After 18 months in the works, the Government has launched its consultation paper on E-commerce.

The Minister of Tourism, Telecommunication and E-commerce, Renee Webb, introduced the paper to the House of Assembly on Friday.

At one time, e-commerce was expected to become the "third pillar" of Bermuda's economy, along with tourism and insurance. But the anticipated boom in dot-com companies coming to Bermuda died with when the Internet bubble burst in 2001.

The Ministry's e-commerce consultants have now taken stock of the situation and redefined their vision for how Bermuda will contribute to the e-revolution.

They have put now together 75 recommendations and they want feedback from the public and stakeholders.

"E-business Green Paper: The Second Wave" announces the vision that "Bermuda, through its provision of e-business services and transactions, will become a leading jurisdiction for sophisticated and secure e-business."

According to the paper, Bermuda now has a solid foundation in terms of both legislation and infrastructure.

Space restrictions, cost of accommodation, salaries and travel costs mean that Bermuda is inherently unsuitable for bulk, high bandwidth transactions like on-line gambling, for example. Furthermore, the Island does not have space for large server farms or call centres.

Instead, the "second wave" of e-business development will focus on more sophisticated business to business opportunities (B2B) rather than on general business to consumer (B2C) transactions.

The "secure" aspect refers to disaster recovery and business continuity services, regarded as critical since 9/11. Some companies may have their IT facilitates onshore but are looking for locations where they can install back-up facilities.

"The paper is not just a candy coated glossy marketing brochure," stated Minister Webb: "It does not shy away from discussing the difficult issues and in assessing where, in some aspects, we need to improve our act."

The paper says that availability of broadband services and the e-business awareness in the workforce are two areas that need to be improved.

It also proposes the introduction of child protection measures, which for example, would make receiving e-mailed child pornography and "stalking" a child by e-mail an offence.

The e-business plan is not restricted to the commercial arena and also encompasses education and government. One of the key components of the strategy is to use IT and e-business techniques to improve educational opportunities, training of teachers and pupils, as well as the wider population, to enhance supply of skilled labour and increase opportunities for all Bermudians.

To this end, a further recommendation is that under certain circumstances, payroll tax relief should be available for companies employing Bermudians who are undertaking IT training.