Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Electronic Transactions (Contract Formation) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Electronic Transactions (Contract Formation) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16137. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): It is my privilege to stand in support of this bill. This bill the Electronic Transactions (Contract Formation) Amendment Bill is an excellent piece of work done by my colleague Paul Goldsmith. The purpose of thisbill is to provide some much-needed clarity on contracts and agreements that are accepted electronically or online. As more and more organisations look to offer their services online it is only natural that the legal agreement that two parties sign may well be signed electronically. Therefore it is imperative that the law is clear on such contracts and agreements so that the consumer is protected and the party offering the services is aware of its legal obligations.This National Government has always said that clear and predictable laws are the foundation for any modern economy to succeed. Furthermore it is no secret that markets prefer clarity and certainty from the Government in order to work with confidence and also to ensure that all parties to the transaction benefit. I congratulate my colleague Paul Goldsmith on introducing this bill and providing consumers and the market with certainty. This no doubt will increase the flow of business and make it easier for consumers to avail themselves of services. This will also attract more investment in different sectors with the clarity of this electronic contracts bill. The bill also fits in with the Government’s agenda for making public services more efficient. We have for instance initiated electronic passport renewal services electronic applications with Work and Income New Zealand filing one’s tax return online and renewing one’s worker licence online among a number of initiatives to make life for New Zealand consumers easy.We are also working proactively on providing ultra-fast broadband to all New Zealanders. This will no doubt revolutionise the way many businesses schools health care providers and communities operate. It will also overcome the tyranny of distance from the rest of the world and new applications and ways of doing things will be developed. The latest quarterly report on the Government’s ultra-fast broadband and rural broadband programme shows fibre roll-out to a further 4630 end-users across New Zealand during the 3 months to 31 December 2013. This means that more than 363000 end-users are now able to connect to ultra-fast broadband networks across New Zealand. This means that 27 percent of the project has been completed. Further fast broadband will provide prompt innovative and creative services to the consumer. It will also create new jobs and grow the economy.I would like to touch on the bill regarding the time of communication of acceptance of offer. Clause 5 of the bill relates to contract formation and as introduced it proposed inserting new section 32A to “explicitly state that an offer submitted electronically would be deemed to be accepted at the time of receipt of the acceptance by theofferor. … this could create a misapprehension that a ‘hard-wired’ rule applies; that an offer can be deemed to be accepted electronically ‘only at the time of receipt’.” The committee proposed amending clause 5 to insert new section 13A into the Act instead of new section 32A “to make it clear that this is a default rule instead of a rigid approach from which the parties would be unable to contract out.” A new section 13A(1) would ensure that the bill achieves its intended effect. Section 11 of the Electronic Transactions Act establishes the time an electronic communication is taken to be received. The amendment would make it clear that the time of receipt referred to under section 11 of the Act also applies to the acceptance of contract offers that are communicated electronically.The Commerce Committee received nine submissions and heard two submissions in person. The committee recommended that the bill be passed with amendments. The committee reported: “The bill seeks to amend the Electronic Transactions Act 2002 to clarify in legislation the time at which a contract is formed when the acceptance of the offer is communicated electronically. Contracts are generally understood to be formed at the time that the acceptance is communicated to theofferor. An exception emerged inAdams vLindsell; the ‘postal acceptance rule’ deems for offers accepted by post that acontract is formed at the time at which the acceptance was posted. Whether this rule could be extended to contract acceptances communicated electronically has not been tested in the courts. However if the ‘postal acceptance rule’ were used in an argument relating to electronic communication the bill would ensure that the general rule of contract acceptance applied.”It is the intention of this Government to provide better public services to New Zealanders and we have set a target of having an average of 70 percent of New Zealanders’ most common transactions with Government being completed in a digital environment by 2017. Ten transactions are being used to make progress towards the 70 percent uptake online. Renewal of adult passports—more than 125000 people have renewed their passports online since the launch of online adult passport renewals in November 2012. Other transactions include applying for a visa; applying for financial assistance to the Ministry of Social Development; applying for an Inland Revenue Department number; paying individual taxes; filing individual returns; paying fines like speeding tickets or any other tickets issued by the police which can be paid online; and paying a vehicle licence with the New Zealand Transport Agency. The experience of SmartGate for air travellers is a unique one. It is very convenient that you can just go to the SmartGate and you are processed without any hesitation. This has really brought New Zealand into the category of countries that have got modern technology available for their people travelling overseas.This Government wants to make sure that people have got all those facilities that they need in this modern world and we are committed to the development of this economy. We are proud of what this Government has done so far and we hope that we continue to grow this. I am really proud to be part of this Government led by the Rt Hon John Key who has ensured that in the past 5 years the economy has got back on track. When we received the economy in 2008 it was in a real shambles. We are proud that we have really made progress and we hope to continue doing this.Kris Faafoi: Now he’s adlibbing.KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: Sorry? I hope that this continues for 5 more years and we will make this country the top country in the OECD. Thank you.Bill read a second time.