Taxation of Electronic Commerce: A Developing Problem

The rapid growth of e-commerce, especially the sale of goods and services over the internet, has fuelled a debate about the taxation regimes to be used. The shift from a physically oriented commercial environment to a knowledge-based electronic environment poses serious and substantial issues in relation to taxation and taxation regimes. Tax administrations throughout the world face the formidable task of protecting their revenue base without hindering either the development of new technologies or the involvement of the business community in the evolving and growing e-market place. Concerns of governments centre on the impact of e-commerce on the state and local revenue. Whereas states can impose a tax on residents' purchases from out-of-state vendors, they cannot impose an obligation on those vendors to collect the tax unless the vendor has a substantial presence, or nexus, in the state. These problems will be greater for developing countries. The shrinking of the tax base will have a disproportionate effect and further jeopardize the already fragile economy of the developing world.     

Human Genome and Patent

The first phase of the Human Genome Project came to an end by the summer of 2000. We have a fairly complete and accurate listing of all the genes in a typical human being. Apart from the tremendous impact that this knowledge will have on health care, it also represents a patent rush where both private and public institutions are trying to gain temporary control, through patents, over the use and reproduction of genetic information. This paper introduces the reader to issues involving the patent ability of genes, the tests used by patent offices to award patents. The ownership of the human genome--and the access to the tools and databases necessary to make sense out of the millions of bits of information that make up the estimated 100,000 human genes--constitutes one of the hottest debates in the public policy arena not just in the field of science but sociology, politics, law and ethics.     

E‐government and developing countries: an overview

E‐governance is more than just a government website on the Internet. The strategic objective of e‐governance is to support and simplify governance for all parties; government, citizens and businesses. The use of ICTs can connect all three parties and support processes and activities. In other words, in e‐governance electronic means support and stimulate good governance. Therefore, the objectives of e‐governance are similar to the objectives of good governance. Good governance can be seen as an exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to better manage affairs of a country at all levels. It is not difficult for people in developed countries to imagine a situation in which all interaction with government can be done through one counter 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without waiting in lines. However to achieve this same level of efficiency and flexibility for developing countries is going to be difficult. The experience in developed countries shows that this is possible if governments are willing to decentralize responsibilities and processes, and if they start to use electronic means. This paper is going to examine the legal and infrastructure issues related to e‐governance from the perspective of developing countries. Particularly it will examine how far the developing countries have been successful in providing a legal framework.