This is the Electronic Communication paragraph:
“14. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION: This Agreement and any agreements, notices or other communications contemplated thereby may be transmitted by means of electronic systems, in which case signatures shall be deemed to be original. The transmission of this Agreement by the Seller by electronic means shall be deemed to confirm the Seller has retained a true copy of the Agreement.”
Review
Set out below and marked in bold and italics are those words that are inserted by me to assist in the review. They are not set out in the clause itself. Let’s look at that paragraph in a little more detail:
14. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION:
This Agreement and
- any agreements,
- notices or
- other communications contemplated thereby
may be transmitted by means of electronic systems,
in which case signatures shall be deemed to be original.
The transmission of this Agreement by the Seller by electronic means shall be deemed to confirm the Seller has retained a true copy of the Agreement.
COMMENT
It is interesting to consider that no mention was made of faxes, emails, or texts. Are all three appropriate for use? Should the correct email addresses be specified? Very frequently there is no “signature”. So, are those documents deemed to be “signed”?
Certainly, when there is an actual signature applied and a photocopy, scan or PDF sent which illustrates that “signature”, then, that would be covered under this paragraph.
It would be advisable to specify the contact emails in Schedule “A”, if this method of communication is to be used. Most people will have more than one email address. They might check one or more addresses and never check another, so the proper address should be mentioned.
Also, if the Seller sent something then they are deemed to have a copy for themselves.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker