The ESCWA Cyber Legislation Digest resulting environment was called e-Commerce (often termed the virtual marketplace or emarketplace). Transaction volumes, user counts and the number of commercially based websites rose exponentially, and are still rising. With the rise of competition and the need to reach customers faster, consumers were often left in a vulnerable situation. This was exacerbated by cross-border commerce often resulting in conflicting legal requirements. The need for a “virtual” legal framework as robust as the traditional paper based laws and regulations became crucial for the progress and development of the international marketplace. The issues researched and addressed by this directive include: 1. Electronic commercial messages and communications. This covers the use of electronic mail and notifications including their source and date-time stamps. Also covered are issues related to spamming as well as laws that protect consumers using such facilities. 2. Electronically based contracts. This covers issues related to the legal recognition of such contracts as well as issues related to electronic messages used when developing such contracts. Also addressed are issues related to the price fixing and allowing consumers to cancel transactions. 3. Codes of conduct and resorting to non-judiciary resolution of disputes and judicial recourses, such as web based arbitration or rulings. This directive identifies four chapters as follows: Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3: Chapter 4: General Provisions Commercial Electronic Messages and Letters Electronic Contracts Final Provisions Their related sections and articles are listed in Appendix A. Directive 4: The Processing and Protection of Personal Data With growing concern over human rights, the private and personal data of individuals has naturally become a topical issue. This has been further emphasized by progress in crossborder global communications, the ability of such supporting systems to store and exchange large amounts of data and the increasingly obvious commercial value of such data. One of the earliest laws covering the processing and protection of personal data was issued in France in 1987. It was later expanded and adopted by the European Council in 1981. The need for a legal framework to protect individuals and regularize the processing of their private and personal data was one of ESCWA’s main concerns. The issues researched and addressed in this directive include: 15