[kictanet] Legislation and Regulation for e-Commerce in Kenya
Alex Gakuru
alex.gakuru at yahoo.com
Tue Jul 8 13:46:33 EAT 2008
Two issues:
1. I also participated and raised a question why consumer protection clauses initially present had been deleted. I was told consumer protection would be covered later on another proposed Consumer Protection bill.
Comments on e-transaction bill to drafters (Dated: 19 April, 2008)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Underway internet connectivity projects, initiatives, the rapid growth
of mobile phones, and emergent mobile phone-based commercial
transactions paints a packed e-future. I would be making an
unforgivable mistake if I failed to beg for your attention regards
attached documented e-transactions consumer concerns lessons borrowed
from an e-mature market - Finland.
Beyond captured pornography, child-protection could be extended to all
e-transactions, for example, age verification purchasing alcohol,
cigarettes online ( should the companies decide to offer their
products online courtesy this new law;)
Yes! Consumer Protection Bill (we never got a chance to to give input
to) should address these issues but since these are directly in the
pact of this bill, and that the fate of the consumer protection bill
is as of now unknown, perhaps it would be right to embed the
principles here?
<http://www.kuluttajavirasto.fi/File/c404ce7d-7a5d-47c7-80a6-4915838ddf65/070105lausunto.pdf>
2. On ICT Bill:
The current law provides:
"Under sections 23 and 47 of the Kenya Communications Act of 1998, the Commission is required to ensure that communications services are provided throughout Kenya and that the interests of all users of these services are protected with respect to prices charged for and the quality and variety of those services among other responsibilities." <http://www.cck.go.ke/consumer_center/>
But the draft ICT Bill, which will repeal KCA, this provision does not exist and "consumer" is only mentioned once at the ministerial prerogative CCK Board appointment:
------
8. (1) The management of the Commission shall vest in a Board of
Directors of the Commission which shall consist of –
....
(f) at least seven other persons, appointed by the
Minister and of whom –
...
(vii) at least one shall have knowledge or
experience in commerce or related
consumer interests.
----
Simply put, that person would have no legal teeth to base their "advancement of consumer interests" from within CCK echelons--i.e.just another job... What happened here? This needs to be looked into.... Could it be the reason it was impossible to get this Bill despite severally requesting it from the ministry?
Why is it that Kenyan consumers, where considered, are an afterthought?
Is it a deliberate way to defeat the National ICT Policy aspirations and deviations from international norms, best practices, and trends???
Now ICT consumers' fate is left to the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Communications and Public Works.
Alex
--- On Tue, 7/8/08, Harry Hare <harry at africanedevelopment.org> wrote:
> From: Harry Hare <harry at africanedevelopment.org>
> Subject: [kictanet] Legislation and Regulation for e-Commerce in Kenya
> To: alex.gakuru at yahoo.com
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 12:10 AM
> Dear Marcel,
>
>
>
> Good review of the proposed bills. I happen to have
> participated in the
> preparation of the Draft e-Transaction Bill and would like
> to respond to
> some of the concerns in my own capacity as a Kenyan
> citizen. Another caveat
> is that apart from attending a one week course on legal
> aspects of
> e-Commerce, law is a stranger in my being. See my responses
> to the specific
> issues the analysis raises below:
>
>
>
> Harry
>
>
>
> 1. Provisions on who can prosecute are missing
>
>
>
> This is actually covered in Schedule C, under the
> investigations of offenses
> section and article 21 gives the commissioner of police the
> authority to
> prosecute. Under the same section, there is a proposal to
> constitute special
> investigation unit on cyber crime.
>
>
>
> 2. Liability of Internet Service Providers must be
> demarcated
>
>
>
> You may want to be abit elaborate on this. Part IV of the
> proposed bill
> tries to indemnify service providers from third party
> felonies. Would you
> prefer for instance that we have data providers and
> internet service
> providers as separate have separate limitations?
>
>
>
> 3. Clarification on which commercial documents are excluded
> from proposed
> legislation
>
>
>
> In the initial drafts of the proposed law, the documents
> had been listed as
> title deeds, bearer bonds and letter of credit; this is
> actually best
> practise as proposed by the UNCITRAL models laws on
> e-commerce. The concept
> tries not to cover documents that can be exchanged for
> cash/service or
> goods.
>
>
>
> 4. Eliminate any ambiguity on admissibility of electronic
> evidence
>
>
>
> The question of admissibility of electronic evidence is
> covered very well in
> Schedule B which has proposed amendments to the Evidence
> Act. I do not see
> any ambiguity in this section unless you can point out
> something specific.
>
>
>
> 5. Need for data protection and privacy provisions
>
>
>
> Articles 31-34 of the proposed bill covers protection of
> private
> information. Is this insufficient?
>
>
>
>
>
> 6. The Bills are more lenient on e-commerce fraud than on
> traditional fraud
>
>
>
> Might need some research on this.
>
>
>
> 7. Remove inconsistencies in determining crimes and
> punishments
>
>
>
> I tend to agree with the analysis here...for instance
> spamming the proposed
> fine is 200,000 and spoofing the proposed fine is 2m. May
> need some
> reworking in line with the weight of the offence.
>
>
>
> 8. Provisions for the inclusion of cyber-crime within the
> scope of the
> Extradition Act
>
>
>
> The bill proposes that the clause "all the crimes
> mentioned in the
> Electronic Transactions Bill 2007", this clause enough
> to amend the
> Extradition Act to include the crimes that have been
> identified in the
> proposed bill.
>
>
>
> 9. Creation of an Administrator for e-commerce laws whose
> functions will be
> policy implementation and advisory, as a multi-sectoral
> body with industry
> associationsincluding KIF, lead regulator communications
> Commission of Kenya
> and co-regulator
>
> Central Bank of Kenya
>
>
>
> We belaboured on this and initially came up with a proposal
> to have a
> multi-stakeholder agency, akin to KENIC, to administer the
> act but after
> long discussions and consultations, the team was unable to
> come out as
> boldly as you did for several reasons.
>
>
>
> i) We were aware of the fact that proposing
> the creation of a
> new body has some budgetary implications and therefore
> would slow down the
> process of enacting the law.
>
> ii) The Bill was developed towards the end of
> last year, the
> mood at that time was that anything that went to parliament
> had the risk of
> being politicised and therefore aligning the bill to
> specific institutions
> was suicidal
>
>
>
> From:
> kictanet-bounces+harry=africanedevelopment.org at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> [mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry=africanedevelopment.org at lists.kictanet.or.ke]
> On Behalf Of Marcel Werner
> Sent: 06 July 2008 17:44
> To: harry at africanedevelopment.org
> Cc: secretariat at kif.or.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> Subject: [kictanet] Legislation and Regulation for
> e-Commerce in Kenya
>
>
>
> Legislation and Regulation for e-Commerce in Kenya
>
> Kenya ICT Federation (KIF) - Briefing Note # 3 - Report -
> Public Panel 19
> June 2008
>
> Electronic commerce (e-commerce) will add at least one
> percent point growth
> to Kenya's overall economic growth within five years.
> This is contingent
> upon the adoption of legislation that supports electronic
> transactions.
> Kenya, as an emerging economy and regional leader, lags
> behind in having a
> legal framework for e-commerce in place. The current
> situation is an
> anachronism hampering national development, placing
> provincial centres at a
> disadvantage, and harming global competitiveness. Both
> external and internal
> trade require the new framework.The Kenyan private sector
> strongly supports
> e-commerce legislation, as well as legislation of the
> Information and
> Communication Technology sector that guarantees an open
> market and promotes
> innovation.
>
> Why e-commerce law? Today, legislation supporting
> electronic transactions
> represents the single most powerful innovation opportunity
> in the legal
> framework of the ICT sector. Legislation is needed to:
> -Legalize e-commerce transactions by recognizing an
> electronic signature
> -Manage and control e-commerce risks
> -Remove e-commerce barriers
> KIF has studied drafts currently circulating in the public
> domain, the
> Information and Communications Bill, 2008, and the
> Electronic Transactions
> Bill, 2007, respectively, both of which are of the highest
> technical
> standards. Public panels and hearings with sectors of the
> economy (including
> tourism, agriculture, ICT) have been held on 6th and 27th
> May, 4th June and
> 19th June. The Kenyan private sector has expressed
> overwhelming support for
> urgent legislation of e-commerce.
