) by adding a separate Part (Part 2A) that applies to contracts formed or performed by electronic means even where the transaction is governed by State or Territory law — but only where the proper law is a State/Territory and there is no substantially similar State/Territory law in force (s 15A(2); s 15E(2)). In effect, Part 2A expands the scope of the Act from purely meeting Commonwealth law formalities to providing contract‑specific default rules across jurisdictions in defined circumstances, subject to constitutional non‑interference limits (s 15F)."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple conditional tests expressed in evaluative language (e.g. \"reasonable to expect\", \"reliable as appropriate\") creating fact‑specific legal standards (s 9(1)(a); s 10(1)(b)(i); s 11(1)(a)).","Cross‑part interactions and conditional application of Part 2A to contracts depending on proper law and the absence of substantially similar State/Territory law (s 15A(2); s 15E(2)).","Technical and operational compliance requirements (accessibility, integrity, retention of metadata) that impose operational burdens (s 9(1)(a); s 11(1)(a),(b); s 12(4)(c)).","Regulatory carve‑outs and delegated power to make subject‑specific exemptions (s 7A; s 16), increasing variability in application.","Exclusions preserving court procedure and Evidence Act operation (s 7B), requiring careful boundary analysis in litigation contexts.","Presumptive rules on dispatch/receipt/place of business and attribution that interact with contract choice and international electronic systems (s 14, s 14A, s 14B, s 15).","Special rules for automated systems and human input error withdrawal (s 15C; s 15D) that introduce novel contract law issues.","Copyright carve‑outs for generating electronic forms in compliance with the Act (s 11(6); s 12(6)), creating overlaps with IP law."],"plain_english_summary":"What this law does (mechanics first)\n\n- Treats electronic communications as legally effective for Commonwealth purposes. A transaction is not invalid merely because it was wholly or partly electronic (s 8).\n- Allows a range of legal requirements that normally call for paper or ink to be satisfied electronically, subject to conditions: giving information in writing (s 9), signatures (s 10), producing documents (s 11), recording and retention (s 12). Those sections specify technical and accessibility conditions (see below).\n- Sets default rules for when an electronic message is sent, received and where it is treated as having been sent/received (time of dispatch s 14; time of receipt s 14A; place of dispatch/receipt s 14B).\n- Allocates attribution risk: a purported originator is bound only if the communication was sent by them or with their authority (s 15).\n- Adds contract-specific rules (Part 2A): unaddressed, generally accessible proposals are invitations to make offers (not automatic offers) (s 15B); contracts formed by machines or by machines interacting with people are valid even if no human reviewed every step (s 15C); a natural person who makes an input error to another party’s automated system can withdraw the erroneous portion in limited circumstances (s 15D); and certain provisions of Part 2 are applied to contracts (s 15E).\n- Preserves exclusions and limits: courts and tribunal practice/procedure are not subject to Part 2A or Division 2 of Part 2 (s 7B(1)); Evidence Act provisions and equivalent State/Territory rules about evidence are not displaced (s 7B(2)).\n- Gives the Governor‑General power to make regulations and allows regulations to exempt parts or specific matters from the Act (s 16; s 7A).\n- Includes Schedule 1 exemptions for certain migration and citizenship documents that must remain outside s 11’s electronic production rule (Schedule).\n- Specifies that producing or generating electronic copies to meet the Act’s requirements does not infringe copyright (s 11(6); s 12(6)).\n\nStated purpose and how the Act would achieve it\n\n- The Act’s stated object is to provide a regulatory framework that recognises the information economy, facilitates electronic transactions, promotes confidence in them and enables dealings with government by electronic communications (s 3). Mechanically, it does that by treating electronic forms as capable of meeting legal formalities (writing, signature, production, recording, retention) and by filling gaps about timing, place and attribution of electronic messages (Parts 2 and 2A).\n\nWho it affects and who decides\n\n- Affects any person dealing under Commonwealth laws where a writing/signature/document/record/retention requirement exists and those who enter contracts involving electronic communications (see s 8, s 15A, s 15E).\n- Commonwealth entities (and persons acting for them) can require particular technologies or verification steps for electronic delivery, signatures or document production; compliance with such entity-imposed technical requirements is specified as meeting legal requirements (s 9(1)(b),(c); s 10(1)(c); s 11(1)(c),(d)).