An electronic contract refers to an agreement reached by two or more parties in electronic form through the Internet to establish, change and terminate a certain civil rights and obligations. As long as all parties to the contract are authenticated by their real names and have reliable electronic signatures recognized according to the Electronic Signature Law, this electronic contract has the same legal effect as the handwritten signature of a paper contract.

At present, Articles 13 and 14 of the Electronic Signature Law of the People's Republic of China recognize the legal effect of reliable electronic signatures; Articles 1 and 11 of the Contract Law of the People's Republic of China recognize data message as the legal carrier of written contract; Article 116 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China recognizes the legal status of electronic data as legal evidence.