Electronic Transactions Act 2001

For a territory law, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication—

the electronic communication is taken to have been dispatched at the place where the originator has its place of business; and

the electronic communication is taken to have been received at the place where the addressee has its place of business.

For subsection (1)—

a party’s place of business is taken to be the location indicated by the party, unless another party shows that the party making the indication does not have a place of business at the location; and

if a party has not indicated a place of business and has only 1 place of business—that place is taken to be the party’s place of business; and

if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than 1 place of business—the place of business is that which has the closest relationship to the underlying transaction, taking into account the circumstances known to or contemplated by the parties at any time before or at the end of the transaction; and

if a party has not indicated a place of business and has more than 1 place of business, but paragraph (c) does not apply—the party’s principal place of business is taken to be the party’s only place of business; and

if a party is an individual and does not have a place of business—the party’s place of business is taken to be the party’s home address.

Note 1 Individual means a natural person (see Legislation Act, dict, pt 1).

Note 2 Home address, for an individual, means the address of the place where the individual usually lives (see Legislation Act, dict, pt 1).

A location is not a place of business only because it is—

where equipment and technology supporting an information system used by a party are located; or

where the information system may be accessed by other parties.

The fact only that a party makes use of a domain name or electronic mail address connected to a particular country does not create a presumption that its place of business is located in the country.