1. Cyber law and cyber security in support of economic development
Cécile Barayre-El Shami
Programme Manager, E-Commerce and Law Reform
ICT Analysis Section, UNCTAD
Harmonizing cyberlaws in ECOWAS, Accra, March 2014

2. Why cybersecurity matters?
Cyberattacks have the potential to destabilize on a global scale. Cybersecurity must therefore be a matter of global concern. We need to work together to bolster confidence in our networks, which are central to international commerce and governance.
We need to strengthen national legislation … push for international frameworks for collaboration … and adopt the necessary measures to detect and defuse cyber threats.
Mr. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General,
Seoul Conference on Cyberspace, Seoul, Republic of Korea, October 2013

3. Scope for more online activities thanks to improved ICT connectivity
Increased capacity of submarine fibre-optic cables connecting developing countries to cyberspace
18% Internet users in Africa
Widespread adoption of mobile devices
Nearly as many SIM cards as people
Smartphone sales surging
63.5% mobile-cellular subscriptions in Africa
Mobile broadband in Africa
Mobile-broadband subscriptions: 10.9 percent
Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions: 0.3 percent
Increased use of cloud computing – security and privacy implications of processing personal data remotely
Webmail and social networks, business applications and G-cloud
E-government initiatives
Sources: ITU, GSMA, UNCTAD (2014)

4. New forms of mobile use Text messaging (SMS) Mobile money
Expanding fastest in low-income countries: huge opportunity to improve financial inclusion with 2.5 billion unbanked in lower to middle income countries
More than 110 deployments in Africa out of 225 (March 2014); ECOWAS represents 40 percent
Benefits for micro and small enterprises
Faster and cheaper basic money transfers and payment functions
Merchant payments
Mobile solutions to international remittances (still nascent)
Lower transaction costs for micro-finance (still nascent)
Mobile micro-insurance (still nascent)
Exponential growth of mobile transactions
Eg: In Kenya, frauds involving mobile banking are amongst the fastest growing cybercrime category
Sources: UNCTAD, GSMA, ITU, national data, Gartner, J.M. Ledgard.

5. Rise of social media Facebook users in Africa growing fast
2013 (March): 50 million; 7% average penetration
Largest number of users in Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria
Cost-effective alternative to traditional websites
Mobile version of Facebook particularly popular
Used by >75% of users in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa
Requires less bandwidth
Twitter
Most tweets sent from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco.
Sources: Socialbaker, UNCTAD,

6. Signs of rapid growth of e-commerce in developing countries
B2C e-commerce sales in 2012: $1 trillion
China, India and Indonesia expected to grow fastest in 2013
China
E-commerce has grown by 120% a year since 2003
Surpassed the US in 2013 as largest e-commerce market
Requested UNCTAD to review its e-commerce legislation (2014)
Latin America: from $1.6 billion to $43 billion in past decade
Brazil accounts for largest market share (59%)
Middle East and Africa: share in global e-commerce expected to rise from 1.6% to 3.5% by 2016
Sources: Economist, Morgan Stanley, eMarketer

7. Issues to address: a long list
Cybersecurity is multi-dimensional and complex
Sovereignty, freedom of expression and privacy
No international framework and cooperation to address cybersecurity
Strenghten the infrastructure and e-payment systems
Lack of capacity:
Policy and law makers preparing and enforcing laws
Technical skills (security systems and CERTs)
Enforcement law bodies
Differences among countries
Legislation, capacity, resources
Regional agreements/frameworks
Need for more coordinated approaches among the various actors providing assistance
Need to anchor ICT, including cybersecurity issues in the post-2015 MDGs

8. UNCTAD's work on cyberlaw harmonization
Provide technical assistance to more than 40 countries in the preparation of an enabling legal and regulatory environment for e-commerce
In Africa: EAC and ECOWAS, Ethiopia
Raise awareness and build capacity of policy and law makers, including parliamentarians
Online and face-to-face training course on the “Legal Aspects of E-commerce” : legal validity of e-transaction, consumer protection, taxation, security, privacy, IPRs, content regulation
Reviews of national laws and regional agreements
Preparation of regionally harmonized legal frameworks
Programme funded by Finland

9. UNCTAD's cybersecurity assistance in ECOWAS
Project started in 2013 in cooperation with the ECOWAS Commission
To support the implementation at the national level of existing legal frameworks on e-transactions (Supplementary Act A/SA.2/01/10), cybercrime (Directive 1/08/11) and personal data protection (Supplementary Act A/SA.1/01/10)
To review e-commerce law harmonization
Partners: AU, UNCITRAL, ITU
Building capacity of policy and law makers
220 trained through distance learning (Ocotber 2013)
Two regional workshops (Dakar, February 2014; Accra, March, 2014)
New online course on the Legal Aspects of E-Commerce in October 2014
Review on cyberlaw harmonization - recommendations to further cyberlaw harmonization
"If we want to promote e-commerce in the region, we must raise consumer confidence in computer security and electronic transactions" - Dr. Raphael Koffi, Principal Programme Officer and Head of Telecommunication/ICT Division, ECOWAS Commission

10. Thank you for your attention!