New E-Commerce Act Re-Affirms Manx Ambitions To Be Leading E-Business Centre
The Isle of Man is
making a serious play for the title of leading e-commerce jurisdiction.
The island has a newly-appointed e-evoy, who at the beginning
of this month announced plans to establish a private sector liaison
committee as part of a programme to promote the Island's e-commerce
activities, and a cable loop with Nothern Ireland and the UK -
seen as a 'major step forward in establishing the Isle of Man
as the leading e-island in the world.' Last week, the Isle of
Man got down to the finer points of e-commerce, holding an InvisiMail
seminar on the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) 2000. The seminar, which
drew representatives from right across the Manx business spectrum,
was sponsored by the island’s Department of Trade and Industry.
InvisiMail (IOM) Ltd, which was also represented, designs and
develops security and digital signature software. Government Minister
David North opened proceedings by emphasising the importance of
the establishment of a cutting edge e-commerce infrastructure
in the Isle of Man. Mr North said that while the island was clearly
not alone in recognising the importance of e-commerce it was the
first to take action with the introduction of the new act. The Isle of Man government
enacted the new act, ETA 2000, on November 1. Its purpose is to
legalise electronic transactions for business. The key part of
this legislation is the ability to attribute the same legal status
to electronic document as their paper based counterparts, when
secure digital signatures are used. The purpose of last
week's seminar was to provide an educational forum on the Act
and the enabling technologies and processes in order to increase
the awareness of the opportunities it makes available. It focused
on what the ETA 2000 means, what impact it will have on Manx businesses
and what opportunities the Act creates. Tim Craine, the Isle
of Man's recently appointed E-Commerce Director, also attended
the seminar and described his role and main areas of responsibility.
He focused on the readiness of the Isle of Man to accommodate
e-business in terms of physical connectivity, technical resources,
financial environment and how the Act was a major step in facilitating
this. Policy Advisor at
the island's Financial Supervision Commission, Roxanne Oldham,
told the seminar about the on-going work related to compliance
with international regulatory standards that will ensure that
the Isle of Man remains a “clean” jurisdiction, and
the new challenges and opportunities that e-commerce and e-transactions
will bring. Mr North of the Manx
government closed the seminar by stressing that the administration
has produced legislation that enables e-commerce, and that it
was now incumbent upon the commercial sector to capitalize on
this ground-breaking opportunity: 'The ETA is NOW!' he said. .
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