UPDATE ON PROPOSED LEGISLATION

UPDATE ON PROPOSED LEGISLATION

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(Spam Control Bill, Data Protection and Electronic Transactions Act): **

1.

Mr Siew Kum Hong asked the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts if he will provide an update on the status of the proposed Spam Control Bill, the proposed data protection legislation, and the proposed revisions to the Electronic Transactions Act, and when these pieces of legislation will be introduced.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: In response to NMP Siew's query on the status of three pieces of proposed legislation, please allow me to update the House on their respective progress.

_Spam Control Bill
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The Spam Control Bill has been tabled for its First Reading at the 12th February sitting of Parliament.

_Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill
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Arising from further consultations conducted last year with stakeholders in the interactive and digital media sector, my Ministry has received feedback from the industry and academia that legal certainty for the extent of civil liability or immunity for online service providers is an important issue. Since then, my Ministry has undertaken a detailed study on the issue and we are currently working with the Attorney-General's Chambers to incorporate provisions into the Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill to address these concerns. The revised Bill is expected to be ready for a final round of public consultation in the second half of this year.

I would like to inform the House that Singapore has signed the UN Commission on International Trade Law ("UNCITRAL") Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts in July last year. The impending revisions to the Electronic Transactions Act will bring the regulatory framework for electronics transactions in Singapore in line with the Convention.

Data Protection

In February last year, I informed the House that an Inter-Ministry Committee had been set up to review Singapore's data protection regime. As data protection is a complex issue with extensive impact on businesses and general public, the review is still on going and will take some time. We need to study more closely the experiences of countries which had introduced such legislation. This will enable us to develop a data protection law which will be relevant to our context in addressing our privacy concerns, economic requirements and national interest.

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