Signature Provisions in the Amended Indian Information Technology Act 2000: Legislative Chaos

43 Common Law World Review (2014) 208-230

24 Pages Posted: 20 Mar 2016

See all articles by Hemali Shah

Hemali Shah

Monash University, Faculty of Law, Students

Aashish Srivastava

Monash University - Department of Business Law & Taxation

Date Written: January 16, 2014

Abstract

The Indian Parliament enacted the Information Technology Act (ITA) in 2000 to provide legal recognition to e-commerce and e-governance. The ITA, however, was heavily criticized for being technology-specific in nature and was therefore amended in 2008 to give it a technology-neutral status. The aim of this paper is to examine critically the provisions related to electronic signatures in the amended legislation by comparing them with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) model laws, the European Union Directive on Electronic Signatures and other electronic signatures legislation across the world. The paper concludes that, despite the amendments, the ITA is still a weak legislation, complex to understand, ambiguous and fails to address many aspects of electronic signatures usage. It is also an over-regulated legislation compared with similar legislation in other developing countries such as China and developed countries such as Australia, the UK and Singapore. Finally, the authors provide some recommendations, which can potentially address the shortcomings of the ITA.

Keywords: Electronic signatures, digital signature, India, Information Technology Act 2000

Suggested Citation

Shah, Hemali and Srivastava, Aashish, Signature Provisions in the Amended Indian Information Technology Act 2000: Legislative Chaos (January 16, 2014). 43 Common Law World Review (2014) 208-230, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2748441

Hemali Shah

Monash University, Faculty of Law, Students ( email )

Melbourne
Australia

Aashish Srivastava (Contact Author)

Monash University - Department of Business Law & Taxation ( email )

Caulfield Campus
Sir John Monash Drive
Caulfield East, Victoria 3084
Australia
99058418 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
392
Abstract Views
1,153
Rank
138,267
PlumX Metrics