The internet subscriptions index from April to June 2005 rose by a further 10.3 per cent over 2004, with the rate of internet subscriptions in the country nearing the 50,000 mark. For me, as minister responsible for communications since 1998, such figures are very encouraging. However, It is becoming increasingly important that as internet usage continues to grow, and is increasingly becoming a main tool for business, this sector must be regulated in order to ensure that it is governed by a legal framework which will ultimately increase confidence in both businesses and consumers to make use of this medium for commerce.

With this in mind, we have launched a public consultation document on proposed regulations under the eCommerce Act. The Electronic Commerce Act (eCommerce Act) was conceived back in 2000 as one of a set of three laws intended to pave the way for the realisation of the information society. Since the enactment of the Act, Malta has seen a major uptake of electronic commerce.

According to the National Statistics Office, as a matter of fact, as at 1 January 2003, 90 per cent of enterprises employing 10 or over full-time employees were already providing online facilities over their website and 20 per cent of these enterprises had received orders via the internet.

The proposed regulations establish a light but effective supervisory regime that will serve to ensure that regulatory obligations are complied with while reinforcing the consumer rights already enshrined in the Electronic Commerce Act. The regulations also seek to complete the transposition of the eCommerce Directive and the eSignatures Directive.

In drafting these regulations, the ministry has sought to avoid the introduction of unnecessary regulatory burdens and has only included measures strictly necessary to encourage undertakings to provide on-line services whilst ensuring that the rights of consumers are adequately protected.

They require information society service-providers to provide basic information to their clients in order to ensure that customers know the identity of the service provider with whom they are dealing. They also include obligations intended to introduce an appropriate level of transparency with respect to commercial communications provided on-line.

The regulations provide for out-of-court dispute settlement procedures by granting powers to the supervisory authority – the Malta Communications Authority – to hear disputes between service-providers and their customers.

The regulations introduce measures aimed at ensuring that information society service providers established in Malta are not subject to unnecessary bureaucracy. Information society service providers will only be subject to the rules applicable in Malta, even if they provide services in other member states, according to what is commonly referred to as the country of origin principle.

Furthermore, such services will not be subject to any form of licensing regime. At the same time the regulations empower the MCA to take action to ensure compliance with the provisions of the regulations by service providers.

Now that these proposed Regulations are being published for public consultation.

I urge all the parties involved to participate and put forward their suggestions regarding these regulations.

Through eCommerce, island states such as ours have a very valid tool to enable them to overcome the disadvantages that insularity imposes on their competitiveness.

Censu Galea is Competitiveness and Communications Minister