Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-25-Speech-1-054"
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"en.19991025.4.1-054"2
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"Mr President, European regulations are often accused of lacking balance; either they are too bureaucratic, or they only serve certain interests, or they are even ignorant of worldwide developments. I think that we can say now that here we have an excellent example of the opposite. In the area of the approximation of laws, we must always try to find the difficult balance between necessary harmonisation, on the one hand, and consideration for the legal traditions that have evolved in Member States over the years on the other. This is an outstanding example of balance. On the one hand, a small number of clearly defined regulations relating to the requirements pertaining to electronic signatures will be laid down. On the other, Member States will be able to decide in which cases to accord these signatures equal status with conventional declarations of intent such as hand-written signatures, written proof, or other documentary evidence.
At this point, I would like to comment particularly on proposed Amendment No 2 which clarifies the rather misleading wording in Article 5(1). I would now like to emphasise once again that it was also confirmed to us by all sides in the discussions that were held in Committee that it is not automatically permitted to substitute an electronic signature with a personal one for certain form requirements as laid down by individual Member States. National legislature will have a completely free hand in deciding in which cases electronic signatures will be afforded the same status as hand-written ones.
This directive is a good example of balance between the interests of commerce, on the one hand, and the consumer on the other. What we have here is a precise, straightforward rule that lays down only a few requirements. Look at the appendices for example. But we also have the necessary protection to make such agreements binding and to make the supplier liable.
Finally, it is also a good example of, on the one hand, systematic action by the European Union within its borders, in the internal market, but is, at the same time, a way of opening up towards international cooperation. We have here a clear framework which applies first and foremost within the EU, but we have also laid down in the text of the directive itself, and this is particularly noteworthy, an openness towards international regulations. One can see very clearly in exactly this area that in terms of harmonisation within the EU, we are currently at an intermediate stage of regulation. We have the national level, we have the European level, and recently the international regulations level has increasingly been making its presence felt in more and more areas. It is good that we are clarifying here that precisely in the area of new technologies, in the area of electronic commerce, we are prepared to address these issues on a worldwide scale. Of course, this will also have a central role to play when it comes to the WTO negotiations.
I am pleased that, as a new Member of this esteemed House, I have been able, in my maiden speech, to participate in a good piece of European lawmaking, and I hope that there will be broad agreement here with what I have said and that the Council of Ministers will not have any problems in adopting the directive."@en1
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