Parliament passes Electronic Filing Bill

Legislation has been passed in St Vincent and the Grenadines to make it legal for information relating to the business of government to be stored electronically, rather than on paper.

On April 30, at the House of Assembly, the Electronic Filing Bill 2015 was passed, with all members of Parliament voting in favour of its passage.{{more}}

The Bill was presented by Minister of Information Technology Camillo Gonsalves and was not subjected to further debate from either side of the House.

“The legislation forms part of a suite of six bills that we hope to pass to enhance e-governance and also e-commerce in St Vincent and the Grenadines,” Gonsalves explained.

The Technology Minister indicated that the Bill will allow for the law to accept written documents in their electronic format. Also, record keeping documents will also be converted to electronic storage.

“We are hoping that this bill will facilitate the move to e-governance, so that members of the public will be able to file forms and make public applications online, that a great deal of the information and information relating to the business of government could be stored electronically, rather than on paper. It will facilitate that during transactions with public authorities, information can be submitted using electronic forms in a manner specified by the various authorities,” he said. (BK)