Cyber law enacted

With the objective of regularizing the electronic activities and cyber-based transactions, the government has introduced Electronic Transactions Act 2006.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Subash Nemwang authenticated the cyber law on Friday formally enacting it. With the enacting of this law, electronic transactions involving e-commerce or e-business will now receive formal legal sanction.

"The government has introduced this law to make electronic transactions safer and to authenticate the electronic documents and to check cyber crimes," said Purushottam Ghimire, a joint secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology.

The cyber law has provisions regarding the definition, use and legality of entire gamut of electronic activities including digital signature, digital documents and so on.

The act also has provision governing network service providers, electronic transactions tribunal, electronic transactions appellate tribunal and computer-related crimes. Till now the administration has been booking cyber offenders under Public Security Act. However, this act has provisions dealing with specific crimes related with computer use.

The computer and information technology entrepreneurs had been demanding such law for a long time.