Prime Minister Perry Christie tabled four bills related to electronic or e-commerce in Parliament Thursday as the Government seeks to make e-commerce the third pillar of the Bahamian economy following tourism and financial services.
The four bills, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill, the Computer Misuse Bill, the Data Protection Privacy of Personal Information Bill and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Bill will, according to Mr. Christie help to make the country’s financial services industry more competitive on the global level.
The bills, however, do not mandate e-commerce use but make it as acceptable as paper transactions.
In introducing the Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill, 2003 Mr. Christie said, “This bill creates the environment for legal certainty necessary to instill confidence in on-line commercial activity, particularly global commercial activity.”
The Computer Misuse Bill 2003 would create a series of offences arising out of the unlawful interference with computers and computer systems.
“These offences do not currently exist in the penal framework of The Bahamas and are important as a deterrent to wanton or negligent breaches of computer systems,” Mr. Christie said.
The Data Protection Personal Privacy of Information Bill 2003 seeks to prevent the unlawful use of private information gathered on a person.
“Consistent with the [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s] principles on privacy, the bill requires that information should be obtained by fair and lawful means and used in a manner consistent for which it has been collected,” Mr. Christie said.
The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Bill 2003 seeks to establish standards for the protection of consumers entering into commercial arrangements.
Mr. Christie said that the bill is another important confidence builder for on-line transactions.
“It affords persons engaging in transactions with suppliers based in The Bahamas the assurance that there is available an adequate consumer protection should the need to rely on such a course of action arise,” he said.
“It will minimize the opportunity for The Bahamas to be used as a base from which products and services are offered via the Internet which violate basic internationally accepted standards for consumer protection.”
By Julian Reid, The Bahama Journal
