WESTERN BUREAU- Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology Phillip Paulwell is optimistic that an electronic transaction law will be in place by early next year.
Another bit of complementary legislation, an upgraded telecommunications law, is expected to follow in June.

Paulwell. hoping the E-Transaction Act will be passed soon

"In relation to the E-Transaction Act we are going to table it in Parliament before the end of this year," said Paulwell. "We are really hoping for a quick passage, but certainly for the Telecommunications act it looks like June next year we are going to have that in place," Paulwell told Sunday Finance.

These laws, he said, are geared at "creating a framework to allow competition to flourish", and for Jamaica to take advantage of technological developments at affordable prices," he said.

Paulwell wants to have an appropriate regulatory system, especially in the jittery area of online trade, "to ensure confidence in the development of e-commerce."

Meanwhile, chairman of the Central Intelligence Technology Office (CITO) Pam Thompson, who was addressing the Jamaica Computer Society 21st Annual Conference in Montego Bay, was just as confident that the legislation would make progress.

"I understand that it (the draft) is available for consultation at the moment," Thompson said.
As it is now, there is no legislation in place to protect the local e-commerce subscribers.

"If we are going to e-commerce, buying things online, and we are promoting enjoined government so that you can do more things online - you can pay your taxes, you can pay your bills online - (and) there is no legislation at the moment that protects the Jamaican citizen, should something happen there is no frame of reference that you could go to and say, well the law say that if I did not get "x" well this is going to happen."

If Jamaica is to be a participant in the global market place, "it is important for us to get the legislation in place just to protect our citizens," said the CITO chairman.

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