The ESCWA Cyber Legislation Digest Consumer Protection: there has been a lack of progress in this area, with the exception of Tunis and Lebanon. Both countries have issued general laws that cover consumer protection which also address protection in cyber space. Laws to Combat Cybercrime: This is a commonly addressed area. These have seen quick implementation in countries such as: the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sudan. Other countries have draft laws or bills such as the Kingdom of Bahrain, Algeria, Syria, the Sultanate of Oman and Egypt. Tunis and Morocco have found it more suitable to include articles related to cybercrime under their own laws of electronic commerce and intellectual property. Figure 2 shows the status of individual Arab countries as far as cybercrime is concerned. Figure 2. Adoption of Cyber Crime Laws in selected Arab countries Country Bahrain Egypt Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Morocco Oman Palestine Saudi Arabia The Sudan Syrian Arab Republic Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen Specific Law for Cyber crime Law 28 on e-Transaction includes articles related to cyber crimes Ministerial Decree No. 327 on the establishment of the Department Detectives combat Internet crimes Computers Law 30 on Information System crimes Draft Law on combating Internet crimes Circular No. 4 on the protection of software programs and the fight against piracy Law 53-05 on Electronic Exchange of legal Data includes articles related to cyber crimes Royal Decree 27 to amend the Penal code and adding article 276 on Computer crime Draft amendment of penal Code to include articles on cyber crimes Law 79 on Combating Information Technology Crime Law Law 14 on Information Technology Crimes Law 17 on Regulating communication on the net and combatting cybercrime law e-transaction and e-commerce law includes articles related to cyber crime Federal Law 2, Combating cybercrime law Year 2002 2005 2010 2006 2007 2001 2007 2007 2012 2007 2006 Draft Law on combating electronic crimes Source: Compiled by ESCWA, refer to: http://cyberlegislation.escwa.org.lb/sites/default/files/download/Dir5-Cybercrimes.pdf Intellectual Property Protection: Most countries have favoured updating their existing intellectual property laws to include cyberspace related aspects of such protection. However, a comprehensive set of cyber legislations related to intellectual property (including those aspects related to databases) have yet to be addressed in the Arab world. 2.4 Limitations in the Implementation of Cyber Legislation Despite some Arab countries having issued numerous laws for cyberspace, the following criticisms still remain: 5