Same terms of use for electronic and paper documents

Draft Law on Electronic Document, which will be the subject of public discussion prior to April 3rd, stipulates that a document in electronic format should be used under the same terms as a paper document.

The Assistant to the Minister of Telecommunications of Serbia, Nebojša Vasiljević, said that the use of electronic documents without electronic signature would be possible in the cases when the signature was not necessary for paper documents.

As he explained at the meeting in the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, the Draft Law is technologically neutral, which means that it does not stipulate the technology of design of electronic documents.

Vasiljević estimated that Serbia also required the Law on Information Security, while the regulation of privacy and security in electronic communications should be done, according to the Action plan for development of telecommunications, in the last quarter of year 2009.

It was announced at the public discussion in the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia that the Draft Law had been written in accordance with the UN convention about use of electronic communications, as well as with the EU directives on electronic signature and electronic trade.

Participants in the public discussion have estimated that the text of the law should include the definition of terms that are used, and the representatives of the Ministry of Telecommunications have accepted that proposal.

Draft Law is published on the website of the Ministry of Telecommunications - http://www.mtid.gov.rs/naslovna.1.html, and, according to the announcement of the Minister of Telecommunications, Jasna Matić, the Government of Serbia should adopt that Law on April 16th.