Great analysis Harry, Marcel et al,<br><br>What do you guys have to say about the 'merger' between the e-transactions and the ICT-Bill, where language from the e-transaction drafts has been incorporated into the ICT Bill?<br>
<br>Regards,<br><br>Brian<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 10:10 AM, Harry Hare <<a href="mailto:harry@africanedevelopment.org">harry@africanedevelopment.org</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-GB">
<div>
<p><span>Dear Marcel,</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>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:</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>Harry</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><span>1.<span> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">Provisions
on who can prosecute are missing</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><span>2.<span> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">Liability
of Internet Service Providers must be demarcated</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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?</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">3. Clarification on which
commercial documents are excluded from proposed legislation</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">4. Eliminate any ambiguity on
admissibility of electronic evidence</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">5. Need for data protection and
privacy provisions</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Articles
31-34 of the proposed bill covers protection of private information. Is this
insufficient?</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">6. The Bills are more lenient on
e-commerce fraud than on traditional fraud</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Might
need some research on this.</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">7. Remove inconsistencies in
determining crimes and punishments</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">8. Provisions for the inclusion
of cyber-crime within the scope of the Extradition Act</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.</span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">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</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">Central Bank of Kenya</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 54pt; text-indent: -36pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><span>i)<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 54pt; text-indent: -36pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><span>ii)<span>
</span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<div style="border-style: solid none none; border-color: rgb(181, 196, 223) -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt medium medium; padding: 3pt 0cm 0cm;">
<p><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US">
kictanet-bounces+harry=<a href="http://africanedevelopment.org" target="_blank">africanedevelopment.org</a>@<a href="http://lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bharry" target="_blank">kictanet-bounces+harry</a>=<a href="http://africanedevelopment.org" target="_blank">africanedevelopment.org</a>@<a href="http://lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>Marcel Werner<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 06 July 2008 17:44<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:harry@africanedevelopment.org" target="_blank">harry@africanedevelopment.org</a><br>
<b>Cc:</b> <a href="mailto:secretariat@kif.or.ke" target="_blank">secretariat@kif.or.ke</a>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<br>
</div><b>Subject:</b> [kictanet] Legislation and Regulation for e-Commerce in Kenya</span></p>
</div><div class="Ih2E3d">
<p> </p>
<p>Legislation
and Regulation for e-Commerce in Kenya</p>
<p>Kenya
ICT Federation (KIF) - Briefing Note # 3 - Report - Public Panel 19 June
2008</p>
<p><b>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. </b>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.</p>
<p>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:<br>
-Legalize e-commerce transactions by recognizing an electronic signature<br>
-Manage and control e-commerce risks<br>
-Remove e-commerce barriers<br>
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.</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Suggested improvements in Bills - The
public panels and hearings to date have yielded the following important issues
for improvement in the current Bills:</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span>Provisions on who can prosecute are missing</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span>Liability of Internet Service Providers must be demarcated</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span>Clarification on which commercial documents are excluded from proposed
legislation</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span>Eliminate any ambiguity on admissibility of electronic evidence</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span>Need for data protection and privacy provisions</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span>The Bills are more lenient on e-commerce fraud than on traditional fraud</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span>Remove inconsistencies in determining crimes and punishments</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span>Provisions for the inclusion of cyber-crime within the scope of the
Extradition Act</p>
<p style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span>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</p>
<p>Gains
in tourism, agriculture, healthcare</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>What
is e-commerce</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>About
KIF</p>
</div><p>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 <a href="http://www.kepsa.org/" title="http://www.kepsa.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">KEPSA</span></a>. 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: <a href="mailto:secretariat@kif.or.ke" target="_blank">secretariat@kif.or.ke</a>, 020 4440102</p><div class="Ih2E3d">
<p>MARCEL WERNER, Chairman, Kenya ICT Federation<br>
<br>
please send any business mail to:<br>
<a href="mailto:Marcel.Werner@innovation-africa.or.ke" target="_blank">Marcel.Werner@innovation-africa.or.ke</a>
</p>
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