IndexCyber ​​reform in the EACSLegal challenges of harmonizationDifferent legal systemsLegislative and political commitmentData protection and privacyCyber ​​crimeE-taxationIn 2006 the Council of Ministers of the East African Community East Africa met to discuss the need for regional standards integration regarding e-Government and e-Commerce. As a result of this meeting, the EAC Task Force on Cyber ​​Law, in close collaboration with the EAC Secretariat with the support of UNCTAD, recommended a modern and effective harmonized regional framework for cyber law. The first phase of the framework covered electronic transactions, electronic signatures and authentication, cybercrime, data protection and privacy. The second phase of the regulatory framework covered intellectual property, e-taxation and information security. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe East African Community is a regional economic bloc composed of five partner states including the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Rwanda and the Republic of Uganda, the Republic of Burundi and the United Republic of Tanzania headquartered in Arusha Tanzania. The main source of EAC law is the EAC Treaty which obliges Partner States, through their respective national institutions, to take all necessary measures to harmonize their respective national laws that relate to the Community. Partner States are expected to plan and direct their policies and resources with the aim of creating favorable conditions for regional development. In 2006 the EAC Council of Ministers adopted an e-Government program with the aim of deepening East Africa's regional integration through the provision of government information and services. This strategy aimed to improve and enhance the delivery of public services through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). To successfully achieve the operational efficiency of this strategy, strong support was needed in legislation related to data and network security, cybercrime and information security, as well as electronic transactions. In this regard, cyber laws have been identified as a strong pillar that needs to be put in place for the successful implementation of e-Government. The adoption of the e-commerce initiative by the EAC is considered to have the potential to generate significant economic improvement for partner states by promoting investor confidence and exploiting myriad business opportunities in almost all sectors. This requires a modern cyber law framework that interfaces between physical and electronic space. The reform of IT law in the EACThe improvement of the fiber optic link connecting Partner States to the rest of the world and the rapid expansion of mobile telephony and related services, in particular mobile money are some of the ICT developments that have triggered a rapid economic growth in the EAC region. The laying of the first undersea fiber optic cable in 2009 marked the beginning of an era of faster, cheaper Internet and greater mobile phone penetration. Increasing online activities by the private sector and public administration have accelerated the need to develop modern and harmonized cyber laws that can be benchmarked against international standards and best practices. systems. While Kenya, Uganda and Tanzaniafollow a common law system, Burundi and Rwanda both predominantly adhere to civil law systems. This has led to conflicting practices and legislative procedures between EAC country groups and has significantly contributed to slowing down harmonization efforts in the region. When it comes to cybercrime, these historical legal differences, for example in the context of criminal law, often depend on the particular “legal family” – be it civil law or common law as well as the prevailing socio-cultural and constitutional orders. National laws are also written in different languages, further complicating the harmonization process as it requires extensive research and review and significant financial resources to support the task force's activities. Rwanda, after admission into the EAC economic bloc, began to transition from its historic civil legal system towards a common law system in line with harmonization requirements. Legislative and political commitment The most important factor in any reform project such as the cyber law reform agenda is the recognition that there is an issue to be addressed in the process. It is necessary for the national political institutions of the Partner States to adopt the draft measures as well as implementation efforts aimed at achieving real economic impact and administrative attitudes and practices. Explicit political commitment is therefore required at the highest levels of the executive and legislature. The common problem among partner states is the ownership of reform projects by the relevant ministries, thus dedicating sufficient internal resources to liaise and coordinate activities with all stakeholders. This is further exacerbated by the lack of experienced politicians with legal expertise related to cyber laws. Capacity development is therefore necessary to adopt and manage the reformed environment. The regulator, law enforcement and judicial staff need to be trained to ensure that the reforms are effective. Data Protection and Privacy Personal data is sometimes said to be the fuel of the Internet economy. Companies use this data to define marketing strategies and goals so as to know the viability of their different business products. However, within the EAC Partner States, the use of this data is not regulated by any written law. Many service providers say they have rights to the data they collect and can use this data according to their own policies. In the EAC, no Partner State has adopted adequate data protection and privacy laws. Kenya borrowed the UK's Data Protection Act 1998 word for word, but the process of turning it into law appears to have been halted. In Rwanda, data protection and privacy provisions are only present in the Telecommunications Law, but mainly concern voice and data privacy. In the United Republic of Tanzania, there is still no legal framework for data protection and regulation. In Uganda, this provision is rooted in the 2015 Data Protection Bill, which still fails to comprehensively protect data and privacy as it lacks concise clauses on key areas such as breach notification and data portability. data. With the expansion of the information economy in the region, data protection and privacy are becoming increasingly important as more and more business models and practices move to the digital platform and share and exchange regional data. It therefore follows that, in the absence of adequate data protection and privacy legislation, the process ofharmonization is difficult and there is a strong need to strengthen control over the collection and use of personal data, including imposing obligations on those who process such data. It is clear that this is still an area of ​​vulnerability in the EAC for which regulations need to be established as data protection has a direct effect on global and regional trade. Cybercrime With Partner's implementation of Phase 1 of the legislative reform framework, e-commerce is expected to expand with more and more businesses moving their businesses online. This also means that criminal activities will be rampant in the region. Existing criminal laws in several Partner States may not be adequate to effectively address new online criminal conduct, such as crimes perpetrated through the use of ICT. This requires both substantive and procedural law reforms by partner states to provide adequate powers to law enforcement and judiciary authorities to investigate and adjudicate these new types of criminal activities. Kenya has published the Computer and Cybercrimes Bill which seeks to provide for crimes relating to computer systems; enable the timely and effective collection of forensic material for use as evidence and facilitate international cooperation in the management of cybercrime issues and related purposes. The Tanzania Cybercrimes Act of 2015 was enacted and signed into law in 2015. The Act makes provisions to criminalize crimes relating to computer systems and information and communications technologies, provides for the investigation, collection and use of electronic evidence in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. Uganda passed the Computer Misuse Act of 2011 which makes provisions for the security of electronic transactions and information systems, the abuse or misuse of information systems, including computers, and makes provisions to ensure the conduct of transactions electronic. The main challenge in relation to cybercrime legislation in the EAC region arises from the fact that they are not harmonized in terms of sanctions for cybercrime offences. They provide divergences in national approaches to cybercrime acts. For example, examining just one crime, illegal entry, shows a notable difference in perceived severity between Partner States. Furthermore, given that cybercrime has no borders and is a type of crime that does not require the offender to cross national borders to commit a crime, there are no well-written jurisdictional authorities to punish cybercriminals, e.g. Cybercrime is committed across borders within a country. the EAC Partner States. The other challenge is that cyber attacks are increasingly global in nature and, as such, it is not always possible to simply manage them at a national level. “Cyber ​​attacks have the potential to destabilize on a global scale. Cyber ​​security must, therefore, be a matter of global concern. We must work together to strengthen trust in our networks, which are critical to international trade and governance. We must strengthen national legislation… push for international collaborative frameworks… and take the necessary steps to identify and defuse cyber threats.” Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General, Seoul Conference on Cyberspace, Seoul, Republic of Korea, October 2013 EAC Partner States should ratify multilateral instruments such as the Budapest Convention which provides a legal framework for international cooperation on cybercrime and electronic evidence..