Prof. Xue Participated in UNCITRAL WG IV Meetings
The UNCITRAL Working Group IV (e-commerce), composed of all States members of the Commission, held its sixty-second session from 22 to 26 November 2021 through virtual meetings 5.5 hours every evening (UTC +8:00 Beijing time) Arrangements were made to allow delegations to participate in person at the Vienna International Centre and remotely. Prof. Xue led the delegates of CIETAC joined the WG meetings and took part in discussion of the draft Provisions on the Use and Cross-border Recognition of Identity Management and Trust Services.
The Working Group focused the discussions on the issues of terminology, trust services, liability, and cross-border recognition. Substantial progress was made in the consideration of those issues.
Regarding terminologies, the item of relying party is added along with other terms. The WG spent a long time to discuss the definition of e-ID and its correlation with authentication. Actually it refers to a process to achieve authentication, rather than the assured outcome. The WG clarified that it should be “e-ID services” not “systems” that should be used in the provisions. The WG discussed in-depth about liability of e-ID service providers and roughly agreed to add a paragraph on liability to relying party. With respect to subscribers’ obligation of notification of service providers, Prof. Xue suggested following modification, i.e. “the subscriber knows that the its access and use of the trust service has been compromised”. Cross-border recognition was another hotly debated issue. In conclusion, CB recognition can be achieved through either recognition ex ante or through ex post conclusion that the method used by the foreign trust service offers at least an equivalent level of reliability.
The draft Provisions are expected to be submitted to the Commission for discussion and approval in 2022.