The second meeting of the East African Community Taskforce on Cyberlaws discussed the legal framework prepared by UNCTAD, based on the review of existing draft laws in the region and the priority list of cyberlaws as defined in January 2008 at the occasion of the first meeting of the Task Force (Arusha, Tanzania).

Harmonizing cyberlaws among Partner States (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) will strengthen their regional integration and support the implementation of the e-government program initiated by the EAC secretariat in 2005.

The final harmonized legal framework is to be considered by the EAC Taskforce in September (Burundi) and adopted by the relevant organs of the EAC by November 2008.

>> Read the Final Report

As mandated by paragraph 108 and the Annex of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, UNCTAD, the International Trade Centre (ITC), the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) organize jointly the third WSIS follow-up Action Line Facilitation Meeting on "E-business".

The meeting will be held in conjunction with a number of WSIS follow-up events and with the meeting of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development.

The purpose of the meeting is to revisit the development of e-commerce in developing countries and present concrete and innovative e-commerce projects. The meeting will also identify the challenges and opportunities of e-commerce encountered by those countries and discuss successful e-commerce policies and strategies that facilitate the access of developing country SMEs to world markets, focusing on the legal framework.

The meeting is open to all WSIS stakeholders interested or involved in the fields related to e-business and the information economy more broadly.

>> Official web page

The Ministry of Commerce of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), with the assistance of the ICT and E-Business Branch and TrainForTrade project for Cambodia and Lao PDR, made significant progress towards the drafting of its e-commerce legislation, as part of the its commitments under the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement to have a law adopted by the end of 2008. Two Stakeholders Consultations Roundtables, with the government and the private sector, were organized to discuss the legal implications of the E-Commerce Law.

In preparation of the roundtables, two working sessions with the law drafting committee took place under the Chairmanship of HE Pan Sorasak, Secretary of State, Ministry of Commerce. It is expected that a revised draft will be produced before the end of the year and later on transmitted to the Council of Ministers before the Khmer New Year (April 2008). Cambodia was the first country where UNCTAD had been actively involved in building capacity in the area of e-commerce and in helping drafting legislation. Since then, UNCTAD has provided its assistance to Lao PDR, as well as in other countries and regional institutions such as the American Integration Association and the East African Community.

As developing countries strive to meet development goals and benefit from the knowledge economy, the role of science, technology and innovation has emerged as an important issue underlying the debate on international development policy.

>> Official web page

UNCTAD, in cooperation with the ALADI Secretariat, organized a training workshop on e-commerce and law reform from 1 to 5 October 2007 in Montevideo, Uruguay. The 20 participants coming from 9 ALADI member States shared their experience regarding the preparation of cyber laws, discussed possible options for law reform and defined a roadmap for future activities regarding the preparation of a harmonized regional e-commerce legal framework, including the constitution of a working group for the promotion of regional harmonised cyber laws.

The participants were selected in a follow-up to the distance-learning training course on "The Legal Aspects of Electronic Commerce" delivered by UNCTAD from 6-31 August 2007 to 104 participants from the ALADI Secretariat and member States. The distance-learning course presented the options available to policy-makers to create a supportive legal environment to boost e-commerce in developing countries. The course generated lots of interaction among the trainees: it was judged "very interesting and useful. It prepared us to develop the regulation of e-commerce in our countries", as a Cuban participant said on the electronic training platform.

>> Read the final report

Joint UNCTAD/UNITAR event on Free and Open-source Software (FOSS)
Development Impacts of FOSS: Regional Case Studies
New York UN Headquarters,16 October 2007
>> Official web page

The training course reviews the most recent issues, developments and solutions currently available to assist policy makers in developing countries in their efforts towards an enabling and a supportive legal environment for e-commerce. The course which consists of 8 modules will be delivered in 4 weeks (2 modules per week).

The purpose of the training course is to enhance the capacities of policy-makers on legal aspects of e-commerce in order that they may prepare draft legislations in this field. The training of legal professionals - and, more broadly, policy makers - constitutes an effective means to achieving a common understanding of the legal and regulatory issues of e-commerce for trade facilitation and harmonization of regional and national legal frameworks.

