[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[June 30, 2000]
[Pages 1363-1365]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Statement on Signing the Electronic Signatures in Global and National
Commerce Act
June 30, 2000
Today I am pleased to sign into law S. 761, the ``Electronic
Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act.'' This landmark
legislation will help ensure that we reap the full benefits
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that electronic technology offers for the American economy and American
consumers.
The digital economy plays an increasingly important role in our
Nation's well-being. Just as the telephone and internal combustion
engine brought about a new era of economic prosperity, so too
``Information Technology'' (IT) is creating once unimaginable economic
possibilities for the 21st century.
For American businesses, new information technologies are increasing
productivity, lowering costs, and spurring growth. For consumers,
electronic commerce can mean greater choice, faster service, and lower
prices. For our economy, the digital age means more jobs, higher growth,
lower inflation, and tremendous new investment that will strengthen our
economy for the long term.
The Department of Commerce reports that information technology
industries are responsible for about 30 percent of U.S. economic growth
since 1995. Economists have consistently found that information
technology accounts for at least half of the recent acceleration in U.S.
productivity growth--from 1.4 percent per year, during 1973-1995, to 2.8
percent per year since 1995. Information technology accounts for two-
thirds of the growth in overall business investment in recent years. And
IT industries are a major source of research and development investment.
These trends suggest that the economic payoff from the technology
revolution will strengthen our economy for years to come.
As S. 761 removes legal impediments to electronic commerce, we can
expect to see a transformation in how businesses do business with each
other and with consumers. For example, companies will be able to
contract on-line to buy and sell products worth millions of dollars.
Businesses will able to collect and store transaction records that once
filled up vast warehouses on servers the size of a laptop. And consumers
will have the option of buying insurance, getting a mortgage, or opening
a brokerage account on-line, without waiting for the paperwork to be
mailed back and forth.
In 1997, Vice President Gore and I unveiled our Framework for Global
Electronic Commerce. In that document, we called for the ``development
of both a domestic and global uniform commercial legal framework that
recognizes, facilitates, and enforces electronic transactions
worldwide.'' Our Framework also noted that government action ``may prove
necessary to . . . protect consumers.'' This Act accomplishes both goals
by providing business with a predictable, technology-neutral, legal
environment while protecting consumers.
The Act clarifies the legal validity of electronic contracts,
signatures, notices, and other records, and allows contracting parties
to choose the technology for authenticating their transactions without
government intervention. It provides the legal certainty necessary for
entrepreneurs to invest in electronic commerce. Firms need to know that
their contracts and transactions will not be unenforceable solely
because they are electronic. They need to know how they can satisfy
State and Federal notice and record-keeping requirements with electronic
notices and records. They need to know that the same ``rules of the
road'' apply to on-line business disputes as to those in the paper
world.
The Act will also ensure that on-line consumers will have legal
protections equivalent to those in the off-line world. The Act does not
diminish the protections offered by any Federal or State law relating to
the rights of consumers, other than to eliminate requirements that
contracts and other records be written and signed on paper. Consumers
retain the choice to do business and receive records on paper or on-
line. Before notices and disclosures may be sent electronically,
consumers must give their consent and the firm must verify that the
consumer will be able to access electronically the information that will
be provided.
Under my Administration, the Federal Government is rapidly adapting
to the digital age. Federal and State government agencies still need,
however, the ability to establish requirements to protect taxpayers,
oversee program participants, and monitor program compliance on-line as
well as on paper. I sign S. 761 with the understanding, reflected in the
Congressional Record statements of Senators Hollings, Wyden, and Sarbanes, and Congressman Dingell, that
this Act gives State and Federal governments the authority they need to
establish record retention requirements, prescribe standards and formats
for filings, and issue other regulations and orders to implement the
legislation necessary to prevent waste, investigate and enforce the law,
operate programs effectively, and protect consumers and the public
interest. As they explained, this legislation principally addresses
commercial and consumer activities, not governmental activities that
have already been
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addressed by the Government Paperwork Elimination Act. To the extent
that these two laws overlap, I instruct Federal agencies to construe
them in a manner consistent with protecting the public interest and
effectively carrying out agency missions.
The Act puts in place the essential legal framework for electronic
commerce in the United States. We will continue our discussions with
other countries to encourage their adoption of technology-neutral, legal
frameworks to enable and enforce electronic transactions and facilitate
global electronic commerce.
I also urge companies to take advantage of the new technology
responsibly. Giving companies the right to contract and disclose and
store records electronically is akin to giving them a driver's license
for the Internet. It does not teach them to drive safely or insure them
against accidents. Companies adopting electronic technology should
ensure that their information security, privacy, and consumer protection
policies are sound. A company that inadvertently mails a customer's
personal information to thousands of other customers or posts personal
information on an insecure website faces a serious risk to its business,
including the risk of losing the confidence of its customers.
This Act demonstrates that we can achieve the full measure of the
benefits that electronic commerce has to offer, if we marry one of our
oldest values--our commitment to consumer protection--with the newest
technologies. It also shows what we can do when we work together--
business and consumer and government, State and Federal, Republican and
Democrat--in the public interest.
I congratulate the many organizations that worked so hard to see S.
761 become law. I particularly want to extend my appreciation to
Chairmen Bliley and McCain, who approached the conference negotiations in the spirit
of bipartisanship and whose leadership allowed us to craft this
compromise legislation. I thank Senators Hollings, Leahy, Sarbanes, and Wyden, and Representatives
Dingell and Markey, for their excellent efforts and teamwork, and
Representatives Eshoo, Inslee, and Lofgren for their continuing
efforts to promote electronic commerce. I also thank Secretaries
Daley and Summers, and Commerce Department General Counsel, Andy
Pincus, for their leadership.
William J. Clinton
The White House,
June 30, 2000.
Note: S. 761, approved June 30, was assigned Public Law No. 106-229.