After section 14
insert
This Part applies to the use of electronic communications in connection with the formation or performance of a contract between parties where the proper law of the contract is (or would on its formation be) the law of the Territory, and so applies:
(a) whether some of or all the parties are located within Australia or elsewhere; and
(b) whether the contract is for business purposes, personal, family or household purposes or other purposes.
(1) This section applies to a proposal to form a contract that:
(a) is made through one or more electronic communications; and
(b) is not addressed to one or more specific parties; and
(c) is generally accessible to parties making use of information systems.
(2) The proposal is to be considered as an invitation to make offers, unless it clearly indicates the intention of the party making the proposal to be bound in case of acceptance.
(3) Subsection (2) extends to proposals that make use of interactive applications for the placement of orders through information systems.
(1) This section applies to a contract formed by:
(a) the interaction of an automated message system and an individual; or
(b) the interaction of automated message systems.
(2) The contract is not invalid, void or unenforceable on the sole ground that no individual reviewed or intervened in each of the individual actions carried out by the automated message systems or the resulting contract.
(1) This section applies in relation to a statement, declaration, demand, notice or request, including an offer and the acceptance of an offer, that the parties are required to make or choose to make in connection with the formation or performance of a contract.
(2) If:
(a) an individual makes an input error in an electronic communication exchanged with the automated message system of another party; and
(b) the automated message system does not provide the individual with an opportunity to correct the error;
the individual, or the party on whose behalf the individual was acting, has the right to withdraw the portion of the electronic communication in which the input error was made.
(3) However, the right of withdrawal of a portion of the electronic communication can be exercised only if:
(a) the individual, or the party on whose behalf the individual was acting, notifies the other party of the error as soon as possible after having learned of the error and indicates that he or she made an error in the electronic communication; and
(b) the individual, or the party on whose behalf the individual was acting, has not used or received any material benefit or value from the goods or services, if any, received from the other party.
(4) The right of withdrawal of a portion of the electronic communication is not of itself a right to rescind or otherwise terminate a contract.
(5) Any consequences of the exercise of the right of withdrawal of a portion of the electronic communication are to be determined in accordance with any applicable rule of law.
Note for section 14D
In some circumstances the withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication may invalidate the entire communication or render it ineffective for the purposes of contract formation (see paragraph 241 of the UNCITRAL explanatory note for the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts).
(1) Subject to subsection (2), sections 7 and 13 to 13B apply to the following in the same way as they apply to a transaction or electronic communication mentioned in those sections, and apply as if the words "For the purposes of a law of the Territory" were omitted:
(a) a transaction constituted by or relating to a contract;
(b) an electronic communication relating to the formation or performance of a contract.
(2) However, this Part (including subsection (1)) does not apply in relation to a contract to the extent that:
(a) Part 2 would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied; or
(b) a law of another State or Territory (that is in substantially the same terms as Part 2) would of its own force have the same effect as this Part if this Part applied.
Note for section 14E
This section applies provisions of Part 2 to contracts or proposed contracts to the extent that those provisions do not apply merely because they are expressed to apply in relation to a law of the Territory. This section also disapplies the provisions of Part 2A to the extent that Part 2 would apply of its own force. An example where Part 2 may not apply of its own force is where a contract is being negotiated in a State or Territory from a supplier located overseas.