The increased use of the Internet and other computer networks has changed the way enterprises earn and spend money, as well as organize business. Companies have moved a significant part of transactions in goods and services to the electronic environment in such a way as to enhance the importance of e-commerce for the entire economy.
According to data available at Eurostat, one-fourth of companies are using computer networks to make purchases, and one in 10 make online sales. Although the figures in the Baltic states are considerably lower (e.g., online sales constitutes only 8, 6 and 1 percent of all sales in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia respectively), the importance of e-commerce is increasing.
But e-commerce relationships require a consistent regulatory approach. In Lithuania, the Law on Information Society Services, which entered into force on July 1, 2006, provides the regulatory background for e-commerce. In accordance with its provisions, e-commerce is defined as information society services that are provided distantly using electronic means at the individual request of users of such services. The law envisages that the provider of information society services that is not established in the Republic of Lithuania but in another member state of the European Union will be entitled to the provision of services without any limitations of the applicable law with the exceptions provided (Article 4).
According to Article of the Law on Information Society Services, the provider of the services must ensure that the user of services and the competent state institutions would have free, continual and direct access to the following information:
1) the name of the service provider; 2) the address of the service provider; 3) the contact for the communications, including the e-mail; 4) the information in which state register the service provider is registered and its registration number; 5) the name of the institution controlling the activities of the service provider; and 6) VAT payer code if the service provider is registered as VAT payer.
The law also provides regulatory background for concluding electronic contracts. The law envisages that the service provider must inform the user of the services about the sequence of steps necessary to conclude the contract, about the possibility to familiarize with the contract after its conclusion, about the technical means to correct the errors before placing the order, and about the language in which the contract will be concluded. The provider of information society services must confirm the receipt of the order to the user of the services immediately after the order has been placed.
The law entitles the service provider to choose the ethic codes that will guide the provision of the information society services. The requirements of such declared ethic codes are obligatory to service providers. The ethic codes are prepared by professional and business associations representing the interests of services providers. Such ethic codes should be prepared in Lithuanian, English and in at least one more official language of the European community. The ethic codes should be presented to the Information Society Development Committee under the Government of the Republic of the Lithuania, which publishes them on its own Web site www.ivpk.lt.
This committee is the main institution regulating the provision of information society services and activities of service providers. The committee controls the implementation of the Law on Information Society Services and provides the information related to e-commerce to EU institutions. The Information Society Development Committee informs the European Commission about the types of contracts that are not permitted to be concluded electronically. The committee is also responsible for preparing a report on the exemptions from the list of types of contracts that are permitted electronically. Such a report is given to the Lithuanian government for approval and provided to the EC afterward.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the regulation of information society services must observe, among other basic principles, the principles of non-discrimination of the electronic form, technological neutrality and functional equality, freedom of contract and inducement of self-regulation.
Tomas Ivanauskas is an advocate
and an associate lawyer at
Jurevicius, Balciunas & Bartkus,
a member of Baltic Legal Solutions,
a pan-Baltic integrated legal network
of law firms including Teder, Glikman & Partnerid in Estonia and Kronbergs & Cukste
in Latvia, dedicated to providing
a quality "one-stop shop" approach
to clients' needs in the Baltics.
