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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 20 Apr 2000

Vol. 518 No. 5

Written Answers. - Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.

John Bruton

Ceist:

22 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the components of the legal regulatory and administrative framework for information technology whose establishment is promised in Framework 4 of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness; when this framework will be in place, if it will require legislation; the pieces of legislation concerned; if it will require a budget; and the amount of the budget to be provided over the programme period. [8047/00]

There are four key components in the legislative and regulatory framework proposed to promote the development of electronic commerce and digital industries in Ireland. The range of regulat ory instruments recognises the need for a multi-disciplinary and connected approach in our drive to promote electronic commerce and the information society. These measures, together with a number of initiatives being taken by our Department and its agencies, are set to give us a leading role in e-commerce and will serve to create a strong Internet economy in Ireland.

The legislative and regulatory instruments cover: framework legislation to give legal certainty to electronic transactions, consumer protection measures, legislation on data protection, and copyright legislation.

The Electronic Commerce Bill, 2000, was published on Thursday 6 April. The Bill was introduced in the Seanad and passed all Stages in the Seanad yesterday, 19 April 2000. The legislation provides for the legal recognition of electronic contracts, electronic writing, electronic signatures and the admissibility of electronic evidence in courts and creates legal equivalence between the paper based world and the electronic world. The Bill is jointly sponsored by the Department of Public Enterprise and our own Department. The legislation will apply to both commercial and non-commercial transactions and will, furthermore, enable government and public administration to deliver its services on-line.

Additional budgetary implications of the legislation are expected to be minimal and will arise only in the context of publicising the legislation and in bringing forward any upgrading of existing computer systems in public bodies, which would in any event, have been required. Indeed, savings may be envisaged as the legislation coupled with administrative measures being taken in a number of Departments to deliver services on-line, will permit the delivery of services to the citizen and to business in a faster and more cost efficient manner.

Our Department also has responsibility for consumer protection measures. Consumer confidence is a vital component in the growth of e-commerce. This Government is determined to ensure that consumer protection in the virtual world, will receive no less attention than in the terrestrial world. To that end, supplementary measures are also needed to protect and inform the consumer, who buys goods and services on the Internet. I will be making regulations over the coming months to give effect to the draft EU Directive on E-Commerce and EU Directive 97/7/EC on Distance Selling of Goods and Services (Excluding Financial Services). Financial services is the subject of a separate directive, which is still at working group level in the Council.

Data protection legislation ensures that information about an individual is handled properly and responsibly and recognises that there are privacy issues which arise from the vast amount of information kept on computer information systems about individuals. This area is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Our existing law, the Data Protection Act, 1988, provides for the operation of a data protection regime to international standards. This legislation will be amended to comply with Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, which will ensure that information about individuals is further protected while allowing the effective discharge of business and other activities. Work on the draft Bill is well advanced and it is expected that the Bill will be published later this year.
Our Department has responsibility for copyright protection also. The Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 1999, has just been concluded at Committee Stage of the Dáil Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. One of the main objectives of this Bill is the putting in place of a modern effective, efficient regime for the protection of copyright and related rights. Recognising the economic and cultural significance of copyright theft, in the context of e-commerce and the information society, this Bill provides for civil remedies and criminal penalties, sufficient to deter such theft.
The Bill also provides copyright rightsholders with rights and remedies against persons who unlawfully circumvent technological protection measures, designed to protect certain copyright materials, for example, producers of "smart cards" for tapping into encrypted satellite broadcasts and persons who remove rights management information such as "digital fingerprints" from copyright materials. Also in relation to the Internet, there are "notify and take down" provisions whereby if infringing material is being carried on a service i.e., the Internet, and the rights owners inform service providers that infringing material is being carried on their service, the service providers will be obliged to remove that material as soon as is practicable or they will also be liable for that infringement.
There are some other regulatory and administrative measures which are or will be implemented over a varying timeframe and which are the responsibility of a number of Government Departments. These include the EU Draft Directive on Electronic Money, a Statutory Instrument on Cryptography, on-line registration of companies, revenue on-line service for taxpayers, on-line Land Registry initiatives, etc.
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