[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

[[Page 1364]]

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.