Electronic contracts are regulated under Presidential Decree No. 202/11 of July 22.

Argentina has ratified the WIPO conventions applicable to online content and practices. However, enforcement of these conventions is weak.

The Copyright Act provides a safe harbor regime for service providers (or "carriage service providers," as defined in the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth)), which limits their liability for copyright infringement by their customers (ie, liability by authorizing the infringing acts of their customers). Service providers must satisfy certain criteria in order to be protected by this scheme. Recent case law has left open the possibility of service providers being found to have authorized copyright breaches through a failure to act against infringing customers.

Copyright holders may issue "take down notices" to internet service providers (ISPs) if, on reasonable grounds, they believe that there is infringing material located on a webpage or network that is under the control of the ISP. Upon recipient of this notice, the ISP is required to immediately remove or block the content and issue an infringement notice to the individual or entity that posted the material.

The E-Commerce Act (E-Commerce-Gesetz) provides limitations of liability for the providers of routing, search engine, caching, hosting and linking services under specific requirements in case of infringements.

Book XII "Law of the Electronic Economy" CEL provides several additional requirements regarding the information to be provided to conclude online agreements, including information about the service provider and the languages in which the agreement can be concluded.

Federal Decree No. 7,962/2013 establishes several rules for e-commerce. There is certain information that must be included on the website (eg, supplier's name, address for contact, information on additional and ancillary costs included in the price) and the supplier shall comply with certain obligations in order to make the purchase process easier to the customer (eg, to include a summary of the contract highlighting the clauses that may limit any right and to maintain an electronic consumer attendance service). In addition, Federal Law No. 10,962/2004, modified by Federal Law No. 13,455/2017, establishes rules for price disclosure in e-Commerce (eg, font size and position of the price).

In 2015, Brazil enacted Federal Law No. 12,965 on Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (Marco Civil da Internet) and its Decree No. 8,771/16, dated May 11, 2016. This federal law stipulates the following:

• Brazilian law and jurisdiction will be applicable if one of the parties engaged in the relation or service is located in Brazil

• Internet service providers shall be liable for 3rd parties’ content if such 3rd party does not comply with a court's orders (eg, for removal of content). If the infringing content is of sexual character, the Internet application (site) subsidiarily begins to respond for violation of privacy and may be liable, along with the author of the offense, for crimes such as violation to the honor or disclosure of secret, in case it does not remove the content when directly notified by the victim.

• A service or webpage may be shut down, by court order, if it does not comply with the law
• Collection of data must be strictly related to the purposes of the collection and may not be shared or transferred to 3rd parties without prior consent of the individual on this regard or by another applicable legal basis, in accordance with the Brazilian General Personal Data Protection law (Federal Law 13,709/2018)

Generally speaking, the common law system has attempted to adapt contract principles to online transactions. However, different provinces have enacted a variety of consumer protection statutes that may modify or define the basis upon which an online transaction may be carried out. For instance, in Ontario it is necessary to consider the provisions of the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 and the Consumer Protection Act.

The law for the protection of consumers (Law 19.496) imposes certain conditions on the conduct of online sales.

Law 17.336 on Intellectual Property furthermore provides safe harbor provisions for a limitation of liability for service providers on the internet when the copyrights are infringed by 3rd parties (eg, users) requiring service providers comply with certain conditions. These vary depending on the type of service provider.

There are no specific regulations regarding online intellectual property protection. The general laws for industrial and intellectual property, as well as data privacy, apply.

In the event of intellectual property infringement online, if an internet service provider (ISP) solely offers hosting services without creating webpage content (such as e-commerce websites), they are obligated to remove the content upon being notified of the infringement. Failure to do so may render the ISP liable for the infringement. However, if the infringing content is neither stored on the ISP's servers nor have they been informed of what content should be removed, the ISP will not be held liable for the infringement.

