Electronic signature becomes law

BERLIN, Germany -- Parliament on Friday approved a new law authorising electronic signatures in Internet transactions.

The upper house followed the lower chamber by voting in favour of the new legislation, which is in line with a European Union directive.

"The law pushes open the gates of Europe for wide application of electronic signatures," Economics Minister Werner Mueller said after the measure passed.

"We are not the first to implement the EU-directed signature law, but we are building on the basis of an old signature law which gives us a remarkable head start of experience to put into use."

The new measure seeks to set a safe standard and help increase trade over the Internet.

The lack of a standard for digital signatures has limited businesses in many areas under the previous law.

Turnover from online transactions totalled $230 million last year, according to the economics ministry. It expects that online trading will double each year for the next three years.

Reuters contributed to this report.

It's dot.com, not dot.bomb
Oct. 24, 2000

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