IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

With the insertion of a secure chip-clad card into a device hooked to a Dell laptop and the entry of the user’s code this Thursday morning, Dominican Republic joins a handful of countries where the Digital Signature is a legal instrument facilitating private and government transactions, representing another solid step toward the globalization era.

The Spanish company Avansi took the initiative to establish a platform for digital signatures in the country jointly with the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel), whose president Jose Rafael Vargas affirmed that the specialized firm’s interest was the result of a “challenge” Indotel issued to entities to come to the country and implement the digital system.

Avansi executive Antonio Cabrera demonstrated the procedure with which a person would sign a document with another anywhere in the world using the digital signature, as Vargas together with Indotel’s E-Trade manager Hector Castillo used their special cards to conduct a transaction, in this occasion the signature of the document recognizing Avansi as the first of its kind to register in the country.

“It is the first experiment, the first test that is conducted in Dominican Republic, of a digital transaction with judicial validity,” said Vargas after signing the electronic document.

The official stressed the procedure’s importance by pointing out that “we could not advance on the FTA (Free Trade Agreement) without it, in reference to Dominican Republic’s formal entry into that accord next July.

Vargas also made reference to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the entity which issued the resolution in December 1996, establishing the international legal framework for the Digital Signature.

He added that the platform’s implementation is part of the E-Government program being carried out by president Leonel Fernandez’s Administration.

For his part, Cabrera said that Avansi’s presence in the country resulted from the “important challenge” it decided to accept and the “adventure” of coming to Dominican Republic. “For us it is an important challenge and an adventure to come to this country, which has stability and serious institutions.”

Quelle: Dominican Today, 20.04.2006