Cabinet clears IT Bill
New Delhi : The Union cabinet has paved the way for the introduction of the Information Technology Bill. The Bill will provide a legal framework for electronic communication, trade and commerce and to prevent computer crimes.

The Bill, to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, will seek to remove barriers to electronic commerce, provide for a regulatory mechanism and give legal validity to electronic transactions. Following the passing of the Bill, the use of computer data as evidence will be permitted in courts, while electronic files will be accepted as legal document in government departments and ministries.

The Bill proposes changes in several existing Acts such as the Indian Evidence Act, Indian Penal Code, Bankers Book Evidence Act and the RBI Act, in order to tackle issues of computer crimes, such as unauthorised access to computers, networks and data bases, or misrepresenting or committing any other computer fraud.

The Bill will pave the way to make digital signatures legal, to help in digital identity verification and digital certification.

The Bill proposes to set up an extensive machinery for licensing, monitoring and certifying, and the enactment of cyber laws. This would enable overseeing areas such as jurisdiction, origin, authentication, privacy protection, intellectual property protection and computer crimes on the internet.
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Automatic route for telecom sector
New Delhi : The Telecom sector is likely to go the automatic approval route, with the government considering freeing the sector for 100 foreign ownership for telecom hardware.

Currently, foreign holding beyond 51 per cent in telecom hardware requires case-by-case approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

Given the go-ahead, foreign companies would only need the approval of the Reserve Bank of India. The proposal awaits approval from the Union Cabinet.

In a related move, automatic approval for 51 per cent foreign holding in sectors such as e-mail, voice-mail, data retrieval, data processing, on-line information, store-and-forward and fax services is also being considered.

All these sectors, besides requiring FIPB approval, also have a 49 per cent cap on foreign investment currently.
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STPI to get corporatised
Bangalore : Software Technology Parks of India are to get corporatised. In order to achieve this, the communications division, which is the most successful division of STPI will be spun off into joint ventures. The joint ventures are to be with large private sector players.

As a result, the stake of the Department of Electronics in the STPIs is expected to go down to about 50 per cent.

The move is being seen as an appropriate way of leveraging the strength of the STPI, and paving the way for making the STPI a strong carrier in the country.
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Dairy industry urges WTO renegotiation
New Delhi : The Indian Dairy Association has made a plea to the government to help stop the flow of duty free import of subsidised dairy products.

It has urged that the government renegotiate the existing rates on milk products at the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle

The IDA, the apex body of the Indian dairy industry, has said unrestricted entry of duty free dairy products led to dumping, and adversely affected the Indian dairy industry. It has made a case that foreign suppliers were being heavily subsidised up to 50 and 60 per cent, due to which they had unfair advantage.

The IDA has urged that a 50 per cent import duty be levied on dairy products.
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World trade set to grow
Geneva : World trade is set to accelerate in the year 2000, says the World Trade Organisation, thanks to recovery and economic expansion in developing countries, especially Asian economies. Increasing imports of nearly 10 per cent into the US was also helping this surge, according to Mike Moore, director general, WTO.
The WTO has revised its earlier estimates for volume growth in world trade from 3.5 per cent to 4 per cent.
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ISO all over again
New Delhi : New ISO standards are slated to be set in 2000. As a result, all companies that have already obtained ISO 9000 certification under its different series – 9001, 9002 and 9003 -- will need to opt for re-certification and upgradation in the year 2000. Existing standards will lose their validity, and fresh certification as per new standards will become essential.

The new standards will be available for use by the middle of the year 2000, according to the ISO.

About 5000 companies in India will be affected by this decision of the ISO. Worldwide, around five lakh companies will need to get re-certified.
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Cement output rises 18 per cent
New Delhi : Cement output rose 18 per cent during the first seven months of the financial year belying fears of an election period downturn. Production stood at 52.20 million tonnes for the April-October 1999 period as against 43.90 million tonnes during the same period last year.

Despatches too matched production, increasing to 51.85 million tonnes during the period, as against 43.85 million tonnes in the year-ago period, as per figures released by the Cement Manufacturers Association.

However, the industry has projected a lower second half growth, expecting to close the financial year with a 12 to 15 per cent growth.
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