Gibraltar Needs Action, Not Words, On E-Commerce, Opposition Tells Government

Panorama

07 June 2001

This story is reproduced by kind permission of Panorama at: http://www.panorama.gi

Gibraltar labour/liberal opposition say that Gibraltar needs "action, not words" on e-commerce, and has accused the government of "gimmicks and empty media sound-bites." It describes the latest government announcement on e-commerce as having consisted "almost entirely of meaningless jargon and a repetition of things that have been said before."

The opposition says it is "totally committed" to the development of e-commerce and notes it voted in favour of the e-commerce bill when it went through the House of Assembly last March. "However, we did so with a number of reservations. The ordinance was the transposition into Gibraltar law of the EU electronic commerce directive and electronic signatures directive," says a statement today.

The statement adds that opposition spokesman for trade and industry Dr Joseph Garcia pointed out at the time that these directives have to be read against an existing legal framework of privacy and data protection which does not exist in Gibraltar where, for example, computer hacking has still not expressly been outlawed. It contrasts what exists in Gibraltar to that existing in the UK. "These issues of security, data protection and privacy are very basic issues which still need to be addressed locally," says the opposition.

The government has told the House that no applications have been received for certification service providers. Access to high speed bandwidth at a competitive cost is also a basic problem that needs to be addressed. The opposition says that not long ago there were complaints that someone quoted £17,000 a month for a 1 meg connection in Gibraltar found that the same link from Spain cost £450.

As regards a cable link to Morocco, the opposition say it is worth noting that the advert calling for the expression of interest in this project appeared last August, when six parties came forward. "The government took eight months until April 2001 to meet with four of them, and at the time of being questioned in the last House, still had two more to meet," says the statement, adding that it is possible to do things quickly and efficiently and to do them well.

It is clear to the opposition that an e-commerce law alone does not necessarily mean that there will be more e-business. "We fully support the development of e-commerce in Gibraltar but believe that the government's approach needs to centre more on moving with the times than in making exaggerated claims," says the opposition.

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