Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(PHILEXPORT) to present
various insights on a particular subject relevant to the export industry. The articles, papers, and other
readings presented here were gathered from various sources and the views expressed do not necessarily
reflect those of PHILEXPORT, USAID, or The TAPS Project.
Atty. Disini is Managing Partner in the law firm of Disini & Disini, and is the principal drafter of the
Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 8792, otherwise known as the E-Commerce Law.
Ms. Toral is the founder of the Philippine Internet Commerce Society and was actively involved in
lobbying for the passage of the E-commerce Law.
The authors wish to acknowledge the use of materials prepared by Atty. Rodolfo Noel S. Quimbo on the
Senate deliberation with respect to the Senate deliberation on Senate Bill 1523.
Introduction
3
Declaration of Policy and Principles for Electronic Commerce Promotion
4
Electronic Commerce in General
10
Electronic Commerce in Carriage of Goods
28
Electronic Transactions in Government
31
Final Provisions
34
Annotations by
Atty. Jesus M. Disini, Jr.
Legislative History by
Janette C.Toral
Introduction.
T
he Electronic Commerce Act (Republic Act No. 8792; the Act) is by all means a
significant piece of legislation for the Philippines. As intended, the passage of the
Act has spurred investments in Information Technology projects and even a number of back-door listings
in the Philippine Stock Exchange. Interest in electronic commerce is at an all-time high and companies have
been forced to deal with the changes brought about by the New Economy.
It has been said, time and again, that in this new age, success will depend less upon the size of an
organization but the speed by which it can implement its plan and take the first-mover advantage. Andy Grove
of Intel has also been quoted as saying that in five years all companies will be Internet companies or not be
companies at all. From all indications, the Act has had the effect of driving these ideas into local companies who
have begun to examine themselves and their role in the New Economy.
It should be stressed that the passage of the Act is but the first step in the governments efforts to secure the
countrys place in the New Economy. Other contentious legal issues such as jurisdiction, digital signatures,
intellectual property, privacy, consumer issues, domain names, and others, were intentionally excluded from the
Acts purview and rightly so. If Congress were to discuss these issues and attempt legislation, it might unduly
delay the passage of the Act. Besides, many if not all of these issues remain unresolved even in developed
countries. To discuss them would only result in the same deadlock seen elsewhere. More importantly, to delay
the Acts passage would be to deny meeting its express goal the establishment of a secure legal framework
for electronic commerce.