[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 16 (Friday, January 24, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 3729]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-1741]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice No. 2505]
Advisory Committee on Private International Law; Meeting of Study
Group on Electronic Commerce
The Study Group on Electronic Commerce of the Advisory Committee on
Private International Law (ACPIL) will hold its next meeting from 9:30
to 4:30 on Monday, February 10 in Washington, DC. The meeting will
review legal issues involved in new or proposed commercial and
governmental ``digital signature'' services, laws or regulations
enacted or proposed covering such services, as well as the relationship
of domestic initiatives on digital signatures to international
activities in this field.
The meeting will also focus on documents prepared by the
Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
(UNCITRAL), which will be discussed at an upcoming UNCITRAL Working
Group meeting at the UN in late February 1997. The Working Group will
consider whether the Commission should undertake work on international
legal standards for digital signatures, which can take the form of a
United Nations study of legal issues, model national laws, multilateral
treaty, or other types of international legal work. Recommendations
will be sought on the views the United States should set forth at the
Working Group meeting.
Topics to be discussed at the February 10th Advisory Committee
meeting will include the legal aspects and functions of digital
signatures, including various forms of electronic and computer-based
means of identifying and/or indicating authorizing sources for computer
messages; public key-private key and other infrastructure methods to
support digital signatures; verification methods and their legal
import; attribution, revocation, liability, etc. The meeting will also
focus on concepts of ``certifying authorities'' and other third-party
service providers, and the legal role of possible certifications of
signatures in digital form. Current developments in several States of
the United States, as well as foreign jurisdictions, will be
considered. Other issues will be considered as time permits.
The principal UN documents may be requested from the Office of the
Legal Adviser as indicated below, which include a report by the
Secretariat on ``Planning Future Work on Electronic Commerce: Digital
signatures, Certification authorities and related legal issues'', UN
Doc. A/CN.9/WP.71, Dec. 31, 1996, and the recently completed UNCITRAL
Model Law on Electronic Commerce, UN Doc. A/51/Supp.17, Annex I, Sept.
1996. The Model Law covers the legal effect and validity of computer
messages in commercial transactions, attribution of messages, time and
place where communications are deemed to have taken place and other
general matters, as well as special rules on electronic bills of
lading.
The meeting of the Advisory Committee Study Group is open to the
public up to the capacity of the meeting room. Members of the public
who cannot attend are welcome to comment on the referenced documents,
including any recommendations for possible U.S. positions on these
matters. The meeting will take place at the International Law Institute
(ILI), 1615 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Persons who
expect to attend should advise either the Office of the Legal Adviser
(L/PIL) at Suite 357 South Building, 2430 E Street, NW, Washington, DC
20037-2800, fax (202) 776-8482, or Stuart Kerr at ILI, (202) 483-3036,
fax 483-3029. Documents can be requested from the Office of the Legal
Adviser indicated above or from the UN. For further information please
contact Harold S. Burman, Advisory Committee Executive Director, at
(202) 776-8421.
Peter H. Pfund,
Advisory Committee Vice-Chair.
[FR Doc. 97-1741 Filed 1-23-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-10-M
