"Legal infrastructure for promoting e-commerce is not yet in place"

  What are the principal legal hurdles that come in the way of conducting e-commerce in India? The hurdles are manifold. The legal infrastructure for promoting e-commerce is not yet in place. It's more than one and-a-half years since the IT Act was passed, but the digital signature regime in the country is yet to effectively take off. At present, India does not have a licensed certifying authority appointed by the Controller of Certifying Authorities to issue digital signature certificates. Until digital signatures come into active use, e-commerce will continue to run into trouble. In addition, the Government has not yet specified the electronic format under which electronic documents can be preserved and maintained. Even electronic payments have not yet been made legal in the country. The IT Act does not even recognise electronic money, e-cash, etc. Electronic fund transfer is not legally accepted and in its absence no effective e-commerce can take place. Also the Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal has not yet been constituted. What are the positive aspects of the IT Act? The IT Act provides legal recognition for transactions carried out through electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication, commonly referred to as electronic commerce. E-commerce involves the use of alternatives to paper-based methods of communication and storage of information. It also seeks to facilitate electronic filing of documents with government agencies. Having these objectives in mind, the IT Act legalises the electronic format in the country. It also has made a couple of cyber crimes penal offences-punishable with imprisonment and fines. But much more needs to be done in this regard. New laws have to be legislated to ensure that e-commerce goes ahead smoothly, without any obstruction. What should those laws be? A couple of loopholes and certain grey areas in the digital signature regime need to be addressed. We require distinct legislation that legitimises electronic fund transfer in the country. We also need to come up with distinct legislation to protect intellectual property rights in the context of the online environment. There is an urgent need of a new and distinct code for cyber crime, which can supplement the Indian Penal Code. We need a distinct law on data protection, confidentiality and privacy given the fact that these aspects are extremely important for any e-commerce transactions anywhere in the world. Could India gain from the International Cyber Crime Treaty? India is not yet a signatory to the International Cyber Crime Treaty. The treaty, the first of its kind, has been adopted to regulate and prevent cyber crime. At present 30 members of the European Union, apart from the United States, Canada, South Africa and Japan, have already signed the treaty. The International Cyber Crime Convention promises to become the first international benchmark for controlling and regulating cyber crime and for ensuring cooperation among different signatory nations for exchanging information concerning cyber crime and cyber criminals.