Houda Feraoun: We’re Ready To Launch e-Commerce

Minister of Post, Information Technology, Communication and Digital Economy, Ms. Imène Houda Feraoun, confirmed on Tuesday the Ministry’s readiness to launch e-commerce in Algeria via the Internet.

“The e-commerce bill, which was approved by the cabinet, will come into effect immediately after it is adopted by the two chambers of parliament,” the minister said in  a morning news program broadcast by the third radio channel.
She added that the financial institutions represented by the banks and Algerie Post are ready to enter these transactions after all the measures and arrangements related to this activity are wrapped up so as to protect the rights of both the traders and the consumers.
The draft law regulates the rights and duties of the trader and the consumer and the arrangements related to the implementation of the commercial transaction on the Internet, in addition to outlining the measures pertaining to the protection of the confidentiality of electronic transactions from data on bank balances and smart postal cards for citizens with the securing of all financial transactions guaranteed by banks and Algerie Post.
According to the Minister, the trader in this regard is thus required to put clear-cut pictures of the marketable products and determine the price and delivery time of the goods for sale.
The matter must attach his website to “.dz” and if he violates the provisions of the bill, he will be subject to penalties, she underlined.
“Everything that is legitimate can be marketed on the Internet, except for some specialty products such as drugs, tobacco and alcoholic beverages,” she added.
“Legislative regulation of e-commerce activities will protect consumers’ rights from all forms of digital fraud,” she said.
“The bill was designed to encourage the use of this new type of service in line with the steady technological enhancement in this field of endeavor”.
Speaking about the electronic payment, the minister confirmed the deployment of a wide network of private devices for this type of payment through Algerie Post which is bracing to acquire 50 thousand electronic payment devices so as to engage traders in the success of this endeavor, noting that they gave them a year to install these e-payment devices in their commercial spaces.
This e-payment system, she said, will spare citizens the problem of lack of liquidity in financial institutions and will also drastically curtail the circulation of forged banknotes.