New laws to stop spammers setting up in Bermuda are among a stack of e-commerce legislation set to be passed in this session of Parliament.

In Friday?s Throne Speech, Governor Sir John Vereker promised that a whole array of e-commerce law, including protecting personal data stored on computers and a revision of an e-commerce code of conduct set up in 1999, would be passed during the next sitting of Parliament. The proposed legal changes were put forward earlier this year as part of the Green Paper on E-commerce.

The Government?s e-commerce advisor, Nigel Hickson, said he was delighted that so many of the proposals had made it into the Throne Speech, which sets out what the Government intends to do in the coming Parliamentary year.

The anti-spam legislation will not stop spam flooding into e-mail accounts, but will allow the Government to shut down any spamming operation should one open in Bermuda, said Mr. Hickson.

?We do not know of any or have not know of any in Bermuda, but if a spammer set up here, we could close them down,? said Mr. Hickson.

?The Government will consider the introduction of regulations under the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 that would make it a criminal offence for a person or business to send unsolicited bulk e-mail traffic or Spam mail to citizens without their prior permission,? said Sir John. ?The Standard for Electronic Transactions will also be amended to enhance consumer protection for online transactions.?

The proposed legal changes include Data Protection Legislation, which is currently out to consultation, and an extension of this ? the Public Access to Information Legislation.

The data protection will make sure that information collected by say doctors or gyms is kept up to date, is secure and cannot be sold on. The access to information will allow public to find out more information stored about them - and will include the reasons for turning down work permits.

Sir John also said that the standard for electronic transactions will be amended to enhance consumer protection for online transactions.