CA moves to regulate E-Commerce sector to protect Kenyans from fraudsters

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) will from early next year start regulating the E-Commerce sector after drafting guidelines to protect Kenyans who have fallen prey to fraudsters.

Speaking to Capital FM Business CA Director General Francis Wangusi on November 22 CA said that the guidelines have already been drafted and are set to be enforced as soon as the authority discusses them with stakeholders within the first three months of 2019.

Wangusi said that the authority is working on adopting the National Addressing System which according to him will govern the naming and numbering of streets, numbering of properties such as buildings and parcels of land to make it easy to locate a physical address.

“Of course we have to rope in all interested parties. At the moment we are scouting for a consultant who will work with us to eliminate all the kinks before we take the bill to parliament,” said Wangusi.

According to Wangusi, E-Commerce platforms are not regulated under the Kenya Information and Communications Act (KICA).

They are not regulated as they do not comprise electronic services which the act governs.

Wangusi said that there is need to protect Kenyans following numerous claims of fraud. Pan African cyber security consulting firm, Serianu in a report said that Kenya lost Ksh 21 billion to cybercrime fraudsters in 2017.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its case study on cyber laws and regulations for enhancing E-commerce in January 2015 lamented that cyber criminals target unsuspecting online shoppers in Kenya with fake websites and counterfeit products with their preferred mode of payment being money transfer.

Consequently, Wangusi said that there is a need to regulate the platforms to instill public confidence in the sector.

“Such regulations also need to be enacted in Kenya to build consumer confidence in online transactions leading to further development of E-Commerce,” said Wangusi.