St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is now the second Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) member state to introduce new legislation governing the telecommunications sector.
This follows the safe passage of the Electronic Communications Bill during the 12th sitting of the House of Assembly on Tuesday October 24th, 2022.
The new legislation was tabled by Prime Minister and Minister of Information Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and replaces the Telecommunications Act which was passed by Parliament in the year 2000.
The Electronic Communications Bill is geared at strengthening customer service delivery; establish a dispute tribunal to address issues affecting stakeholders; introduce stronger penalties for breach of legislation and clauses; promotes fairness, transparency and accountability between providers and regulators.
The Legislation also seeks to improve conditions and terms for issuance of licenses, facilitate production of content and the monetization of content across internet-based platforms; broaden the scope of telecommunications to include contemporary electronic communications methodologies and preserve an open internet and the concept of neutrality.
