Electronic Transactions Act, 2007

PART VII of the Electronic Transactions Act (§§51-59) deals with ‘Liability of Service Providers’. The statutory provisions generally employ a ‘mere conduit’ approach, and do not require service providers to actively monitor data that is transmitted or stored. However, §53 provides that the service providers only enjoy protection from liability if they are a member of the representative industry body recognized by the Minister, and have adopted and adequately implemented that body’s code of conduct.  As such, the Code of Conduct is hence set by the industry, rather the government. It is not know whether such an industry body has yet been recognized, or if such a code of conduct has been established. Furthermore, a service provider must have a designated agent to deal with notifications of infringement, in order to enjoy liability limitations for data storage (§56). §57 sets out that the Minister is to issue a notification of unlawful activity upon receiving a complaint by a complainant.