Laws for E-Transactions/E-Payment to be introduced in 2023

Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall says the Government will introduce bills for E-Transactions/E-Payment to support implementation of the Single Window System Bill

The Government aims to introduce laws in 2023 to better govern electronic transactions and payments. This was disclosed by Attorney General Anil Nandlall during his programme “Issues in the News”.

“E-Transaction/E-Payment Bills are also two pieces of legislation that will also come on stream (in) 2023. This is where we are going to introduce and allow for the use of plastic in public institutions’ payments. We have to move in that direction, dispense with money and so on and use cards in the public sector,”

President Irfaan Ali has formerly indicated that efforts to transform the country will include provisions for paperless transactions.

This legislation will allow citizens to make payments via their debit and credit cards in a more secure and comfortable environment.

These bills will also support the development of the Single Window System, for which legislation has already been presented to the National Assembly.

Implementation of the Single Window System Bill would allow citizens to conduct all of their necessary transactions with Government agencies through one source.

Minister Nandlall said the bill is structured in a way that would ensure citizens get to conduct services swiftly and efficiently within a specific timeframe, and that would aid in eradicating constant delays, bribery and corruption.

“This Bill has a mechanism that when it goes to a particular office, if it stays there within a particular timeframe and it is not dealt with by that agency, it is deemed to be granted. Whatever that agency had to do, the law says it will be presumed that it was granted, and the application moves on,”

Meanwhile, the General Register Office (GRO) and Immigration Support Services have only recently implemented their e-payment options through Mobile Money Guyana (MMG).

This system allows persons to make online payments for transactions conducted with those agencies, so as to save time and have services offered to them more efficiently.