전자상거래는 현재 가장 발전 가능성이 높은 거래 형태 중 하나라 할 수 있다. 그러한 전자상거래를 가능케 하는 요인들은 여러 가지가 있다. 그 중에서도 합리적이며 모든 이들이 인정할 수 있는 새로운 형태의 문서 즉 전자 문서의 필요성은 날로 증대하고 있다. 원활한 전자상거래를 위해서는 각종 계약서와 선하증권과 같은 상거래에 필요한 문서들의 처리가 필요하다 하겠다. 따라서 본 고에서는 전자문서가 기존의 전통적인 문서(종이문서)를 대체할 수 있는가의 문제와 전자문서의 증거방법 및 증거능력에 관하여 고찰하였다.
Due to the trend that the wave of the information society is rapidly expanding on a global basis, the level of informatization is emerging as one of the important elements for national competitiveness. To take a competitive position for individuals, corporations, or states beyond their survival in the rapidly changing information environment, they should be able to manage and transmit various information with swiftness and security Today, the exchange of electronic documents or data, through PC which were unknown in the past is indispensable to the expansion of electronic commerce(EC) and eventually contributes to promoting the information society. The improvement of productivity and efficiency through the exchange of electronic documents or data has been recognized as a means to enhance the competitiveness of corporations and states. The United States, the European nations, Japan, and the newly industrialized countries such as Singapore and Taiwan, have been contriving the utilization of electronic documents and the expansion of EC on the strategical dimension of each nation. To activate the use of electronic documents, thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the current environment concerning the use of electronic documents, to investigate the related legal barriers, and to propose some suggestions for reforming the legal system.