\n- The Governor‑General (via regulations) and Commonwealth entities exercise rule‑making and specification powers (s 16; s 7A; see also entity-specific technical requirements in s 9–11).\n\nPractical incentives, costs and trade-offs (source‑grounded)\n\n- Incentives to use electronic channels: the Act removes the formal legal barrier that a transaction must be paper-based to be valid (s 8). That lowers a legal friction cost for businesses and individuals who adopt electronic systems.\n- Compliance costs fall on the parties who choose or are required to transact electronically: the Act conditions electronic validity on facts such as (i) it being reasonable to expect accessibility for subsequent reference (s 9(1)(a); s 11(1)(b); s 12(1)(a)), (ii) methods assuring integrity of the information (s 11(1)(a); s 12(2)(a)), and (iii) where retention of electronic communications is required, retaining additional metadata to identify origin, destination and times (s 12(4)(c)(i)–(iv)). Those requirements impose operational and record‑keeping obligations on senders/holders of electronic information.\n- Discretion and administrative specification: Commonwealth entities can mandate particular IT formats or verification actions; complying with those mandates is necessary to meet legal requirements when communicating with the Commonwealth (s 9(1)(b),(c); s 10(1)(c); s 11(1)(c),(d)). Regulations may exempt parts of the Act or specific laws (s 7A), introducing a route for carve‑outs.\n- Allocation of legal risk for attribution and timing/place: the Act sets default presumptions about when messages are sent/received and where they are taken to occur, and binds originators only when sent by or with authority (s 14–15). These legal presumptions shift litigation and transactional risk in predictable ways but allow parties to agree otherwise (s 14(1), s 14A(1), s 14B(1), s 15(1)).\n- Effect on automation and business models: Part 2A expressly validates automated contracting and machine‑to‑machine interactions without human review as not invalid solely for lack of human intervention (s 15C). That lowers legal barriers to automated marketplaces, bots and automated ordering systems, subject to the Act’s other conditions (s 15A–15E).\n- Limited protective rule for human input error: when a person interacts with another’s automated system and makes an input error with no opportunity to correct it, the Act permits withdrawal of the erroneous portion if the person promptly notifies the other party and has not materially benefited (s 15D). That creates a narrowly framed safety valve for consumers or users in automated exchanges.\n\nImplementation risk and legal uncertainty\n\n- Several legal standards in the Act are expressed in evaluative or fact‑specific terms — e.g. “reasonable to expect” accessibility for subsequent reference (s 9(1)(a); s 11(1)(b); s 12(1)(a)), and methods being “as reliable as appropriate for the purpose” (s 10(1)(b)(i)). Those standards require case‑by‑case assessment and therefore leave correctness questions to courts or adjudicators.\n- The ability of Commonwealth entities to require specific technology or verification steps (s 9(1)(b),(c); s 10(1)(c); s 11(1)(c),(d)) introduces heterogeneity of technical obligations when interacting with government — affecting implementation cost for firms and individuals dealing with multiple agencies.\n\nLimits and carve‑outs\n\n- The Act does not apply to court or tribunal practice and procedure for the relevant Divisions, and does not displace the Evidence Act or equivalent State/Territory rules on evidence (s 7B(1)–(2)).\n- Regulations can create exemptions and the Schedule exempts certain migration and citizenship documents from the electronic‑production rule (s 7A; Schedule 1).\n\nNet effect in neutral terms\n\n- The Act makes electronic communications a valid conduit for legal formalities under Commonwealth law and provides default rules for timing, place and attribution, while preserving the ability of entities and regulations to specify technical requirements or carve outs. It shifts some costs onto users and data holders (integrity, accessibility, metadata retention) and supplies legal clearance for automated contracting and machine interactions, subject to specified limits and conditional standards (s 8; s 9–12; Part 2A)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/electronic-transactions-act-1999","history":"/api/acts/electronic-transactions-act-1999/history","analysis":"/api/acts/electronic-transactions-act-1999/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/electronic-transactions-act-1999/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/electronic-transactions-act-1999/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/electronic-transactions-act-1999/documents"}}