The Constitutional Court reviewed some of the articles of Law 527 of 1999, which constitutes the legal basis for the development of the e-commerce in Colombia. This study was undertaken by the Court in its Decision C-662 of June 8th, 2000. In this decision, various articles of the Law which had been objected by a local citizen were declared constitutional. In this above mentioned decision, the Court confirmed the evidence value of data messages and digital signatures as well as the importance of the certification entities.

The law suit aimed to declare unconstitutional the provisions of the Law that grant certification entities the power to certify digital signatures. According to the plaintiff, only public notaries are entitled to do so pursuant to Article 131 of the Political Constitution. Moreover, the plaintiff considered that evidence value of electronic data messages can only be established by means of a statutory law. In its decision the Court rejected the plaintiff's claims and declared the constitutionality of the articles under review.

In its decision the Court pointed out the following:

Electronic Data Message

  • Law 527 is not exclusively intended to regulate modern telecom practices, but rather intends to be useful by integrating all future technological leads.
  • The electronic data messages as such must receive the same treatment as the documents on paper support i.e., receive a similar juridical efficiency because they include similar criteria as a document. They are able to provide same security level as paper and, in most cases, provide better confidence and a more important speed level, especially regarding the origin identification and the data content, provided that the juridical and technical requirements set forth in the law are fulfilled.
  • One of the electronic data message main characteristics is that it is a mean of evidence of the existence and the parties willingness to commit themselves; it is a readable document that can be presented before public entities and judicial courts; it authorizes its storage and unalterable nature over time; facilitates review and subsequent audit for accounting, tax and regulatory purposes; asserts juridical rights and obligations between parties and it is available for subsequent consulting.

Digital Signatures

The objective is to guarantee that a data message comes from a determined person, using digital signature ; that such a message was not modified since its creation and transmission, and that the recipient was unable to modify the received message. In this respect the following digital signature functions must be taken into account :

  1. Identify a person as the author;
  2. Confirm the exclusive participation of such person in the signature;
  3. Associate such person with the document's content.

Certification Entities

  • Certification entities carry out one of the important components related to the traditional public faith functions of notaries. Indeed as it is the case for the latest, they involve the protection of the trust that the community has in the use of electronic communication media as well as in its evidence value. In this respect, they appear as a safe and trustworthy mechanism and, as a result, they will facilitate relationships between parties.
  • These entities technically certify that a data message meets all essential characteristics to be considered as such: trust, authenticity, integrity and non-repudiation. This last element is constituted by the technical process that guarantees that the initial sender of a message cannot disregard the sending of a determined information.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide but specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.