>
> Suggested improvements in Bills - The public panels and
> hearings to date
> have yielded the following important issues for improvement
> in the current
> Bills:
>
> - Provisions on who can prosecute are missing
>
> - Liability of Internet Service Providers must be
> demarcated
>
> - Clarification on which commercial documents are
> excluded from
> proposed legislation
>
> - Eliminate any ambiguity on admissibility of
> electronic evidence
>
> - Need for data protection and privacy provisions
>
> - The Bills are more lenient on e-commerce fraud
> than on
> traditional fraud
>
> - Remove inconsistencies in determining crimes and
> punishments
>
> - Provisions for the inclusion of cyber-crime
> within the scope of
> the Extradition Act
>
> - Creation of an Administrator for e-commerce laws
> whose functions
> will be policy implementation and advisory, as a
> multi-sectoral body with
> industry associations including KIF, lead regulator
> Communications
> Commission of Kenya and co-regulator Central Bank of Kenya
>
> Gains in tourism, agriculture, healthcare
>
> Industry sectors, notably the tourism industry, are
> expressing their desire
> to see e-commerce covered by law. In tourism, on-line
> travel bookings have
> exceeded 80% in the USA and 50% in Europe. Decline in
> off-line bookings is
> in ample evidence. Those destinations that cannot legally
> support abundant
> on-line booking, such as Kenya, will loose market share.
> E-commerce in
> agriculture will improve small-holder's living
> standards. Great impact is
> expected notably in the coffee sector that provides
> livelihood to at least 5
> million Kenyans, as well as in the dairy industry.
> Healthcare efficiency and
> affordability will improve by on-line health data
> management systems.
> Business operators in rural towns and rural centres have
> also expressed keen
> interest, as they see scope to address issues of trade
> efficiency and
> security in rural Kenya.
>
> What is e-commerce
>
> E-commerce is a method of trading that replaces paper-based
> documentation by
> a mutually binding electronic protocol between buyers and
> sellers.
> E-commerce is gaining ground globally and has become an
> irreversible trend.
> Many trading partners are already practicing e-commerce, by
> mutual
> agreement, also in Kenya. However, e-commerce will reach
> its full potential
> when parties that do not know each other are able to trade
> with full mutual
> protection under the law. This will benefit large numbers
> of consumers and
> businesses, including small-holder farmers, tourism
> operators, small-scale
> industry and services providers in almost any business
> sector.
>
> About KIF
>
> The Kenya Information and Communication Technology
> Federation (KIF)
> represents the ICT industry with Government and with
> private sector bodies
> e.g. Kenya Association of Manufacturers and Kenya Private
> Sector Alliance
> <http://www.kepsa.org/> KEPSA. KIF is a legally
> registered membership based
> Association, made up of trade associations and professional
> bodies within
> the national ICT industry, as well as commercial
> corporations. KIF has been
> accepted as the private sector voice of ICT by Government.
> KIF contributes
> ideas to key sectors like healthcare, education,
> agriculture, construction
> industry, and last but not least supports e-government
> development. KIF is a
> membership-driven organisation. Members bring issues on
> public policy and
> industry development forward for KIF to take action. Issues
> include:
> innovation promotion, education improvement, duties, taxes
> and levies, rural
> ICT investment. KIF has a strong and active network, with
> excellent
> relationships with all government agencies. KIF membership
> is open for
> market segment associations and individual companies.
> Membership charges are
> annual and based on company size. Contact:
> secretariat at kif.or.ke, 020
> 4440102
>
> MARCEL WERNER, Chairman, Kenya ICT Federation
>
> please send any business mail to:
> Marcel.Werner at innovation-africa.or.ke
>
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> 10:15_______________________________________________
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