From the content monitoring and management perspective, any person using networks must not generate or distribute content that could incite subversion of national sovereignty; overturn the socialist system; incite separatism; break national unity; advocate terrorism or extremism; advocate ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination; disseminate violent, obscene, or sexual information; create or disseminate false information to disrupt the economic or social order; or information that infringes on the reputation, privacy, intellectual property or other lawful rights and interests of others. If the parties’ cooperation involves the generation or distribution of any online content, there should be proper clauses in the commercial contract (eg, representatives and warranties, indemnities, etc.) addressing the parties’ role and specific responsibilities.

Colombia has robust legislation on data privacy, which means that any internet interaction shall comply with the current regime on data privacy. This also means the website shall request data subjects’ consent for their data process and shall implement a privacy policy and an information security policy.

Law 1450 of 2011 has recognized the principle of neutrality, which dictates that users may use, send, receive, and offer content, services or apps that are not illicit. In this regard, Resolution 3502 of 2011 of the Ministry of Telecommunications (MINTIC) determines that internet contents are governed by 4 principles:

• Free Choice: the user may use, send, receive, or offer any content, unless they are forbidden by the law or by the order of a judicial authority
• No Discrimination: the network providers shall provide equal treatment to the content, apps and services without any arbitrary discrimination
• Transparency: the network providers shall reveal their users' traffic management policies and the providers who may access their network and
• Information: the network providers shall provide to users the information regarding the services provided.

Without limiting the aforementioned, Colombia does not have a specific regulation regarding intellectual property protection online and, thus, the applicable law for online content issues is the one that governs intellectual property in general as well as data privacy and the infringement of the right to intimacy and to a good name. In any case, the information and contents shared on the internet may not violate the law.

Not applicable for this jurisdiction.

As a main rule, service providers are not held liable for intellectual property right infringements due to their transmitting, routing or providing of connection to infringing content. However, certain requirements must be fulfilled.

Service providers may be subject to interim injunctions if they provide a connection to infringing content.

Not applicable.

Specific rules apply when consumers are concerned, such as the requirement to put in place a double-click system when a consumer makes a purchase online or the obligation to provide consumers with certain mandatory information via a durable medium (ie, in a PDF document or in the content of an email). In any event, the French Consumer Act (Loi Hamon) of March 17, 2014 has implemented European Directive 2011/83/EU dated October 25, 2011 on consumer rights. Thus, the rules applicable to agreements with consumers concluded online are, to a certain extent, similar in all European Union countries, save any local specificity.

Law no. 2023-451 of June 9, 2023, on the regulation of commercial influence and on the fight against the abuses of influencers on social networks has been promulgated. Prior to this text, there was no legal framework applicable specifically to influencers. Promotions aimed at the French public have to contain specific provisions depending on their content (sponsored, modified, virtual). To better inform their subscribers, influencers have to clearly indicate the mention "advertising" or "commercial collaboration" on their promotional content.

As a general rule, a host service provider is not liable for copyright-infringing content provided by others, provided that it does not have actual knowledge of the illegal content or, in case it gained knowledge of the illegal content, has immediately removed or blocked the illegal content. However, the host service provider is obliged to take the appropriate technical measures to credibly and effectively prevent copyright infringements on its platform.

The Copyright (Amendment) Ordinance 2022  came into effect on May 1, 2023 and has introduced a safe-harbor provision for online service providers in respect of copyright infringement which occurs on online service platforms.

The safe-harbor provision limits online service providers’ liability for subscribers’ copyright infringement acts on their service platforms. Online service providers would not be liable for damages or any other pecuniary remedy for such infringement if they satisfy the below conditions:

(i)              the service provider has taken reasonable steps to limit or stop the infringement as soon as practicable after it received notice/became aware of the infringement, or became aware of any facts or circumstances that would lead inevitably to the conclusion that infringement had occurred

(ii)            the service provider has not received, and is not receiving, any financial benefit directly attributable to the infringement

(iii)           the service provider accommodates and does not interfere with the standard technical measures that are used by copyright owners to identify or protect their copyright works and

(iv)           the service provider designates an agent to receive notices of alleged infringements and supplies the agent's name and contact details on its service.

