Declaration of Will in Electronic Commerce Contracts under Iranian Law

Abstract

The declaration of will is one of the significant issues in electronic commerce contracts that, given the growing trend of electronic commerce, requires discussion and examination. Accordingly, the purpose of the present article is to study the declaration of will in electronic commerce contracts under Iranian law. This article is descriptive-analytical in nature and employs a library research method to address the subject under consideration. The findings indicate that the legislator has not restricted the expression of intent to any specific means. The general rule is that the chosen means must be accompanied by something that indicates the intention. The same applies to electronic contracts. Therefore, despite the real intent of the parties to an electronic contract, the electronic structure of the method of declaring intent entails its own specific characteristics. Although, from the perspective of the parties who have based their will on electronic formation, its intrinsic validity is preserved and respected, from the perspective of the law and for the regulation of legal protections and the creation of a balance between the interests and rights of the parties, the form of conclusion of electronic contracts and the manner of expressing intent through them must be recognized and legally protected. Since a data message is not considered a “writing” or a “signature,” electronic commerce laws have been compelled to regard a data message as equivalent to a signature and writing. Regarding the formation of an agreement, the general rules governing contracts, to the extent that they are compatible with the nature of electronic contracts, also apply to this type of contract. In relation to offers, the specific nature of electronic contracts requires that the announcements posted on websites be considered an invitation to make an offer.