The proposed 'e-Transaction Bill' is expected to spur growth in the e-Commerce sub sector and attract investors.
Electronic-Commerce is a means of doing business online, typically through the World Wide Web. It implies that goods and services can be purchased online.
Speaking during the Kenya ICT Federation (KIF) meeting on Thursday, Dr Juma Okech, secretary to the e-Government Directorate at the Office of the President said the proposed Bill will address among other things the legal recognition of e-Signatures, cyber crime, data protection and privacy.
The Bill will enable businesses to harness the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to overcome distances. Businesses will also use e-commerce to increase efficiency, access new markets and respond creatively and effectively to new opportunities.
At the same function, Ms Gilda Odera, chairman of the Business Process Outsourcing and Call Centres Association decried lack of a regulatory frame for data security.
She said that e-commerce and its use of information and communication technologies would make it easy for information to be collected, stored, transferred and even manipulated.
"There is an outcry to have security of credit cards data and other online transactions guaranteed; cyber security also requires to be addressed adequately," she Odera.
"However, the legal significance of electronically stored or communicated information remains uncertain owing to the archaic nature and the inadequacy of legislation relating to storage and communication of information in the country," she added.
Okech, however, warned of the need to reduce ICT related issues into one single Bill.
"We need to refocus, we don't need to have a huge document (like the Kenya Communication Amendment Bill 2007) if there is urgency for a legal framework dealing with a sub sector in the industry. We can just isolate the issue and address it either through policy formulation or draft a separate bill," said Okech.
He added, "this is the route we chose for the e-Transaction Bill; if not, it would have been merged with the Kenya Communication Amendment Bill 2007 that was thrown out last month".
Autor(en)/Author(s): Alari Alare
Quelle/Source: AllAfrica, 07.09.2007
