ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT 1999 - SECT 15D Error in electronic communications regarding contracts

ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT 1999 - SECT 15D

  (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)   a natural person 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 person with an opportunity to correct the error;

the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has the right to withdraw the portion of the electronic communication in which the input error was made if:

  (c)   the person, or the party on whose behalf the person 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

  (d)   the person, or the party on whose behalf the person was acting, has not used or received any material benefit or value from the goods or services, if any, received from the other party.

  (3)   The right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section is not of itself a right to rescind or otherwise terminate a contract.

  (4)   The consequences (if any) of the exercise of the right of withdrawal of a portion of an electronic communication under this section are to be determined in accordance with any applicable rule of law.

Note:   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, done at New York on 23   November 2005).