Minors contracting online

Transaction made on the Internet does not require face-to-face contact or communications.

Adults and minors are alike can enter into transaction by clicks and submission of electronic order forms. There exists no definitive mechanism (except perhaps the use and acknowledgement of digital signature) to find out the age of the contracting party. In a face-to-face transaction, the seller can immediately find out that the potential buyer may be below 18 and hence has no capacity to enter into a bargain legally binding on him. The seller can demand identification through production of Hong Kong Identity Card or driving licence. E-commerce enables minors to make purchases online because age is not detectable. Registration of the buyer's information indulge his purported age can be fraudulent provided by minors. Some merchants only accepts purchases online through credit cards payment and by considering that credit cards are good age identification tool because no minors possess credit cards except in fraudulent situation. Digital signatures can be a good tool to identify the age of a contracting party. For instance, a personal e-cert issued by Hong Kong Post to a minor bears the warning note that the owner of the e-cert is a minor.

However, the use of digital signature are not popular in Hong Kong. Requiring buyers must possess an e-cert as a pre-requisite to make a purchase is too onerous on the customers and hence narrowing the customers’ base.