Commission to impose a levy on licensees to fund universal access. Consideration
should be given to levying purchasers (e.g. perhaps calculated as a fraction of the
fee payable for topping-up a service account).
95.
The Government will reexamine its approaches to duties and tariffs (e.g. the goods
tax) on imported ICT equipment. While reducing or eliminating duties and tariffs
would appear to reduce revenue to the Government, the stimulus that increased ICT
use would give to economic activity is likely to more than offset that reduction,
increasing the overall tax take in the longer term.
96.
Consistent with its policy of cooperation in ICT with other Pacific countries, the
Government will also explore opportunities for joint and bulk purchasing of ICT
hardware and software.35 It is possible that significant savings might be realized if
Pacific countries were able to coordinate their procurement efforts to deal jointly
with ICT vendors.
97.
The following table summarises the strategies and actions for achieving ICT
Objective 1:
Reference
1.1
ICT Strategy
Promote the creation,
recording,
preservation and
enjoyment by means
of ICT of locally
relevant content.
ICT Objective 1
Actions
Develop programme to support the use of ICT to
preserve, promote and sustain Solomon Islands art
and culture.
Support and promote the production of electronic
content that reflects the values of Solomon Islands
society.
Support the development of ‘virtual libraries’ of
Solomon Islands content, with appropriate protection
for rights owners.
Complete the National IP Strategy project currently
underway.
Reform intellectual property legislation to ensure it is
effective in relation to electronic content and
electronic delivery.
Investigate new approaches for giving protection to
traditional owners and custodians of traditional
cultural works, styles and artifacts.
1.2
Enhance protection
for ICT users in their
Reform consumer protection safeguards to ensure
they are effective for online transactions (refer
35
Subject to compliance with national competition laws.
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Solomon Islands National ICT Policy