"The Electronic Franchise Agreement [Became] Reality October 1"
Franchising World (10/00) P. 21; Klein, Deven; Koch, David

With the deadline for the pending Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN) passing its Oct. 1 implementation date, businesses will now be allowed to complete their contracting process online. E-SIGN legislation makes electronic records and electronic signatures as legally binding as ink signatures. Another unique trait about E-SIGN is that it is technology-neutral, meaning that it does not prefer any one technology over another, and disallows states from doing so. In addition, since the term "transactions" is broadly defined under E-SIGN, the licensing of intangibles is also covered under the legislation, thus opening the door for franchisers to take their contracting process to the Web.