FTC, Commerce Department seek feedback on digital signatures law

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Commerce Wednesday said they plan to hold a public workshop in early April on a provision of the new digital signatures law that requires companies to get consent from customers before using electronic documents in business dealings.

The agencies said the workshop, which is due to be held April 3 at the FTC's headquarters in Washington, is aimed at assessing "the benefits and burdens of the consumer consent provision" included in the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN). The bill was signed into law by former president Bill Clinton last spring and took effect in October.

The measure requires the FTC and the Commerce Department to study the potential effects of the consumer consent provision and submit a report on them to the U.S. Congress by the end of June. An FTC spokesman said the agencies want to learn if the consent requirement is working to protect individual consumers, as was envisioned.

But input will also be sought regarding whether the consent provision is causing any unnecessary burdens on companies or their customers, according to yesterday's announcement. In addition, the FTC and the Commerce Department plan to explore whether the absence of the provision would increase consumer fraud and whether any changes should be made to that part of the ESIGN bill.

ESIGN gives digital signatures the same legal weight as ones that are physically signed on paper documents. But the law requires that customers be able to choose whether they want to receive business documents electronically. It also stipulates that customers have to be provided with the proper software to ensure that they can receive and read documents sent in electronic form.

The FTC and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration division are also seeking written comments from e-commerce companies, consumer groups, law enforcement officials and other interested parties. All public comments made at the workshop or submitted in advance will be included in the final report to Congress, they said.

The April workshop is one of numerous such events that the FTC is holding to gather information about e-commerce issues and to make sure that companies are familiar with government regulations in areas such as data privacy and online retailing.

Last Friday, for example, the commission announced that it plans to hold a one-day workshop on March 13 to examine privacy issues raised by the exchange of consumer profiles and other personal information between different companies.

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