Under-secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Planning in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mr. Abdul Latif Bin Hammad, stated that UAE will soon issue a federal law on e-commerce, the Gulf News reported.
"Hopefully, the law would be issued before the First Gulf E-Commerce Conference to be held in Abu Dhabi, November 20-21, 2005," he said.
"The E-Commerce Conference will tackle the concept, requirements, and challenges of e-commerce in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)," he added.
Mr. Hammad also pointed out that the conference is part of a series of measures the GCC is taking in the e-commerce field such as, drafting a unified Gulf e-commerce law, developing e-payment, and unifying online governmental purchase orders.
The UAE’s federal e-commerce law will carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of Dh250,000 for the originator, publisher, or provider of any certificate containing incorrect information, who deliberately do so for fraud or any other illegal purpose.
According to the law, those who deliberately present incorrect information to authentication service providers for obtaining, canceling, or suspending a certificate, will receive a prison term of up to six months, or a fine of Dh100,000, or both.
Any offence committed by means of an electronic device will carry a prison term of not more than six months or a Dh100,000 fine, or both.
The e-commerce law regulates the requirements of an electronic transaction, namely e-mails and e-signatures, electronic records, conditions required for electronic documents or records to be treated as a written document, conditions for an e-document or record to be regarded as an original document, and conditions required for the electronic information to be accepted as evidence.