Law / Canada / Nova Scotia
Electronic Commerce Act, electronic contracts
archived copy
Read from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived . Publisher's page: https://nslegislature.ca/legc/bills/58th_1st/3rd_read/b061.htmIn force since .
A contract terms of service (ToS) rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Contract terms
As of .
What it requires
- Treat an offer, an acceptance or another matter material to a contract that is expressed by an electronic document, or by touching or clicking on an appropriately designated icon or place on a computer screen, or otherwise communicating electronically in a manner intended to express it, as capable of forming a contract, unless the parties agree otherwise (s. 21(1)).
- Do not assume that a contract is denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic document was used in its formation (s. 21(2)).
- Treat a contract formed by the interaction of an electronic agent and a natural person, or by the interaction of electronic agents, as capable of binding the parties (s. 22).
- If your electronic agent deals with natural persons, give them an opportunity to prevent or correct an error in an electronic document; where it does not, the document has no legal effect if the person notifies you of the material error as soon as practicable, takes reasonable steps to return any consideration, and has used or received no material benefit from it (s. 23).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
What this law does
Unless the parties agree otherwise, an offer or the acceptance of an offer, or any other matter that is material to the formation or operation of a contract, may be expressed by means of an electronic document or by an action in electronic form, including touching or clicking on an appropriately designated icon or place on a computer screen or otherwise communicating electronically in a manner intended to express it.
A contract must not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely by reason that an electronic document was used in its formation. A contract may be formed by the interaction of an electronic agent and a natural person or by the interaction of electronic agents. An electronic agent is a computer program or any electronic means used to initiate an action or to respond to electronic documents or actions in whole or in part without review by a natural person at the time of the response or action.
An electronic document made by a natural person with the electronic agent of another person has no legal effect and is not enforceable if the person made a material error in it and the electronic agent did not provide an opportunity to prevent or correct the error, together with the other conditions in section 23. The Act does not limit the operation of any law of the Province that expressly authorizes, prohibits or regulates the use of electronic documents.
The Legislative Counsel's consolidated text of the Act shows sections 20 to 23 with only their original enactment as history, and no amendment. The Act came into force on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web.