eContracting

eContracting supports the electronic negotiation process by creating standards for the production of a legal document with a digital signature. Section 5.1 describes the electronic negotiation process and the requisite activities for it. Generic services must be made available for negotiation, validation, signing, transactions, archiving, and arbitration (Sect. 5.2). In Sect. 5.3, asymmetric coding procedures are discussed, the digital signature is described, and the utility of trust centers is explained. Section 5.4 describes how electronic contracts can be administered using XML. The legal rights of an information society are summarized in Sect. 5.5. Section 5.6 provides literature references in this field.