OFFSHORE E-COMMERCE STRATEGIES CONFERENCE. TORONTO, CANADA 19th & 20th February 2001

Transcription

1 OFFSHORE E-COMMERCE STRATEGIES CONFERENCE TORONTO, CANADA 19th & 20th February 2001

2 THE KEY ADVANTAGES OF THE ISLE OF MAN FOR OFFSHORE E-COMMERCE TIM CRAINE Director of e-commerce, Isle of Man Government

3 POLITICAL, CULTURAL AND REPUTATION ISSUES Located at the heart of the British Isles NOT part of the UK Special relationship with EU Worlds oldest continuous parliament Self governing except for defence and foreign relations Political stability Population of 75,000 Financial services account for 42% of GDP National debt of 7,500 Standard & Poor s and Moodys AAA credit rating Favourable Edwards Report on the Isle of Man Favourable Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Reports Removal from the OECD Blacklist

4 LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FLEXIBILITY Internally self governing Crown Dependency Benefits of a small jurisdiction Cabinet style Government Council of Ministers Legislation Committee Fast Track Legislative option Detail in the Subordinate Legislation Well established consultative processes with private sector Electronic Transactions Act 2000 On-Line Gambling Regulation Bill Taxation Flexibility New Tax Strategy

5 Legislation in place to facilitate and encourage e-commerce The Electronic Transactions Act 2000 Overview Based on UN model as adopted in Australia Technological neutrality Royal assent in July 2000 In force from 1 st November 2000 Facilitative legislation Non-Prescriptive Consensual A legislative foundation only Avoids UK s Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act mistakes

6 Government is committed to new tax strategies which will reduce corporate and personal taxes further Current taxation rates: Corporate - Under New Tax Strategy: Corporate - Higher 20% Standard 14% Personal - Higher 20% Standard 14% Higher 15% Standard 10% Personal - Higher 15% Standard 10% To be achieved within 3-5 years

7 Leading-edge Telecommunications Infrastructure Offering High Bandwidth Resilient Services Manx Telecom the Island s telecoms provider Telecoms infrastructure Telecoms showcase Fully digital switching system and core infrastructure Well established ISDN ADSL Amongst first ten in the world to roll out Third generation mobile phone services (UMTS) available in 2001 Choice of independent ISP s, web-hosting services, business continuity and IT co-location providers National and International leased (private) circuits Massive bandwidth capacity and resilience

8 Isle of Man Telecommunication links PEEL RAMSEY KIRK MICHAEL DOUGLAS Key to Telecommunications Links Microwave Link Existing CASTLETOWN

9 Isle of Man Telecommunication links RAMSEY RAMSEY KIRK M ICHAEL KIRK MICHAEL PEEL DOUGLAS Key to Telecommunications Links Microwave Link Existing New in 2000 CASTLETOWN

10 Isle of Man Telecommunication links RAMSEY RAMSEY KIRK M ICHAEL KIRK MICHAEL PEEL DOUGLAS Key to Telecommunications Links Microwave Link Existing New in 2000 Available in 2001 CASTLETOWN

11 Isle of Man Telecommunication links RAMSEY RAMSEY KIRK M ICHAEL KIRK MICHAEL PEEL DOUGLAS Key to Telecommunications Links Microwave Link Existing New since 2000 Available in 2001 Operational with new potential CASTLETOWN The UK fibre link alone, with its 1.2 terabits per second capacity, is capable of carrying up to 10 times the current transatlantic Internet traffic

12 CERTIFICATION AUTHORITIES Announcement by Wisekey that it has chosen the Isle of Man to establish Wiseoffshore to provide certification authority services to other offshore centres Invisimail s comprehensive range of award winning open standard encryption and content security applications Isle of Man Government to use Invisimail encryption for its communications The need for Electronic Know Your Customer (EKYC) trust The need for FATF endorsement for any solution to EKYC

13 DATA FARMS There are 3 Hosting/Co-location service providers, with secure premises There are 5 ISPs There are 3 Disaster Recovery (Business Continuity) Service Providers Manx Telecom the Island s telecoms provider, and biggest ISP also offers Offshore Data Farm services: - Dedicated Server Hosting - Co-location Facility Domicilium Skanco

14 FULFILLMENT SERVICES Fulfillment of Goods Duke Video Coronado Bigsave.com Provision of world class professional services specialising in: International Legal Advisers International Accounting Services International Banking Insurance & Captives Fiduciary Services Cont d

15 FULFILLMENT SERVICES (Cont d) World class IT industry: Web consultancy Web design Software development E-security Multi-Media Fulfillment Audio Video

16 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS Number of banks: 62 Number of building societies: 2 Deposit base: billion (1 billion =1000 million) Managers of Collective Investment Schemes: 22 Third Party Fund Administrators: 3 Banks undertaking third party fund administration: 1 Number of funds (all classifications) : 72 Funds under Management: 3.97 billion (1 billion =1000 million) Investment Business (all categories): 57 The Big Three Accountancy Firms PWC Ernst & Young Deloitte & Touche

17 MONEY LAUNDERING LAWS Legislation can be covered under 2 headings, primary and secondary. Everyone is subject to the primary legislation, whereas only specifically named persons are subject to the secondary legislation. The primary legislation is: The Prevention of Terrorism Act 1990 The Criminal Justice Act 1990 The Drug Trafficking Act 1996 It is an offence to fail to disclose suspicions or knowledge of money laundering under these Acts

18 ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING CODE 1998 An amendment to Criminal Justice Act in 1998 allowed the Department of Home Affairs to make codes. This led to the Anti-Money Laundering Code 1998 (AMLC), which is secondary legislation. Aside from the traditional financial services businesses, the AMLC also applies to: Local Government The Post Office Estate agents Casinos and Bookmakers Corporate and Trust Service Providers Bureau de Change Money Transmission Agents Lawyers and Accountants

19 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP) PROTECTION Fully developed laws protecting intellectual property Party to the World Trade Organisation s (WTO) TRIPS Agreement on intellectual property Party to the Berne Convention (Paris Revisions 1971 and 1979) and the Universal Copyright Convention Specific Legislation in place covering Copyright Designs Trade Marks Patents Performance Rights Database Right Plant Breeders Rights

20 Excellent Education and Training Facilities Probably the first education authority in the British Isles to have all classrooms wired up for internet access Everyone of the Island s primary and secondary schools and the Isle of Man college has been cabled with voice and data networking linking every classroom Modern computer to student ratio: 1:7 in Primary* (UK 1.13) 1:5 in Secondary (UK 1.8) Every full time teacher has been given a laptop for professional use All secondary school leavers will have attained an ICT qualification Fifth report on recent ICT innovation in IOM schools has just appeared in the Times Educational Supplement Isle of Man International Business School opened in September DTI Internet training initiatives * Isle of Man all less than 3yrs old

21 Due diligence checklist WTO/OECD member UNICITRAL based electronic transactions legislation Legal recognition of electronic transactions Admissibility of electronic evidence Sophisticated Intellectual Property Right Laws Modern and proportional Data Protection Laws Laws prohibiting the misuse of electronic data Dedicated electronic data surveillance laws Laws prohibiting/ controlling encryption Modern legal remedies (damages / injunction etc Modern conflict of rules laws (based on common law) A tradition of enforcing duties of confidentiality Excessive consumer protection laws Telecommunications regulation A credible ultimate appeal court (Privy Council) Experienced commercial judges FATF compliant anti-money laundering laws Modern banking / investment / insurance business laws Respected regulators for the above X X X

22 Questions? TIM CRAINE Director of e-commerce