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.