The legislation Mr Rifkind was referring to is the UK's new data protection laws, which he says will encourage major businesses to seek locations for their e-commerce operations outside the EU.

In his address Mr Rifkind, who has been a director of Authoriszor for just over a year, explained: 'The opportunities for e-commerce are expanding day-by-day but alongside the increasing sophistication of information technology there are important security considerations.' He said that the adoption of new IT systems was 'being held back by a lack of confidence about security and confidentiality.'

Fears were expressed by both individuals and businesses who were concerned that they were vulnerable to covert surveillance and the interception of communications on public telecoms networks by law enforcement agencies. This led, in part, to the EU enactment of the 1998 Human Rights (HRA) Act and its close relation the Regulation of Invest igatory Powers (RIP) Act. The aim of the RIP was to closely monitor the law enforcement agencies to ensure compliance with the HRA rights to privacy.

'The important thing from Guernsey’ s point of view,' said Mr Rifkind, 'is that many people believe that RIP, very appropriately initialled, goes far too far. It is being called the Snooping Bill and not without reason. It is important to have systems that will preserve confidentiality and also that there must be ways to match criminals with appropriate legislation. Eventually the courts will have to decide.'

Authoriszor chief technology officer David Wray also addressed the 40 delegates at the seminar. He explained the ability of Authoriszor to distinguish between its users and particularly how a website can be protected from unauthorised users. He said: 'The Authoriszor package is designed to deliver funtionality and security. It overcomes one of the major handicaps to increased use of the Internet by providing trust in the system and confidence in the ability of those providing it and running it.'

Concluding his speech, Mr Rifkind praised Guernsey's reputation as a stable and low tax jurisdiction and urged the island to seize upon the e-commerce benefits available: 'Guernsey has a great opportunity to grasp. You have a reputation for stability and integrity. You have available tax and administration advantages that you should be able to exploit to take advantage of the opportunities the new economy presents,' he said.

'So far Government and the private sector are not using the new information technology to its full extent. That is because of a lack of confidence in security, but that is getting better. From what I can see Guernsey looks pretty healthy on the IT front. You have put in the framework and are erecting the infrastructure and now need to attract investors.'