 The act contributes in making UK the best and safest place to electronic commerce.  Aims to build confidence in electronic communications.  Creates a legal framework for electronic commerce to thrive, both in the private and public sector.

 Electronic commerce has grown rapidly in recent years  By early 2004 about 90% of UK businesses had access to the internet and increasing numbers of these businesses are involved in e-commerce-ordering an paying online.

The act has three parts:  Cryptography Service Providers  Facilitation of electronic commerce, data storage and etc.  Telecommunications licenses and supplemental.

 The act provides confidence and trust in trading electronically with businesses.  It ensures that transmitted orders or invoices have not been altered and that they are from whom they appear to be from.  The act enables businesses to trust that others cannot access confidential/personal information.

 Even though the act means that digital signatures have been legally binding for many years, many people have never heard of them or are still suspicious about their use. It is likely to take many years before their use becomes acceptable and commonplace.  Areas such as conveyancing (buying a house) and writing a will are viewed by the public to be so important that it is unlikely that digital signatures will be introduced for quite a long time.  Many people still distrust the security of digital signatures. The very first official digital signature used after passing the Act was ‘hijacked’ within 24 hours of its creation.