Law of the People's Republic of China on Electronic Signatures
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(The "Law of the People's Republic of China on Electronic Signatures," passed by the 11th conference of the Standing Committee of the 10th State Council of the People's Republic of China on August 28, 2004, is hereby promulgated and will take effect as of April 1, 2005.)
Chapter 1. General Provisions
Article 1. This law is made in order to regulate the behavior of electronic signatures, to validate the legal effect of electronic signatures, and to protect the legal rights of every involved party.
Article 2. Electronic signatures in this law refer to data that are included or attached in electronic data for identification of the signer and for proof that the signer agrees with the included contents.
Electronic data in this law refer to information that is created, sent, received, or preserved via electronic, optical, or magnetic tools or similar media.
Article 3. For contracts or other files such as documents and certificates of civil activities, the parties may agree to use or not to use electronic signatures and electronic data.
If the parties agree to use contracts with electronic signatures and electronic data, the legal effect of the contracts may not be denied solely because of the electronic form of the signatures or of the data.
The above paragraph does not apply to the following legal documents:
(1) Documents concerning personal relationships such as matrimony, adoption, or inheritance;
(2) Documents concerning trade of immovable estates such as land or domiciles;
(3) Documents concerning termination of public services such as the supply of water, heat, gas, or electricity;
(4) Documents concerning other inapplicable situations regulated by law or administrative regulations.
Chapter 2. Electronic Data
Article 4. Electronic data that can show the contents they specify tangibly, and may be accessible at any time, shall be considered as complying with the written form as defined by the laws and regulations.
Article 5. Electronic data that satisfy the following requirements are considered in accordance with the requirements for the official form of the original copies by laws and regulations:
(1) Data that can show the contents they specify tangibly and may be accessible at any time;
(2) Data that can guarantee a complete, unaltered status of the contents once they come into being. The completeness of electronic data will not be affected by the adding of endorsements or altered forms that take place in the process of the interchange, preservation, and presentation of the data.
Article 6. Electronic data that satisfy the following requirements are considered in accordance with the requirements for document preservation by laws and regulations:
(1) Data that can show the contents they specify tangibly and may be accessible at any time;
(2) Data that are in the same format when they are created, sent, or received, or that can accurately convey the contents being created, sent, or received albeit in different formats;
(3) Data that have identifying information about the senders, receivers, and time that the data are sent and received.
Article 7. Electronic data to be used as evidence may not be denied solely because they are created, sent, received, or preserved via electronic, optical, or magnetic tools or similar media.
Article 8. The following factors shall be taken into consideration for examining the authenticity of electronic data as evidence:
(1) Reliability of the ways in which the electronic data are created, preserved, or circulated;
(2) Reliability of the ways in which the completeness of the electronic data is maintained;
(3) Reliability of the ways that the senders are identified;
(4) Other relevant factors.
Article 9. The electronic data are considered being transmitted by the sender when any of the following conditions applies:
(1) The transfer of the electronic data is authorized by the sender;
(2) The electronic data are automatically transferred by the sender's information system;
(3) The receiver verifies the electronic data according to the method approved by the addresser.
If the parties have their own agreement concerning the provision in (3), their agreement will be followed.
Article 10. Confirmation of the receipt of electronic data received shall be made, if required by the laws and regulations or by the parties' own contract. When the sender acquires the receiver's confirmation, the electronic data will be considered received.
Article 11. The time of the sending of the electronic data is considered to be the moment when the electronic data are transferred into a certain information system that is beyond the control of the sender.
If the receiver designates a certain system for receiving the electronic data, the moment the data enter this designated system is considered the receiving time.
If the parties have their own agreement on the sending or receiving time of the electronic data, their agreement is in force.
Article 12. The sending location shall be the location of the main business operations of the sender. The receiving location shall be the location of the main business operations of the receiver. If there is no main business operations location, the domicile will be considered the sending or receiving location.
If the parties have their own agreement on the sending and receiving locations of the electronic data, their own agreement is in force.
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