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Federal Trade Commission and Commerce Department
Recommend That No Changes Be Made to Federal E-Sign Act
The federal E-Sign Act required the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce to evaluate the benefits and burdens of the "reasonable demonstration" requirement of the consumer consent provision of the federal E-Sign Act. In a joint report to Congress, the FTC and the Commerce Department have concluded that E-SIGN's reasonable demonstration requirement "appears to be working satisfactorily at this stage of the Act's implementation." The report recommends that "Congress take no action at this time to amend the statute."
The FTC/Commerce Department report also discusses the benefits to the public of E-Sign's consumer consent provisions, stating: "it is reasonable to conclude that, thus far, the benefits of the consumer consent provision of E-SIGN outweigh the burdens of its implementation on electronic commerce…It preserves the right of consumers to receive written information required by state and federal law. The provision also discourages deception and fraud by those who might fail to provide consumers with information the law requires that they receive."
The full report can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2001/06/esignreport.pdf. The FTC announced its 5-0 vote in favor of the report on June 27, 2001.
For a discussion of
how E-Sign and proposed state legislation can work together, see E-Sign and
UETA: What Should States Do Now? located at http://www.consumersunion.org/finance/e_sign.htm
or http://www.consumerlaw.org/e_sign.html.
See also, The Need to Protect Consumers -- Especially Low-Income Consumers --
from UETA located at http://www.consumersunion.org/finance/uetawc201.htm.
Consumers Union's West Coast Regional
Office
