To facilitate the comprehension of the IP/ICT Law in Bahrain, the law related to this matter may be grouped to seven (7) main headings as follow:
1- Electronic Transaction Law;
There are three interrelated piece of legislation on this aspect. Enacted in 2002, the Electronic Transaction Law has, among other, sanctioned the legality of electronic transaction, the recognition electronic signatures, etc. Read more...
2- Regulations on Electronic Signature;
In pursuance to the provisions of the Electronic Transaction Law, two sets of Regulations on Electronic Signature had been enacted. The first set is meant to regulate the commercial entities intend to offer services on electronic signatures. The other is meant to appoint one government organisation to act as a Certification Service Provider to provide such services to both the government sector and the public at large. Read more...
3- Government Electronic Activities;
Appropriate deployment of ICT plays the important role in the success and efficiency of the government ministries/organisations. That is acknowledged as the Electronic Transaction Law includes the mandate for the relevant government organisation to set the rules and procedures regulating the government electronic activities. Read more...
4- ICT Committees & the eGovernment Agency;
In 2005 the Prime Minister issued a Resolution setting up the Supreme Committee of ICT and the Technical Committee of ICT. In 2007, the eGovernment Agency was established. Read more...
5- Telecommunication Law;
In 2002 King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa issued the legislation that regulates matters related to telecommunication. In 2002 King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa issued the legislation that regulates matters related to telecommunication. Read more...
6- National ID Card Law and Regulations;
National ID laws and the
regulations are concentrated on the operational and procedural aspects of the
National ID Cards, the availability of the National IDs, their very nature as smart cards and
the advantage the cards have to offer will facilitate the implementation and
participations in eGovernment. Read more...
7- Intellectual Property Law.
Government commitment
towards providing ‘comfortable virtual zone’ is also shown by many numbers of
Intellectual Property related legislation that have been enacted recently. One
of the adverse effects technology has introduced is that it can be easily
deployed to breach the intellectual property rights of others. Read more...
In addition to the laws identified above, there are several draft laws that have been tabled in the parliament. They are:
- the computer crimes
laws;
- the freedom of
information laws; and
- the data protection laws.
These drafts of laws have been prepared in response
to some incidents that call for the attention to have the matter properly
addressed by way of legislation. The draft of computer crimes laws was prepared
in 2004, the draft of the freedom of information law was proposed in 2005 while
the draft of the data protection laws was put forward recently to balance the
effect that may come with the introduction of the freedom of information laws.
© 2008 - Hurriyah El Islamy