Government criticised for lack of ecommerce consultation

NEWS Two influential lobby groups have attacked the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for cutting corners over its ecommerce paper consultation period. The Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) and e centre UK say the three week consultation period given for the paper released last Friday is not long enough. The consultation period is a chance for businesses to put their reaction and ideas to the government which will use the input to draw-up legislation for ecommerce. The paper outlines ecommerce legislation, including plans for key escrow and digital signature law. Originally due in September 1997, its publication has been plagued by what many observers see as a lack of decision making by the government and an inability to get to grips with the complexity of the issues. In a letter to Stephen Byers, secretary of state for trade and industry, FIPR's director, Caspar Bowden, says the DTI has broken its own guidelines for consultation which state that eight weeks are needed. But the DTI this morning was unwilling to accept Bowden's point: "Eight weeks are only guidelines," said a spokeswoman. She added that consultation on the paper has been going on for months and the DTI is confident that "the key players are up to speed and will submit responses in time". Bowden was unimpressed with that response. "It's not acceptable for the government to break its own rules to get out of a fix of their own making," he said. According to Bowden this is not the only example of slackness on the part of the government. He told Silicon.com that the ombudsman is already investigating a one year delay in responding to an FIPR 'Open Government' request for information about encryption policy. He concluded: "Three weeks is not long enough for businesses to provide an adequate response to the paper."