What is an electronic contract?

Electronic contract is one of the written contract forms stipulated in People's Republic of China (PRC) Civil Code (People's Republic of China (PRC) Contract Law), which refers to an agreement reached by two or more parties through electronic information network to establish, modify and terminate certain civil rights and obligations.

Electronic contracts include services such as identity authentication, digital certificate, electronic signature, time stamp, certificate preservation and legal support. They have the same legal effect as paper contracts, but unlike paper contracts, electronic contracts can be initiated, signed, filed and managed online at any time without printing.

Simply put, an electronic contract refers to a contract form that participants always sign online and has the same legal effect as a paper contract.

E Qian Bao electronic contract (source: e Qian Bao)

According to the requirements of Electronic Signature Law for reliable electronic signature, as long as those four elements are met, it can be regarded as a reliable electronic signature in accordance with the law: (1) Whether the digital certificate belongs to the electronic signer; (2) Whether the contract is signed by an electronic signer; (3) Whether any changes in the signed electronic signature can be found; (4) Whether the person who signed the electronic document and the change can be found.

That is, true identity, true will, unchanged signature and original text.

Finally, the electronic contract industry standards mainly include the following categories for reference:

GB/T 36298-20 18 electronic contract conclusion process specification, GB/T 363 19-20 18 electronic contract basic information description specification and GB/T 36320-20 18 third-party electronic contract service platform function construction specification.

Among them, the Electronic Contract Signing Process Specification regulates the electronic contract signing, electronic contract inquiry/download/verification and other links. , and provides a standardized implementation standard for the construction and development of the third-party electronic contract service platform, the activities of two or more parties signing electronic contracts through the third-party platform, and the business of signing electronic contracts in other ways.