A regular meeting of the Connecticut Law Revision Commission Electronic Communications Committee was held in Room 509A of the State Capitol Building in Hartford on Tuesday, April 18, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. Members present were: Garry Desjardins for Gary Hawes; Wanda Dupuy; Richard Hogan; Houston Putnam Lowry; Jo A. Roberts; Jacqueline Pennino Scheib; Fillis Stober and David Wiese.

Ms Roberts opened the meeting.

The members discussed Section 3, Scope. The members agreed that Articles 3, 4, 4A, 5, 8 and 9 of Connecticut’s Uniform Commercial Code should be excluded from coverage of the act.

The members then discussed additions to section 3(b)(4) proposed by Gary Hawes of the Attorney General’s Office. The members discussed generally the impact of electronic commerce on consumers and the need to protect those at greatest risk, balanced against the goal of facilitating electronic commerce and permitting parties who wish to conduct business electronically to do so. The discussion then focused on the proposed language which would exclude certain notices from the act, and thus require them to be given on paper. The members tentatively agreed that some notices of lesser consequence might be appropriately given electronically, while notices of more urgency, such as post-contract defaults, might be required to be in writing.

The members agreed to try to determine which notices to consumers are critical enough to be excluded from the act.

Several members volunteered to try to ascertain the status of legislation at the federal level that might pre-empt state legislation, including of House Bill 1714, which would exempt states that adopt the UETA from federal preemption.

Ms Scheib volunteered to speak to the chief information officer at her law firm, Robinson & Cole, to determine whether he would be willing to speak to the committee about various technologies currently being used in electronic commerce. She will contact Ms Roberts with further information.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting of the Electronic Communications Committee will be held on Tuesday, May 16 at 10:00 a.m. in Hearing Room 1B of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.

Respectfully submitted,

/S/

Jo A. Roberts
Reporter/Drafter