AN ELECTRONIC Transactions Policy which has already been approved in Parliament, is to enacted by year-end.
This was announced by Richard Gordon, project manager in the Ministry of Commerce, Science & Technology, and director of the Trade Board. He was speaking at the launch of a public education campaign by the Trade Board to inform the business community about upcoming policies regarding E-commerce.
The launch was done in collaboration with the Jamaica Manufacturers Association Western Chapter, headed by Patrick Cassidy of E-services. The meeting was held at the offices of the Montego Bay Free Zone recently.
'CUSTODIAN'
Ambassador Peter King, chairman of the Trade Board, also announced that the Trade Board would be responsible as "custodian" for the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) under the Government's Electronic Transactions Policy. Under this new mandate, the Trade Board will implement a Registration and Certification Authority to ensure and authenticate the security and the confidentiality of user information on the Internet. Businesses operating call centres were particularly interested in learning of these developments and how they would positively affect their operations, putting them in a more competitive position.
The Trade Board will also be responsible for authenticating digital signatures as outlined in the Electronics Transactions Policy, and is expected to implement a new on-line system of the processing for licensing and the certification documents.
