Your monthly digest on all legal technology news happening around the Caribbean.
Bahamas
Digital currency is being given even closer consideration in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, as The Central Bank of The Bahamas (CBOB) considers ways, using technology, to get payments to hurricane-affected islands quicker. Click here to read more.
Barbados
* The days of standing in long lines at the Barbados Licensing Authority or branches of the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) to pay for one’s driver’s licence, will soon be a thing of the past. Click here to read more.
* As the Government seeks to implement Value Added Tax (VAT) on online transactions, a key small business representative has urged authorities to carefully consider its likely effect on entrepreneurs. Click here to read more.
* A new bank scam has been revealed in which Manager’s Cheques – routinely honoured by merchants and the commercial banking system – appear to be a tool of crooks passing fake paper targeting Republic Bank, the Bank said in a brief statement. Click here to read more.
* The push for Barbadians to buy in to the concept of digital currency has gotten the stamp of approval from one of the region’s leading economic minds, who has hailed it as a major facilitator of growth and business. Click here to read more.
Guyana
* The Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) is working along with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to locate the guardians of a child who was seen in a video on social media being held down and beaten with a piece of wood. Click here to read more.
* Weeks after unveiling a major security project that involved the placement of over 100 cameras across the city, the administration is now assuring that there is nothing nefarious in the facial recognition capabilities. Click here to read more.
Jamaica
* Parish Judge Anne Marie Grainger has allowed into evidence a Samsung mobile phone and a SIM card that defence attorneys in the Manchester Municipal Corporation's multimillion-dollar fraud trial had sought to block at Wednesday's sitting of the court in Mandeville. Click here to read more.
* The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) is advising members of the public to be on the lookout for fraudulent cheques bearing the organisation’s name. Click here to read more.
* Minister with responsibility for education Karl Samuda says that, in keeping with the 1980 Education Regulations, schools introducing automated fingerprinting systems to monitor attendance must get his ministry's approval. This issue was triggered after reports of a school requiring the submission of fingerprints in order to record attendance. Click here to read more.
* Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has indicated that efforts are being made to iron out issues surrounding the promulgation of new regulations governing the use of technology in prosecuting road traffic offences. “To the best of my knowledge, provisions are being put together to allow vehicles [to be] ticketed based on video or photographic evidence,” Chuck tweeted. Click here to read more.
* Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has said that there is no longer a need for the highly controversial section of the Criminal Justice (Administration) Act which prohibits the photographing or sketching of prisoners in the court or within its confines. Click here to read more.
* The Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) has joined the Media Association of Jamaica in its call for the repeal of section 33 of the Criminal Justice (Administration) Act, which prohibits photographing or sketching prisoners in court, or in the precincts of the court. Click here to read more.
* The Parliamentary Joint Select Committee (JSC) which is reviewing the Data Protection Act has agreed that public registers should not be exempted from mandatory registration as data controllers.Click here to read more.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
* Almost two years after the state brought its first case under the Cyber Crime Act, passed in 2016, the prosecution has withdrawn the matter. Click here to read more.
Trinidad & Tobago
* With the passage of the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill 2019 in the House of Representatives, Trinidad and Tobago is now the smallest country in the world to have a public sex offender registration system. The bill required a special majority as it was a “Special Act” that is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights as it would infringe the right to privacy of registered sex offenders. Click here to read more.
* Some customers of Scotiabank had thousands of dollars stolen from their accounts after their cards were skimmed. Click here to read more.
Editorial
1. 4 Reasons why an effective Digital ID system may still be years away in the Caribbean By Michele Marius
Across the Caribbean region, and over the past two years or so, there has been a focus by many countries on establishing a national digital identification (ID) system. Countries, such as Jamaica are in the process of enacting the legislation, whilst already installing the requisite hardware and software, whilst others, such as Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, are at earlier stages in the process. Many others are still at the discussion stage, and are yet to prepare a cogent policy that could guide the steps to follow. Read more here.
