Amend laws for safe, secure digital platforms: speakers

Speakers at a seminar in Dhaka on Wednesday stressed the need for amending laws that either exclude or vaguely cover online security breaches to ensure safe and secure online platforms for consumers. 
They also urged the government to strengthen laws, like Information and Communication Technology Act 2006 and Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009, and the regulatory regime of consumer protection, considering the challenges faced by the consumers who buy products and services using digital platforms in the country. 
The Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection and the Consumers Association of Bangladesh jointly organised the seminar marking the World Consumer Rights Day, with the theme ‘let us build a digital Bangladesh that consumers can trust’.
Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, the ministry secretary Shubhashish Bose, CAB president Golam Rahman, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services president Mustafa Jabbar and E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh general secretary Abdul Wahed Tomal spoke at the discussion, presided over by DNCRP director general Shafiqul Islam Laskar.
Tofail Ahmed said that the digitisation in the country had advanced significantly and swiftly in recent days, but some existing loopholes needed to be taken care of. He said that the government was working to ensure improved rights for consumers using digital platforms.
Presenting the keynote, Mustafa Jabbar said that the trendy online shopping and monetary transaction through internet or mobile devices could not be made secure yet in the country as ‘existing laws cannot protect the rights of both consumers and businesses’.
Tomal said that the prospects of e-commerce in the country could no longer be ignored, so measures should be taken to make the platforms safe and secure for the consumers.
He added that there were around 1,000 web sites and some 10,000 Facebook pages that ran online businesses in Bangladesh, but there was no national e-commerce policy.
Commenting that existing state mechanisms were not capable of ensuring consumers’ rights, Golam Rahman said that the government must step up to protect consumers. 
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry vice-president Mahbubul Alam said that there should be mechanisms so that the consumers were not exploited in the name of business.
Shubhashish Bose assured that existing laws would be amended or new laws enacted to meet the emerging needs of the digital society.

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