Telecommunications, Information Technology and Computers

Becoming a knowledge-based economy

On its journey towards becoming a knowledge-based economy, Trinidad and Tobago's e-commerce legislation, new partnerships with several foreign governments to move the country further into the digital era, draft e-business policy, connectivity in all schools and libraries, delivery of online information via several channels on more than 400 government services, and a host of new regulations from the Telecommunications Authority are just some of its recent achievements in the ICT and telecoms sector.

Two Bills laid in Parliament in February 2009 are the first in a package of legislation necessary to develop a knowledge-based economy. The Data Protection Bill seeks to protect the privacy of personal and private information of individuals that is entered into an electronic format. It provides for the establishment of the Office of the Data Commissioner and the regulation of persons who provide electronic authentication or certification services. The Electronic Transactions Bill, 2009 is intended to provide the enabling framework for the legal recognition of electronic documents, records, contracts, electronic signatures, etc., with specific exceptions, as well as to provide the rules governing any electronically mediated transaction, so that they are equivalent to their traditional paper-based versions.