>> Official web page

>> Read the final report

Information and communication technologies and the possibilities offered by e-business have important implications for production, trade, finance, and employment. They also pose specific policy challenges for developing countries. The Commission will consider how UNCTAD can support developing countries in their efforts to maximize the effectiveness of ICT and e-business as instruments to foster trade and development, including in the context of the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society.

Additional information:

• Read the Agreed Recommendations
• Read the Chairperson's summary on Item 5. of the Agenda:
  ....ICT and E-business for development
• View the Notification
• Consult the Agenda
• Consult the daily Programme
• Download Commission documentation

For more information, please contact the ICT and E-business Branch.

Governments need to establish an internationally recognized and compatible legal and regulatory framework for e-commerce to ensure that domestic laws can operate effectively across national borders. At the end of this workshop, the participants should be able to better understand the legal implications of e-commerce, to identify the main development policy issues involved and to identify priority areas for law reform.

Additional information:

• Consult the Information Note.
• Download the Workshop Final Report, Programme and list of participants.

Fore more information, e-mail us at wsiseco@unctad.org .

Organized in the framework of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) follow-up, this meeting will showcase the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on economic and social development and growth with a view to encourage action at the national, regional and global levels to implement the WSIS outcomes.

For more information:

• consult the official UNCTAD website ,
• consult the ICT Branch Expert Meeting website and meeting agenda ,
• consult the Provisional agenda and the UNCTAD Background paper ,
• consult all UNCTAD Expert Meeting documents ,
• consult other background documents:

• OECD: The share of employment potentially affected by offshoring
• OECD: Potential Offshoring of ICT-intensive using Occupations

• read the event flyer , or 
• e-mail us on wsiseco@unctad.org.

This event will be held within the larger framework of a three-day UNITAR Web Seminar Symposium on ICT Policy Issues for Development, which will bring together prominent information technology experts involved in FOSS issues, software industry representatives, academics, government representatives, and representatives from civil society organizations.

For more information consult the official webiste and the preliminary agenda.

At the request of the Government of Mauritius, UNCTAD organized a distance learning workshop on the "Legal Aspects of E-Commerce" from 21 March to 11 April 2006. The course, developed by UNCTAD's ICT and e-Business Branch and the TrainForTrade Programme, addressed issues related to the legal framework for Mauritius and the implementation of the Mauritius legislation on e-commerce adopted in 2000. The workshop aimed at encouraging policy formulation, and targeted the business community wishing to venture into e-commerce operations.

Twenty-five participants (17 men, 8 women) followed the workshop held in the distance learning room of the University of Mauritius. Certificates were presented during the closing ceremony, which included Madan Murlidhar Dulloo, Minister of Foreign Affaires, International Trade and Cooperation, S K A Parahoo, Director of the Distance Learning Centre, and Xavier Alphaize, Coordinator of the TrainForTrade programme.

Twenty-five Cambodian representatives from ministries, the private sector and academia attended a workshop on the "Legal Aspects of E-Commerce" held in Phnom Penh on 14 to 16 of March.

The awareness-raising seminar, organized in cooperation with the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce and the National Information Communications Technology Development Authority (NIDA), was requested by the steering committee of the UNCTAD/TrainForTrade project for Cambodia and Lao PDR in an effort to help the country move forward in passing a law on electronic commerce before 2008, the deadline specified by the e-ASEAN initiative.

The workshop focused on key concepts such as intellectual property, content regulation and securing e-commerce, along with a presentation of Cambodia’s current draft law on e-commerce.

A workshop on the "Legal Aspects of E-Commerce" was carried out in Vientiane as part of UNCTAD's assistance to the drafting process of an e-commerce law for Lao PDR. The workshop, developed in cooperation with the TrainForTrade Programme, focused in particular on the UNCITRAL Convention 2005 on the use of electronic communications in international contracts. The workshop also included a half-day awareness raising seminar on the benefits of e-commerce for representatives of the private sector.

Technical assistance was provided to the drafting group composed of representatives from the Science Technology and Environment Agency (STEA), the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Justice who are currently working on a draft decree to reflect both the Lao legal system, as well as ASEAN and international best practice. This decree should be adopted at the latest, by 2008.