CLICK HERE FOR FULL COPY OF THE UNCITRAL MODEL LAW FROM WHICH THE PHILIPPINES' OWN E-COMMERCE BILL WAS PATTERNED

IN CYBERSPACE, the lawyers can hear you scream.

While lawyers-not to mention lawmakers-might have a generally unsavory reputation, a legal framework is still needed to make e-commerce a reality. And with technology evolving ever more rapidly and the Net becoming even more pervasive, we will increasingly see the law struggling to catch up with new e-business realities.

"When I wear the hat of an entrepreneur, I think 'Why is there a need for cyberspace law?' if lawyers only slow things down. The bad news, however, is that we need lawyers even in cyberspace," said lawyer Josephine Victoria Tañada Yam, president of L@wyer.com Philippines Inc. (www.lawyer.com.ph) and granddaughter of the late Sen. Lorenzo M. Tañada.

Yam, a reactor at the "E-commerce@Ateneo_Rockwell" seminar at the Ateneo Professional Schools, is the country's first lawyer to specialize in and teach cyberspace law. L@wyer.com Philippines provides legal and consulting services to companies on e-commerce and information technology.

Moreover, Yam is also a technoprenuer herself, as co-founder of BackofficeAsia.com (www.backofficeasia.com).

According to Yam, the passage of the Philippine e-commerce bill in Congress would address important issues such as legal recognition of electronic documents and digital signatures, as well as enforcement of obligations under an electronic contract.

"That (passage of the e-commerce bill) will definitely be a big step in the right direction. The e-commerce law, which has been patterned after the UNCITRAL Model Law of Electronic Commerce, would provide a more secure legal environment for the accelerated growth of e-commerce," she told the Inquirer. "As we know, the use of electronic means of communication for the conduct of international trade transactions has been increasing exponentially. Communication of legally significant information in the form of paperless messages should not be hindered by legal obstacles to the use of such messages or by uncertainty as to their legal effect and validity. Our legislators would be doing a great public service to our country if they prioritize and immediately pass the e-commerce bill without any more delays."

UNCITRAL is the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law at www.uncitral.org. Through General Assembly Resolution 51/162 of Dec. 16, 1996, the UNCITRAL has adopted a model law on electronic commerce. In its thirty-first session in June 1998, UNCITRAL incorporated into the model e-commerce law Article 5 bis: "Information shall not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely on the grounds that it is not contained in the data message purporting to give rise to such legal effect, but is merely referred to in that data message."

Apart from the pending bill in Congress that aims to provide a legal framework, the present regulatory framework supposedly also has to be reexamined. Take the case of the convergence of data, voice and video on a single network, which is already a technological reality. Legal impediments in the Philippines, however, prevent full realization of convergence, according to some proponents. For instance, the Philippines has a constitutional ban on foreign ownership of broadcast and other media companies, and segregates telecommunications and broadcast services.

Does this mean, then, that the Philippines must overhaul some existing laws to help accelerate the growth of e-commerce?

"Yes. Most of our laws were made without contemplating e-commerce. Most of our laws are inadequate or outdated because they do not contemplate the rapidly changing global economy that e-commerce brings. Our inadequate legislation at the national level creates obstacles to international trade and commerce," Yam said.

She noted that basic goals of business in the digital revolution are efficiency and flexibility, or "the capacity to adapt quickly to a rapidly changing global environment."

Yam, however, explained that the law often does not meet these expectations because first, the law is intended to be reactive and soberly deliberate. Also, the law is supposed to be the last resort in the case of failure of more flexible and market-related solutions to problems.

Yam added that some business expectations of law may also mutually conflict, meaning that need for flexibility (fairness, cheapness and speed) may contradict the expectation of certainty (predictability and enforceability).

Still, though emphasizing the need for a new legal framework, Yam hastened to add that Philippine companies should not wait for the passage of the bill before venturing into e-commerce.