Electronic commerce and digitalised signatures are the future for international trade. So involved are the major trading countries that international organisations such as UNCTAD are eager to ensure that developing countries do not fall behind and miss the opportunities before them.

To this end. Mahin Faghfouri, head of the legal department of the Division for Services Infrastructure for Development and Trade Efficiency at UNCTAD, Geneva is working hard to ensure that users in developing countries have the legal confidence to carry out transactions with hitherto unknown trading partners.

"Developing countries cannot afford to fall behind if their partners are using electronic commerce. If they do they will end up being excluded from international deals," said Mahin.

"To make electronic commerce work, to have the maximum benefit and potential, the user needs confidence and certainty that the method of contract transaction is valid and enforceable, or the potential user hesitates to get involved," she added.

UNCTAD and interested parties are using a model law produced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law in Vienna, which provides a framework for countries developing their own electronic commerce legislation.

"We do not need totally new laws, just enabling legislation which would validate and recognize electronic transactions," said Mahin.

She added that there should be resistance to over-regulating electronic commerce and noted that as technology is still developing all concerned have emphasized that whatever legislation is put in place it should not be tied to a Particular technology.

Subsequently, UNCTAD is eager to utilize both private and public sector expertise, and to this end UNCTAD has set up a partnership with Baker & McKenzie, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and the network of law firms co-operating with PricewaterhouseCoopers, to promote a favourable legal environment for electronic commerce in developing countries.

Another crucial aspect of UNCTAD'S work is training.

"If you have technology and legislation it is pointless if you do not understand how it works," Dr. Fagfouri said, adding that it could take several more years before legislative work on international electronic trade transactions will be complete.