June  02 to 27, 2014

The development of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has led to e-commerce growth, which represents an opportunity for countries to achieve economic growth and poverty reduction. However, it has also revealed the fragility of the legal framework in the region. In this regard, UNCTAD provides technical assistance to governments of developing countries, so as to strengthen the legal aspects of e-commerce that regulate the use of ICTs and the promotion and dissemination of national legal frameworks.

From 2007 to 2012, UNCTAD, with the support of the Kingdom of Spain, organized and offered distance training courses and regional workshops on the legal aspects of e-commerce for Latin American and Caribbean countries. The results of these courses enabled participants to analyze and compare the cyberlegislation in different countries and to discuss possible options to contribute to the harmonization of legislations, the security of transactions and trade facilitation. As a result of the regional workshops, two important studies on the prospects for harmonization of cyberlegislations were carried out and focused on Latin America (June 2009) and Central America and the Caribbean (2010).

For their part, the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) have given priority in their work programmes for 2014 to the implementation of technical assistance actions to strengthen the capabilities of government officials of their Member States in the use of electronic commerce. Training and capacity building of professionals in the legal field, in particular officials in charge of drafting legislations and representatives of the private sector, is a practical and effective way to achieve a common understanding of the legal and regulatory aspects of e-commerce.

The Permanent Secretariat of SELA provided technical assistance for the conduction of the Distance Learning Course on the Legal Aspects of E-commerce for SELA Member States in 2010 and 2011, as well as of workshops on cyberlegislation held in 2010 and 2012 to follow up on the issue.

The distance learning course of this year, to be conducted from 2 to 27 June 2014, responds to requests made by countries in the region and will be followed by a four-day workshop, scheduled to be held in September 2014 in Guayaquil and organized with the financial support of the Government of Finland and in collaboration with the Permanent Secretariat of SELA, the Secretariat of ACS and the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Ecuador.