Users of credit cards in Dominica can now breathe a little easier now that legislation is in place to protect their transaction on the internet and to bring to book malicious individuals who steal cards or the information contained in them.
On Monday parliament passed the Electronic Funds Transfer Bill which makes it an offense for anyone who steals a credit card with the intent to use it for personal use or to transfer it to another other than the issuer.
The offense can attract a fine of up to $30,000 fine or imprisonment of two years or both.
Some of the offenses covered under the bill does not exist in any current legislation in Dominica prime, minister Roosevelt Skerrit, said in parliament.
“It seeks to regulate the transfer of monies through electronic means by use of a card or number or data associated with a card for the purpose of instructing or authorizing a financial institution to debit or credit a card holders account when anything of value is purchased,” Skerrit said in explaining the bill. “The bill specifies a number of offenses related to the theft, forgery and other dishonest use of a credit card, debit card, bank card, smart card or number or data associated with such card or a bank account.”
The prime minister said the bill is intended “to build user confidence in electronic commerce and electronic transfer.”
“These offenses do not currently exist in any other legislation and relates specifically to electronic funds transfer, any offense whether committed in Dominica off an electronic terminal or through the purchase of goods and services online would be treated in the same manner,” he pointed out.
Parliamentary secretary with responsibility for ICT in the office of the prime minister, Kelver Darroux, said the new bill will protect those who use credit cards and those involved in electronic monetary transfers.
“We are quite aware that with the technology savvy world that we are now in there are a lot of persons out there will use that technology in a destructive manner and this act in fact provides the necessary legislation for the police and the financial intelligence unite to apprehend person who may want to use the technology for destructive purposes … and to enforce the full length of the law,” he said.
We still have the outside organised crime professionals to deal with, like those that hit a neighbouring island recently.
One down! another one to come. The bail act.”Others to follow. Law and order must be maintained!
I hope this covers by and large identity theft, not just electronic funds transfer. We’ll need to read the law… so something to look forward to
A bill where just taking money indiscriminately from the Treasury and giving it as handouts through the red clinic should be in that bill. This is just my opinion not that of the UWP which I support.
what a terrible idea
are u serious?must be you does steal credit cards
Now that’s good news. I see we starting to pass the electronic legislation that the OECS was working on for the last few years. Grenada passed the same bills earlier this year through the OECS-EGRIP initiative…the same initiative that is managing and implementing the Multi Purposed ID Card with the electoral Office that the other countries are adopting with Dominica.