16 • • 2.3.5 language referring to a number of copies to be filed, delivered, registered or record retention requirements language referring to “original” documents or “copies.” Generally, governments have taken the route of searching statutes, regulations and other subordinate legislation or rules having the force of law to identify paper-biased language. While it is possible to create piecemeal amendments to legislation to “neutralise” the language, the general approach has been to create a new statute or statutes (e.g., an “ECommerce Act”, an “Electronic Transactions Act” or an “Electronic Documents Act”) to create “equivalencies” of language. Thus, the new “Electronic Documents Act” might state something like: A legal requirement that a person provide information or a document in writing to another person is satisfied by the provision of the information or document in electronic form that is, (a) accessible by the other person so as to be usable for subsequent reference; and (b) capable of being retained by the other person.1 Or Where an enactment requires any information or record to be in writing, that requirement shall be satisfied by an electronic record, where the information contained therein is accessible so as to be usable for subsequent reference.2 2.3.6 A number of countries have now established legislation to deal with electronic documents and electronic commerce. Most legislation has been based or a greater or lesser degree on the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce (MLEC) and Model Law on Electronic Signatures..3 The purpose of the Model Law on Electronic Commerce is to offer national legislators a set of internationally accepted rules on how to remove obstacles to effective e-commerce and create a more stable legal environment for commerce carried out through electronic media. 1 Taken from the Ontario (Canada) Electronic Commerce Act, 2000, S.O. 2000, c.17, section 6(1). 2 Mauritius, Electronic Transactions Act, s. 6. ncb.intent.mu/mitt/ ministry/etb/etbp2.htm 3 www.uncitral.org/english.texts/electcom/ml-ecomm.htm The UNCITRAL Model Law is being subject to continual discussion and potential revision. For example, the Working Group on Electronic Commerce is in the process of developing a Model Law on Electronic Signatures, discussed in the text below.