Irish Government: Ireland Introduces Ecommerce Bill.

The Irish government has introduced an ecommerce bill, which will make the fraudulent use of e-signatures a criminal offence punishable by a prison sentence and a fine of up to USD108,000. It is expected that the bill, which was drafted by the Department of Public Enterprise, will be passed into law by the end of the year. The legislation will offer protection to online consumers pending the introduction of the EUElectronic Signatures Directive in 2000. The bill provides primarily for the validity of e-signatures under company law although it includes provision for family and land law. In addition to providing legal standing to electronic signatures, the bill includes clauses that propose to regulate the registration of Internet domain names in the Republic. Currently, domains are privately administered by the IE Domain Registry, IEDR, in University College Dublin, UCD. The bill hopes to open debate on the need for more than one such centre and greater competitiveness for consumer and business custom. The Irish government has taken a more self-regulatory approach than Britain is expected to when its bill is released in two weeks time. One of the primary aims of the current Irish administration is to drive a strong ecommerce agenda. At EU level it has advocated for simplicity of legislation and an open encryption market. One of the practical outcomes of the bill, once it becomes law, will be the establishment of Certification Service Providers and a National Accreditation Board, for which it has also provided.