The invention of internet commercial transactions and its increasing adoption as the preferred method of doing business around the globe has raised uncertainty not only in the minds of consumers and suppliers, but also in the minds of lawyers and the Courts regarding the applicable law and remedies for a potential lawsuit (Akomole, 2008).

Challenges regarding the applicability of traditional laws to electronic contracts arise partly due to:

–Novelty of electronic commerce

–Global framework within which they take place on the basis of domestically oriented principles.

Hence, it is necessary for the Internet and e-commerce to function in a trustworthy and certain online environment.

UNRELIABILITY OF THE RULE OF LAW IN E-CONTRACTS

–Since the internet commercial transactions are inevitably the potential driving force of growth in the country’s economy presently, it is imperative that, at the very least, rules governing it do not pose threats to restrict it but rather to create certainty and reliability to promote such contract actions.

LACK OF STANDARDS

–The solution to online commercial transactions or electronic contracts therefore lies in normative and well-established standards that provide adequate safeguards on which one can rely for potential lawsuits, resulting from breach of a commercial online contract, or to demand specific performance between the parties in respect of a particular contract.

UNCERTAINTY:

–The formation of electronic contracts and electronic commerce in the new technological age has brought with it world-wide legal uncertainty as to whether electronic contracts concluded by electronic means can be recognized as valid and enforceable agreements compared to the traditional paper-based method of writing and signing.