That said, online service providers are not required to monitor their services or actively seek facts that indicate infringing activity, except to the extent consistent with standard technical measures of copyright owner. Going forward, it is anticipated that the Hong Kong government will address the operational details and give practical guidance to online service providers in relevant voluntary code of practice.

There are special provisions regarding the liability of intermediary service providers for the transmitted illegal content. In given circumstances, they shall not be liable. This in many cases includes complying with notice and takedown requests from rights holders.

Intermediaries (eg, websites and internet service providers) may shield themselves from liability arising due to 3rd-party content, by taking certain statutory measures as required under the IT Act, read with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules). In order for an intermediary to shield itself, an intermediary should establish that it did not (a) initiate the transmission, (b) select the receiver of the transmission, or (c) select or modify the information contained in the transmission.

In addition, the IT Rules place specific requirements on intermediaries, including but not limited to requiring that intermediaries ensure (to the extent possible) that its users do not post prohibited content, and, where prohibited user content is posted on the platform, that its users adequately address grievances and take down content in the manner prescribed under the IT Rules. The IT Rules have also identified social media intermediaries (SMIs), including those SMIs with a higher user base (significant social media intermediaries), where these intermediaries are expected to adhere to an increased level of precaution and compliance obligations.

Separately, the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, govern the sale and purchase of goods to consumers on e-commerce platforms.These E-Commerce Rules expect both sellers of products and entities providing platforms for sale to provide certain necessary product information to consumers, uphold necessary consumer rights and redress consumer grievances.

Additionally, the Consumer Protection Authority of India’s Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022 (Advertisement Guidelines) also place compliance obligations on entities hosting advertisements in all formats and mediums, including online. The Advertisement Guidelines include requirements to ensure safe advertising and prohibit misleading, surrogate and bait advertisements. 

Recently, the Central Consumer Protection Authority of India issued the Guidelines on Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023 (Dark Pattern Guidelines). The Dark Pattern Guidelines apply to all sellers, advertisers and platforms offering goods and services in India. Such entities are prohibited from engaging in the 13 "dark patterns" specified in Annexure I of the Dark Pattern Guidelines. “Dark patterns” are manipulative practices or deceptive design patterns in the user interface or user experience and choice architectures of a platform that subvert or impair user autonomy, influence decision making and work to the detriment of users.

Indonesia has adopted Budapest Convention on Cybercrime through Law Number 11 of 2008 on Electronic Information and Transaction as lastly amended by Law Number 1 of 2024 on the Second Amendment of Law Number 11 of 2008 (EIT Law).

The statutory regime governing online content in Ireland generally derives from European law. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2022, the general principles of consumer law apply to contracts for the provision of digital content or digital services. In addition to this, the EU Digital Services Act places general obligations on digital service providers (including social media platforms, online marketplaces and app stores). These obligations aim to ensure transparency and accountability on how these online service providers moderate content and advertise, for example, by prohibiting targeted advertising towards children.

There are no specific requirements under Israeli law for online terms, which are considered to be a contract with all its implications (conditional upon the fulfillment of all elements under law required for the creation of a contract between 2 or more parties).

However, online terms may be deemed to be a standard contract under Israeli Standard Contracts Law (ie, a contract, the terms of which have been pre-determined by one party in order for them to be used in several agreements between that party and an undetermined and unspecified number of other parties). The consequence of an agreement being determined to be a standard contract by the court is that the court might strike out unfairly prejudicial terms contained within the contract (and in such case, any action by a party in accordance with such term might give rise to claims for breach of contract or tortious acts).

