Legislation
Parliamentary Acts and Bills relevant to the work of the Ministry

 

List of Legislation Guyana Tourism Authority Act 2002 (100KB) Small Business Act 2004 (53KB) Competition & Fair Trading Bill (333KB) E-Commerce Bill (69KB) Consumer Protection Act 2004 (92KB) [Download the free Adobe® Reader™]

Legislation relevant to Tourism

The Guyana Tourism Authority Act 2002.

[Guyana Tourism Authority Act 2002] (100KB)
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Legislation relevant to the Industry Department

 

Small Business Act 2004

The Small Business Act 2004 (Act No. 2 of 2004) was passed by the National Assembly (Parliament) on 15 Mar 2004 and assented to by H. E. President Bharrat Jagdeo on 31 Mar 2004.

[Small Business Act 2004] (53KB)
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Legislation developed by the Commerce Department

 

Competition and Fair Trading Bill

The purpose of the Competition and Fair Trading Bill is to:

 

(a) promote, maintain and encourage competition and enhance economic efficiency in production, trade and commerce;
(b) to prohibit anti-competitive business conduct which prevents, restricts or distorts competition or constitutes a dominant position in the market; and
(c) to promote the welfare and interests of consumers.

Public consultations on this Bill were held in conjunction with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association, the Bill was submitted to and approved by the Trade Sub-Committee of Cabinet. The re-draft based on the results of the consultations have since been completed, and the final version has been submitted to the Cabinet Secretary to be discussed at Cabinet.

[Competition & Fair Trading Bill] (333 KB)
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E-Commerce Bill

Commerce Division has developed a draft E-commerce Bill. A bullet point summary of the main provisions of the draft Bill is provided below:

Legal requirements respecting electronic communications

• Electronic records are expressly given legal recognition
  Where a document has to be in writing for legal purposes, a document in electronic form will meet that requirement. However, wills, trusts, dispositions of property, enduring powers of attorney and court documents are expressly excluded.
• Subject to conditions, delivery of legal documents may be made electronically.
• An electronic version of an original document may be used as evidence (including in court) of the original provided that the electronic version is an accurate representation of the original.
• Subject to conditions, legal documents may be retained and made available for inspection in electronic form.
• Subject to a limited number of mandatory provisions, those undertaking e-business are free to contract out of the Law – the Law is intended to provide a framework and certainty but not to fetter the ways in which parties which to carry out legitimate e-business.

Formation and validity of contracts

• Contracts may be made electronically e.g. by exchange of emails.
• Specific rules are made with regard to attributing an electronic record to the originator – considerable care will be needed by originators to ensure that they do not become legally bound inadvertently.
• Specific rules dealing with validity of acknowledgements of electronic messages, the time at which an electronic message is sent and received and the place at which an electronic message is sent and received – the latter is potentially very important with regard to jurisdictional issues surrounding governing law and the correct forum for enforcement of a contract.

E-Commerce Service Providers and Intermediaries

• Specific defenses (in the case of a criminal prosecution) or limitations of liability (in the case of a civil suit) for e-commerce service providers and intermediaries.
• Provisions to establish a code of conduct in relation to e-commerce service providers and intermediaries.

E-Commerce Advisory Board

• Provision for the appointment of an E-Commerce Advisory Board.

Digital Signatures

• Digital signatures on a document have the same legal validity as conventional signatures.
• Specific rules as to what will constitute a reliable digital signature and provision for further regulation on this issue.
• Provision for specific recognition of digital signatures given by foreign certification service providers.
• Documents may be notarised and signed electronically.

Data Protection

• No specific rules with regard to data protection but provision made for regulations to be made in this area.

Miscellaneous

• Provision for regulation of the country code top level .gy domain name
• General power to make further regulations under the Law.

The next step for this piece of Legislation is a public consultation exercise to be carried out before presenting the draft Bill to Parliament.

[Draft E-Commerce Bill] (69 KB)
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Consumer Affairs Legislation

Consumer Protection Act

The Consumer Protection Act 2004.

[Consumer Protection Act 2004] (92 KB)
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