Review of E-Commerce Legal Framework in Bahrain: Under the Perspective of Local and Global Consumer Protection
Dr. Qais Maaitah
Assistant Professor – College of Law – Applied University – Bahrain
Abstract:
E-commerce has been recognized by the Bahraini government as a key driver of the economy. It has become a cornerstone for business and communication in the country which is an important financial hub. However, there are formidable challenges for Bahrain as it strives to reach its complete potential to be a regularize the e-commerce business at an international level. The objective of the current paper is to establish an understanding of the gaps of E-commerce business in the Kingdom of Bahrain in comparison to the detrimental growth and established structure in the rest of the world and GC countries.
The paper has adopted an exploratory critical analysis as a methodology to compare, contrast and thoroughly understand the laws of E-commerce business establishments in Bahrain. The Secondary research approach with an exploratory philosophical stance is utilized in order to study the current decree Law No 208 so that its critical strengths and weaknesses can be assessed under the international framework of legalities of consumer protection rights. The findings of this study are that decree Law No 208 provides a basic framework for protecting consumers.
The findings suggest that the law needs to be updated so that adequate information regarding goods or services offered by businesses can be sufficient for the consumers so that they can make informed decisions regarding the transaction, most particularly, in cases where domain registration and business registration neither having a bahraini domain name nor have physical presence in the Kingdom. E-commerce legislation in the country was passed in the year 2002 with decree Law No 208 as part of the initiative to recognize electronic records and ensure that electronic transactions can be safeguarded. Recently, Bahrain has witnessed a tremendous increase in e-commerce with over $175 million sales recorded in the year 2015. It is recognized as a key driver of the economy and needs to updated in terms of proper legalization of the online selling, customer protection, key authoritative identifier, transaction tacking and others in order safeguard online consumers from various types of threats.