Examples of clauses which are presumed to be unfairly prejudicial under the Israeli Standard Contracts Law:

• A condition denying or limiting a right or remedy available to the customer ("a person to whom a supplier offers an engagement to which a standard contract applies, whether such customer is the receiver or the giver of anything") under law.
• A condition imposing the burden of proof on a person who would not have to bear it but for that condition.
• A condition which denies or limits the customer's right to make certain pleas before judicial authorities or that determines that any dispute between the supplier and the customer will be settled in arbitration.
• A provision which relieves the supplier, fully or partially, of a liability which the supplier would have to bear under law if such condition was not included in the contract.
• A condition which requires a customer to confirm that the customer read the contract, or to declare that they have committed any act, or to approve the customer's knowledge concerning a certain matter or fact, excluding information provided by the customer to the supplier in the contract.

With regard to B2C contracts concluded of distance or off-premises, the Consumer Code, as amended by Legislative Decrees Nos. 21/2014, 170/2021, 173/2021 and 26/2023 (pursuant to the Directive EU 2019/2161), provides some enhanced obligations in relation to pre-contractual information that vendors need to communicate to consumers, such as the details on the vendor’s identity, the main characteristics of the goods and services sold and the total price and the payment modalities, as well as specific obligations with regard to the consumer right of withdrawal. Furthermore, the Consumer Code sets forth a number of seller’s obligations with respect to (i) the suitability of the goods sold to the consumers’ needs; (ii) the conformity of the goods to the description provided, to public statements and samples; (iii) the completeness of the material and accessories to be provided as well as the characteristics of the goods or services sold; and (iv) the transparency of prices when making discounts with the requirement to display the lowest price charged in the previous 30 days.

With respect to goods or services with digital elements as well as digital contents and services, the seller is obliged to provide the consumer, for a reasonable period of time, with updates that are necessary to ensure the conformity of the good or service sold, including informing the consumer of the availability of such updates. However, with specific reference to the seller’s ability to modify the digital content or service, further requirements must be met (eg, the possibility to amend the digital content or service at hand is provided for in the general terms and conditions with a valid reason).

In particular, the Consumer Code provides that the right of withdrawal for online contracts may be unilaterally exercised by consumers within 14 days from the purchase of the service/delivery of the good, without penalty and without providing any reason (except in case of specific contracts). Consumers only bear the costs of returning the received goods. If the vendor has not properly informed the consumer of their right of withdrawal and on its terms, the right of withdrawal is extended to 12 months and the costs of the return are charged to the vendor.

In any case, as per the general rule for online and offline contracts between vendors and consumers, the Consumer Code provides that the delivery of the purchased goods shall take place at the latest within 30 days from the conclusion of the contract. An additional term may be provided under certain circumstances to the vendor to deliver the goods, but, at the expiry of such term, the consumer is entitled to terminate the contract and to obtain damages compensation.

In addition, new rules have been introduced to enhance transparency in e-commerce. These regulations include the requirement to disclose whether the seller is not a professional but another private customer, the verification process of online reviews, the functioning of products and services’ ranking mechanisms and the marketing of products that resemble those sold in different Member States but have substantial differences (dual quality).

Does not apply for this jurisdiction.

The Luxembourg E-Commerce Law of August 14, 2000, as lastly amended by the Law of April 2, 2014, provides several additional requirements regarding the information to be provided to conclude online agreements, including information about the service provider and the languages in which the agreement can be concluded.

There is no specific legislation regarding online content.

If a consumer acquires online content, the right to terminate the agreement within a 14-day period (ie, the general consumer right for online purchases) remains in effect. In order to exclude this right, the consumer must explicitly accept that:

• Content will be provided within the 14-day period and
• That the right to terminate the agreement is waived after provision of the content

Furthermore, pursuant to Dutch consumer law, a subscription for online content set out in general terms and conditions may not exceed 1 year. After such term, the subscription can be terminated with a 1-month notice period.

An Internet service provider does not infringe copyright merely because a consumer uses the Internet services of the provider in infringing the copyright or merely because the Internet service provider knows of the infringement from information received as a result of enforcement action taken pursuant to the Copyright Act 1994. However, in some cases injunctive relief is still available against the provider.

