THE LEGAL NATURE OF AUTOMATED ORDERING AND CONTRACT FORMATION ON DIGITAL LOGISTICS PLATFORMS

Abstract

This thesis examines the civil-law nature of automated ordering and contract formation on digital logistics platforms. The rapid development of digital technologies is transforming logistics transactions in which ordering, carrier selection, price calculation, offer generation, acceptance recording, electronic transport documentation and contractual performance monitoring may be carried out with limited or no intervention by a human operator at the moment of each transaction. This development requires traditional concepts of contract law, including contractual intention, offer, acceptance, authority, the time and place of contract formation, electronic evidence and liability, to be reconsidered in a technologically mediated environment.