Parts I and II
11.The first consultation on most of the matters covered by Parts I and II was undertaken by the previous administration in March 1997.
12.The Government announced its response to that consultation, and its policy on the provision of cryptography services, in a parliamentary statement by Mrs Barbara Roche, then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry, on 27 April 1998 (Hansard, HoC, column 27; available on the Parliament website at www.parliament.uk/commons.htm).
13.A broader consultation - “Building Confidence in Electronic Commerce: A Consultation Document” (URN 99/642) (available on the DTI website at www.dti.gov.uk/cii/elec/elec_com.html) - was launched on 5 March 1999. A summary of the responses to this consultation (URN 99/891) is available on the DTI website at www.dti.gov.uk/cii/elec/conrep.htm.
14.The Trade and Industry Select Committee of the House of Commons published a report on the matters covered by the consultation document on 18 May 1999 (“Building Confidence in Electronic Commerce: The Government’s Proposals”, HC 187; available on the Parliament website at www.parliament.uk/commons/ selcom/t&ihome.htm).
15.A draft of the Electronic Communications Bill was published for consultation on 23 July 1999 in the document “Promoting Electronic Commerce” (Cm 4417) available on the DTI website at: www.dti.gov.uk/cii/elec/ecbill.html. This document also contained the Government’s response to the Trade and Industry Select Committee report. A summary of the responses to this consultation (URN 99/1218) is also available on the DTI website (www.dti.gov.uk/cii/elec/billsumm.html) along with copies of the responses themselves (www.dti.gov.uk/cii/elec/ecbill_responses.html).
16.On 3 November 1999, the Trade and Industry Select Committee of the House of Commons published a report on the draft Electronic Communications Bill (HC 862, available on the Parliament website). The Government response was published on 18 January (HC 168, also available on the Parliament website).
