Formation of contracts via the internet

Abstract

The ability of sellers and suppliers to communicate with customers has prospered with the increase in communication methods, especially the wide usage of the Internet. Sellers and suppliers are intensely benefiting from the opportunities created by information technologies for marketing their goods and services to targeted customers. Buyers can easily attain goods or services produced anywhere and save time by quickly purchasing them through the Internet, while staying at home or office. However, contracting by electronic communication causes new challenges to the traditional legal principles of contract formation that are essentially based on oral or old fashioned paper contracts. This chapter presents the legal framework of electronic contracting from a comparative law perspective and focuses on some specific issues, which are subject to discussion among legal scholars, like the legal aspects of electronic contracting methods, communication of assent in digital environment, and the legal effects of displays in online shops. In conclusion, a critical review is presented of the discussions about instantaneousness of e-mail communication, viewpoints that are in favor of nonbinding legal effects of the displays in online shops and necessity of the concept of "electronic agent."