[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 16 (Friday, January 24, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 3729]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-1741]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice No. 2505]


Advisory Committee on Private International Law; Meeting of Study 
Group on Electronic Commerce

    The Study Group on Electronic Commerce of the Advisory Committee on 
Private International Law (ACPIL) will hold its next meeting from 9:30 
to 4:30 on Monday, February 10 in Washington, DC. The meeting will 
review legal issues involved in new or proposed commercial and 
governmental ``digital signature'' services, laws or regulations 
enacted or proposed covering such services, as well as the relationship 
of domestic initiatives on digital signatures to international 
activities in this field.
    The meeting will also focus on documents prepared by the 
Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law 
(UNCITRAL), which will be discussed at an upcoming UNCITRAL Working 
Group meeting at the UN in late February 1997. The Working Group will 
consider whether the Commission should undertake work on international 
legal standards for digital signatures, which can take the form of a 
United Nations study of legal issues, model national laws, multilateral 
treaty, or other types of international legal work. Recommendations 
will be sought on the views the United States should set forth at the 
Working Group meeting.
    Topics to be discussed at the February 10th Advisory Committee 
meeting will include the legal aspects and functions of digital 
signatures, including various forms of electronic and computer-based 
means of identifying and/or indicating authorizing sources for computer 
messages; public key-private key and other infrastructure methods to 
support digital signatures; verification methods and their legal 
import; attribution, revocation, liability, etc. The meeting will also 
focus on concepts of ``certifying authorities'' and other third-party 
service providers, and the legal role of possible certifications of 
signatures in digital form. Current developments in several States of 
the United States, as well as foreign jurisdictions, will be 
considered. Other issues will be considered as time permits.
    The principal UN documents may be requested from the Office of the 
Legal Adviser as indicated below, which include a report by the 
Secretariat on ``Planning Future Work on Electronic Commerce: Digital 
signatures, Certification authorities and related legal issues'', UN 
Doc. A/CN.9/WP.71, Dec. 31, 1996, and the recently completed UNCITRAL 
Model Law on Electronic Commerce, UN Doc. A/51/Supp.17, Annex I, Sept. 
1996. The Model Law covers the legal effect and validity of computer 
messages in commercial transactions, attribution of messages, time and 
place where communications are deemed to have taken place and other 
general matters, as well as special rules on electronic bills of 
lading.
    The meeting of the Advisory Committee Study Group is open to the 
public up to the capacity of the meeting room. Members of the public 
who cannot attend are welcome to comment on the referenced documents, 
including any recommendations for possible U.S. positions on these 
matters. The meeting will take place at the International Law Institute 
(ILI), 1615 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Persons who 
expect to attend should advise either the Office of the Legal Adviser 
(L/PIL) at Suite 357 South Building, 2430 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 
20037-2800, fax (202) 776-8482, or Stuart Kerr at ILI, (202) 483-3036, 
fax 483-3029. Documents can be requested from the Office of the Legal 
Adviser indicated above or from the UN. For further information please 
contact Harold S. Burman, Advisory Committee Executive Director, at 
(202) 776-8421.
Peter H. Pfund,
Advisory Committee Vice-Chair.
[FR Doc. 97-1741 Filed 1-23-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-10-M