A private member’s Bill that seeks to streamline e-commerce in the East African Community could be tabled before the regional parliament, for the first reading, when it resumes business this week. The author of the East African Community Electronic Transactions Bill, 2014 Bill, Dr James Ndahiro (Rwanda), yesterday told Sunday Times that he is ready to table the Bill for its first reading in the House. It will subsequently be sent to the standing committee on Communication, Trade and Investment for scrutiny, he said. In June last year, the East African Legislative Assembly granted Ndahiro leave to introduce the Bill. “The Communication, Trade and Investment Committee will then, later, go to all partner states for consultations before it compiles a report for the House before the third reading follows,” Ndahiro said. Electronic transactions largely imply any acts of buying or selling as well as sending money electronically, especially through the internet. With many businesses and consumers presently uncertain about how consumer protection laws can be enforced when electronic transactions take place across borders, the bill is seen as a boost to trade. If passed into law, the EAC Electronic Transactions Bill, 2014, will make provision for the use, security, facilitation and regulation of electronic communications and transactions. Ndahiro said that the businesses community will benefit in many ways including reduced transaction costs. “If you are doing cross-border business, there are things you can do at your desk in any part of Rwanda without the need to travel. Contracts can be exchanged on-line and money is saved.” He added that the law would usher in technological innovations that will spur growth and guarantee safe transactions. Last year, the proposed bill was backed by many in the House. Singapore was one of the first countries in the world to enact a similar law – the Electronic Transactions Act – that addresses issues that arise in the context of electronic contracts and digital signatures. It continues this trend by being among the first to implement the UN Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, adopted by the General Assembly in 2005.