All consumer contracts, whether online or otherwise, are subject to the requirements in the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and the Fair Trading Act 1986. In addition, consumer credit contracts, whether online or otherwise, are subject to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003.

A major issue with online content in Nigeria is infringement of copyright. The new Copyright Act has included provisions that cater specifically for online content. Once infringement of a content is reported, the internet service provider takes requisite steps to review the notice and take down infringing content. Repeated infringers can also be suspended or blocked from uploading content on a platform. This is a progressive effort to curb the rate of infringement in Nigeria. The steps provided by the Act include:

• Every service provider should include an address or process for issuing a written notice of infringement.
• Upon receipt of infringement notice, the service provider shall notify the subscriber of the notice and take down infringing content from the platform.
• The service provider shall inform the owner of the copyright work that the content has been taken down.
• In the event a counternotice is received from the subscriber, the service provider will forward such notice to the copyright owner.
• The service provider will restore the content if there is no response from the copyright owner after 7 days.
• Where the copyright owner issues a counter notice, the service provider will have to consider and decide on it. They may also refer the issue to the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC).
• Once a service provider receives multiple notices of infringement from a subscriber, a warning will be sent which may lead to a suspension of account.

The Copyright Act further provides that upon a court order, identifiable information about an infringer will be provided to the copyright owners. Also, the NCC can elect to block out infringing content from any platform, system or network with or without assistance from a service provider.

There are also data protection issues where online content in Nigeria is concerned.  Nigeria data protection laws and regulations include provisions regulating data processing, data security, rights of data subjects and procedure for data transfers by data controllers and processors in uploading and managing online content.

Companies must adhere to the E-Commerce Act (ehandelsloven) and the Right of Cancellation Act (angrerettloven).

N/A

Republic Act No. 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 (E-Commerce Act) features a safe harbor provision for service providers of online services or network access for online communications or electronic documents. Service providers as defined in the E-Commerce Act may not be held civilly or criminally liable in respect to the electronic data message or electronic document if such liability is founded on:

1. The obligations and liabilities of the parties under the electronic data message or electronic document.
2. The making, publication, dissemination or distribution of such material or any statement made in such material, including possible infringement of any right subsisting in or in relation to such material, as long as the service provider:
   1. Does not have actual knowledge, or is not aware of the facts or circumstances from which it is apparent, that the making, publication, dissemination or distribution of such material is unlawful or infringes any rights subsisting in or in relation to such material
   2. Does not knowingly receive a financial benefit directly attributable to the unlawful or infringing activity and
   3. Does not directly commit any infringement or other unlawful act and does not induce or cause another person or party to commit any infringement or other unlawful act and/or does not benefit financially from the infringing activity or unlawful act of another person or party.

Generally, the hosting provider is not liable for content provided by 3rd parties that infringes intellectual property rights provided that it was unaware of the unlawful character of the stored data or related activities or – having received an official notification or reliable information about the unlawful character of the data or related activities – denies access to the data or deletes the data, as applicable.

The hosting provider is not obliged to check (monitor) the data which it stores in order to assess whether they infringe any intellectual property rights.

Electronic contracts are regulated under Decree-Law no. 7/2004, of 7 January as later amended also known as the E-Commerce Law which enacted the Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 and contracts concluded at a distance are regulated by Decree-Law no. 24/2014 of 14 February (as later amended) which enacts Directive EU/2011/83 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011, on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts. 

As of February 17, 2024 the European Regulation 2022/2065 known as the Digital Services Act became effective for all members of the European Union and new legislation is expected to be adopted.

In regard to internet-related infringements, under certain circumstances, the copyright owner or exclusive licensee may request the court to order blocking of an infringing website even before consideration of the case on the merits.

Not applicable.

All Internet Content Providers are automatically granted class licenses under the Broadcasting (Class Licence) Notification (Notification) of the Broadcasting Act 1994. They are required to comply with the Class Licence Conditions set out under the Notification and the Internet Code of Practice issued by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

"Internet Content Provider" is defined in the Notification as, among other things, "any corporation or group of individuals (including any association, business, club, company, society, organization or partnership, whether registrable or incorporated under the laws of Singapore or not) who provides any program on the World Wide Web through the Internet."

