Parliament finally takes e-business legislation seriously

The most important step towards adopting the laws necessary to developing Internet economy will be taken next week, when the Permanent Commission for Advanced Technologies, Information Technology and Communications will be established within the Chamber of Deputies.

The commission, which represents a premiere for the Romanian Legislative, will be managed by deputy Varujan Pambuccian.

This commission, which already enjoys the support of all parliamentary groups, will have to eliminate the handicap Romania has been coping with when it comes to the legislation establishing the rules in the domain of e-commerce, e-banking or computerised public administration.

“In order to secure its efficient functioning, we thought that the new commission should be made up of only 15 members, as compared to 28-30 members in other parliamentary commissions,” deputy Varujan Pambuccian told Ziarul Financiar.

The commission will exert pressures within Parliament with a view to adopting a set of basic laws, made up of the Law of digital signature, the Law of electronic documents and archives and the Law of digital payment systems.

Although it had been submitted several times to the Chamber of Deputies and received all necessary approvals, the Law of electronic signature did not manage to catch the attention of MPs and was postponed sine die.

On the other hand, Bulgaria has approved its own law in this domain for almost six months.

The second point, the Law concerning electronic documents, is being drawn, its initiators considering that it might enter Parliament in the months to come.

On the other hand, the Law of digital payment systems – which is absolutely necessary for the development of electronic commerce – raises several problems, mostly linked to the necessity of harmonising it with international legislation in this field.

This basic legislative frame will be completed with the e-commerce Law, the electronic notary Law, the Law concerning electronic public administration, as well as with a separate set of amendments for the legislation concerning banks, insurance companies and capital market, so as to establish the legal basis for e-financing and e-banking as well.

From this second set of laws, the Law concerning e-commerce has already been submitted with the Chamber of Deputies and has all necessary authorisations, while the Law concerning the electronic notary is currently waiting for authorisations necessary to enter debates.

However, the lists includes many other laws aimed at guaranteeing the strength of IT and communications field. Among these, the most important law would probably be the one concerning Internet piracy.

“Research companies from the United States of America are warning that the companies that will not present and sell their products on the Internet in the next four years will be eliminated from the market,” according to academician Dan Dascalu, general manager of the National Institute for Research and Development in Microtechnology.