This involves removal of obstacles such as paper-based requirements that discriminate against electronic data messages, signatures and records, said Gerold Herrmann, secretary at United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (Uncitral).

The necessary provision of ''e-quality'' based on media neutrality and functional equivalence needs to be prompt and certain to ensure reliability and predictability in the use of new medium, he said while addressing 43rd Congress of the International Association of Lawyers here which concluded today. Herrmann said e-commerce makes far more conspicuous the global nature of commerce and points to a clear paradox: we all speak of a global marketplace of a global village ... But a village where everyhouse still has its own law.

He said the Uncitral model law has been a significant influence on the development of laws aimed at ensuring a framework which removes legal obstacles and establishes a more secure legal environment for the development of e-commerce.

But there are two limitations to its application, he said. The first concerns consumer law. Although the model law was drafted without special attention to issues that may arise in the context of consumer protection.