The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws has worked for the uniformity of state laws since 1892. It is a non-profit unincorporated association, composed of state commissions on uniform laws from each state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A list of states that have accepted UETA can be found at and at the . While three states have not adopted UETA, they do have laws recognizing electronic signatures. Before adoption of this Act, most states required banks to retain physical copies of all checks they process. Obviously, keeping these checks in electronic form only would vastly simplify storage and access concerns for banks. UETA aims to rectify this by streamlining and unifying these laws to allow for electronic retention. In much the same fashion, UETA addresses the need to retain paper copies of other records and contracts, effectively giving legally binding status to electronic documents and signatures.
Breakdown of the law
;Definitions are given in Section 2 namely: ;Section 3 gives the scope of the Act ;Section 4 states that the Act "...applies to any electronic record or electronic signature created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored" ;Section 5 states that transactions are not required to be in electronic form and 5 states: This applies only to transactions between parties each of which has agreed to conduct transactions by electronic means. Whether the parties agree to conduct a transaction by electronic means is determined from the context and surrounding circumstances, including the parties' conduct. ;Section 6 - The application and intended purpose of the Act is listed. Namely "to facilitate and promote commerce and governmental transactions by validating and authorizing the use of electronic records and electronic signatures" ;Section 7 gives legal recognition to electronic signatures, records and contracts ;Section 8 provides that the information be available to all parties. ;Section 9 discusses the attribution and effect of electronic record and electronic signatures ;Section 10 defines the conditions if a change or error in an electronic record occurs in a transmission between parties to a transaction. ;Section 11 This Section permits a notary public and other authorized officers to act electronically, effectively removing the stamp/seal requirements. ;Section 12 states that the requirement of "retention of records" is satisfied by retaining an electronic record ;Section 13 "In a proceeding, evidence of a record or signature may not be excluded solely because it is in electronic form." ;Section 14 discusses automated transactions. ;Section 15 defines the "Time and Place" aspects of electronic transmissions. ;Section 16 outlines transferable records ;Section 17-19 have been bracketed as optional provisions to be considered for adoption by each State. Among the barriers to electronic commerce are barriers which exist in the use of electronic media by State governmental agencies - whether among themselves or in external dealing with the private sector.