The Internet Code of Practice requires Internet Service Providers and Internet Content Providers to, among other things, deny access to material considered by the IMDA to be prohibited material if required to do so by IMDA. "Prohibited material" is material that is objectionable on the grounds of public interest, public morality, public order, public security or national harmony, or is otherwise prohibited by applicable Singapore laws, which includes material that glorifies, incites or endorses ethnic, racial or religious hatred, strife or intolerance.

Not applicable for this jurisdiction.

The CA sets out a detailed list of the requirements for exempting an online-service provider from liability for carrying infringing materials. Subject to these requirements, a service provider must confine itself to acting as a mere conduit, to caching, to hosting, and to searching information in order to escape liability and to avoid responsibility for monitoring or investigating for infringing acts. To some degree, these safe-harbor provisions resolve the uncertainty previously surrounding the liability of online-service providers for direct infringement by their users. However, they also make it easier to impose liability on online-service providers if the requirements are not met.

Directive 2000/31/EC on information society services was implemented in Spain by Law 34/2002 on information society services and electronic commerce (LSSI).

Service providers are required to fulfill certain legal requirements set forth by LSSI. In particular, they shall make available a number of items such as the name or corporate denomination, residence, domicile or address of a permanent establishment in Spain, e-mail details of registration in the Companies Register or any other Public Register.

Generally, there is no requirement on the form of the contract (with a few exceptions, for example real property). Thus, the parties are free to enter into agreements online.

Companies need to adhere to the Act on E-Commerce (2002:562) (Sw. Lag om elektronisk handel och andra informationssamhällets tjänster), and in business to consumer relationships, the Off-Premises Contracts Act (2005:59) (Sw. Lag om distansavtal och avtal utanför affärslokaler) applies, which includes numerous obligations of the trader.

Based on Swiss practice, in general terms and conditions, consumers should generally be addressed in all 3 official Swiss languages, if a good or service is offered online or throughout Switzerland.

It is to be noted that Switzerland is not a member state of the European Union, which is why different rules may apply in particular with regard to data protection, unfair competition, intellectual property and general terms and conditions.

As a general rule, a host service provider is not liable for copyright infringing content provided by others, provided that it does not have actual knowledge of the infringing content or, if it gained knowledge of the infringing content, has immediately removed or blocked the infringing content, and that it does not gain economic benefits from the infringing content provided by others.

The E-Commerce Law dated September 3, 2015 is the key law on online transactions. It sets forth an obligation of sellers to provide customers with certain mandatory information. In addition, it establishes a procedure for concluding an online agreement as well as confirmation of the received order.

Considering that online transactions are performed with the use of telecommunication services, which are rendered by diverse intermediary service providers (eg, providers of hosting or caching services), their role in the transaction may be qualified as pure provision of services or as a party to the transaction. If service providers are not involved into the transaction (ie, they do not initiate the transfer of information, do not choose its recipient and are not able to amend its content), they cannot be liable for infringements related to e-commerce transactions. However, if copyright or related rights are violated, the intermediary service providers cannot take advantage of the safe harbor. In such cases, the intermediary service providers are obliged to take necessary actions for protection of the right holder (eg, considering the takedown notices, blocking the illegal content or deleting it when appropriate). Since April 2017, Ukraine has had a notice and takedown procedure in relation to online copyright infringements.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a US copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The DMCA instituted criminal penalties for the production and distribution of technology, devices or services intended to bypass technological means for controlling access to copyrighted works.

The DMCA features a safe-harbor provision for internet service providers and other intermediaries to avoid liability for copyright infringement claims arising from transmitting, routing or providing connections to infringing content, provided that the service provider registers a designated agent with the Copyright Office. Designated agent registrations must be made electronically, timely updated and renewed every 3 years.