C.1. Electronic Transactions Act The most relevant legislation for use of ICT in government and establishment of egovernment services is the Electronic Transactions Act No. 19 of 2006. The drafting of Electronic Transactions legislation was enabled through a joint Cabinet Memorandum of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Trade and Commerce and the Minister of Science and Technology. Consequently, on 22nd September 2004 the Cabinet of Ministers decided that legislation on Electronic Transactions should be prepared through the Legal Draftsman’s Department in conjunction with ICTA. The legislation was prepared by the Legal Draftsman with legal and policy inputs from ICTA and presented to Parliament on 7th March 2006. The Electronic Transactions Act was brought into operation with effect from 1st October 2007 (vide Gazette Extraordinary No. 1516/25 of 27th September 2007). The Electronic Transactions Act No. 19 of 2006 is based on the standards established by United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce (1996) and Model Law on Electronic Signatures (2001). The objectives of the Act as are as follows 1. 2. 3. 4. to facilitate domestic and international electronic commerce by eliminating legal barriers and establishing legal certainty; to encourage the use of reliable forms of electronic commerce; to facilitate electronic filing of documents with government and to promote efficient delivery of government services by means of reliable forms of electronic communications; and to promote public confidence in the authenticity, integrity and reliability of data messages and electronic communications. This has ensured that electronic communication is officially and legally accepted as a proper means of communication (emphasis added). Based on this Act steps could now be taken by government organizations to provide services by electronic means as well as to retain data and information in electronic form. As a follow-up to the enactment of the Electronic Transactions Act, Sri Lanka became one of the first three countries in the Asian Region (and first country in South Asia) to sign the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (commonly known as the e-Contracting convention). This was consequent to a Cabinet decision initiated by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Convention aims to enhance legal certainty and commercial predictability where electronic communications are used in relation to international contracts. It addresses the determination of a party’s location in an electronic environment; the time and place of dispatch and receipt of electronic communications; the use of automated message systems for contract formation; and the criteria to be used for establishing functional equivalence between electronic communications and paper documents – including “original” paper documents – as well as between electronic authentication methods and hand-written signatures. As another necessary follow up action, ICTA is in the process of setting up a Certifying Authority for issuing digital signatures for Sri Lankan government organizations and citizens to ensure the authenticity and Non-repudiation. 4