Sunday, November 26, 2006

Republic Act 8792 - E-Commerce Law of the Philippines

Republic Act 8792, or the Electronic Commerce Law was enacted last June 14, 2000. Efforts for its passage started as early as 1992 with the Electronic Evidence Act. The law defines Philippines policy on electronic transactions to enable the country’s players and consumers to actively participate in electronic trade.

The law provides:
  1. Legal recognition of electronic documents, electronic data messages, and electronic signatures;
  2. Guidelines for retention and storage of documents in electronic form;
  3. Recognition and validity of electronic contracts;
  4. Guidelines for use of transport documents in carriage of goods;
  5. A 2-year mandate for government to have the capability to transact its business electronically;
  6. The directive for the Department of Trade and Industry to function as the country’s e-commerce authority;
  7. The penalties to crimes such as hacking, cracking, and piracy offenses;
  8. Made banking transactions done through ATM switching networks absolute once consummated;
  9. Parties are given the right to choose the type and level of security methods that suit their needs;
  10. Mandates RPWeb, a strategy that intends to connect all government offices to the Internet and provide universal access to the general public, to be implemented;
  11. Made cable, broadcast, and wireless physical infrastructure within the activity of telecommunications;
  12. Provided guidelines as to when a service provider can be liable;
  13. All existing laws such as the Consumer Act of the Philippines also applies to e-commerce transactions.

Policies that have been released in 2006 that intends to support the implementation of the Electronic Commerce Law includes:

Learn more about e-commerce in the Philippines by getting the DigitalFilipino.com E-Commerce Workshop E-Book.

For a background on the law's legislative history, get a copy of the Philippine Internet Review: 10 Years of Internet History (1994-2004).

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