House Considers Standardizing Electronic Signatures

WASHINGTON (AP) - Recognizing the rapid growth of electronic commerce, the House on Tuesday took up legislation that would give electronic signatures and records the same legal validity as written contracts. The legislation is ""perhaps the most important pro-technology vote that this Congress will take,"" said Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley, R-Va., the chief sponsor. The bill would establish a single, nationwide standard for electronic signatures and records. It would prohibit the enactment of any state law denying the legality of agreements that are electronically signed. The administration, while backing standards for contracts signed in electronic form, strongly opposes extending that legal authority to notices and disclosures, saying that could seriously undermine consumer rights.