Electronic Contracts and Electronic Commercial Documents

This list does not attempt to be exhaustive. It provides links to sources we have found particularly useful, and to other more comprehensive lists of sources on the subject.

Elsewhere off this site: Electronic Commerce compendium

ebXML The UN and OASIS effort: "Creating a Single Global Electronic Market"

Monthly Archives for ebxml-awareness

Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML) The XML Cover Pages by Robin Cover  

XAML (Transaction Authority Markup Language) "vendor neutral that enables the coordination and processing of online transactions in the rapidly developing in the rapidly emerging world of XML web services" backed by Hewlet Packard, IBM, Oracle, and Sun. XAML Cover Page FAQ

Bolero *

Bolero backed by about 120 banks and logistics firms is trying to set up a global standard that would be accepted by governments, shippers, and banks. In doing so the plan to tackle such age old legal concepts as the bill of lading. Bolero plans to use an encrypted communication network to shuffle documents around the world, a process that's now hampered by incompatible computer systems and bureaucrats. Bolero is owned 50-50 by the TT Club, a body that (insures &) represents the world's port authorities and logistics operators; and S.W.I.F.T. - the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a bank-owned cooperative that supplies messaging services and software to 6,000 financial institutions in 175 countries. Between them, the two organisations have 12,500 members who in turn deal with nearly every company that conducts cross-border trade - the two organizations represent the most powerful players in international trade, including some of the world's biggest banks and shipping companies. Bolero went live on September 27, 1999. Bolero.net should enable companies worldwide to make dramatic savings in their trading costs. There are four distinct categories, basic, corporate, enterprise and premier, to meet the needs of all users according to company size and the volume of trade conducted, with charges starting from $2000. See Unclogging International Trade by David Clarke 8.Jul.99.PDT

eOriginal Electronic Original (Steven Bisbee). From 1999

"eOriginal, Inc. has developed and markets, under two U.S. patents, a fully integrated transaction system that delivers the trusted means for producing electronic documents that are unique, secure and reliable for all business and legal purposes. The company's product suite, marketed as eOriginal, enables the creation of the Electronic Original."