The British Columbia Electronic Transactions Act (the "Act") received Royal Assent under Bill 13-2001 and was bought into force on April 19, 2001. The Act is based on the Model Uniform Electronic Commerce Act that was adopted at the Uniform Law Conference of Canada in September 1999.
The Act further provides that a transaction cannot be declared invalid simply because it took place electronically. For instance, the Act further provides that information in electronic form is sent when it enters the information system outside the control of the originator.
The Act applies to government-to-government transactions, government-to-person transactions and person-to-person transactions.
Several other jurisdictions across Canada have enacted or have tabled similar legislation based upon the Model Uniform Electronic Commerce Act. These include:
- Ontario: Electronic Commerce Act, 2000, S.O. 2000 c.17, in force as of October 16, 2000;
- Quebec: an Act respecting the legal normalization of new information technologies (Bill 161), passed second reading in December, 2000;
- Manitoba: Electronic Commerce and Information Act, C.C.S.M. c. E5S, Parts 1, 2, 4, 5 & 7 in force as of October 23, 2000;
- Saskatchewan: Electronic Information and Documents Act, S.S. c. E-7.22, in force as of November 1, 2000;
- Nova Scotia: Electronic Commerce Act, S.N.S. 2000 c.26, in force as of December 1, 2000;
- Prince Edward Island: Electronic Commerce Act, Bill 25, in force as of May 15, 2001;
- Yukon: Electronic Commerce Act, S.Y. 2000, c.10, received assent on December 14, 2000 and will come into force upon proclamation.