With the expanding digital consumer market, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) says more laws are needed to adapt to it.
DICT Assistant Secretary Carlos Caliwara said that there is a need to review and craft laws that would address the challenges in digital consumer protection.
The current digital laws are the Republic Act (RA) No. 10844 – Department of Information and Communications Technology Act of 2015, RA 10173 – Data Privacy Act of 2012, RA 10175 – Cybercrime Protection Act of 2012, RA 8792 – Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 and the RA 10929 – Free Internet Access in Public Places.
“Because of the limited studies of digital consumption, we are proposing the creation of the consumer protection group,” Caliwara said on Friday at the Grand Regal Hotel.
DICT, which was only established two years ago, has begun the process of establishing the Digital Consumer Welfare and Protection Body in July this year.
The body will act on complaints and other concerns of consumers regarding telecommunication services.
Consumers can file their complaints on various issues such as dropped calls, vanishing prepaid load, cyberattacks and data breaches of mobile users, among others.
The DICT also disclosed the lack of comprehensive tools for data gathering in the digital market, that the government is now looking into, as the market is shifting towards online transactions.
“We really have to make online platforms liable because the government has an unclear jurisdiction over online platforms,” Caliwara said.
He added that this would “make the cyber world a safe and reliable place to be with.”
Caliwara is one of the speakers during the Philippine International Cybersecurity Conference (PICC), wherein a showcase of the country’s journey to the national goal of cyber resiliency are discussed.
DICT, the organizers of the event, had gathered various stakeholders and resource persons on a series of national conferences to addresses challenges to the protection of the rights and welfare of digital Filipino consumers.
In a report by Asia Digital Marketing Association (ADMA), with over 33 million users in the world, the country is the second highest ranking in Southeast Asia and the 6th in the whole of Asia in terms of Internet users.
In 2017, Statista, an internet statistics portal, reported a 22% increase in the total revenue of businesses selling online in the Philippines, an amount of $1.2 billion (Php59.7 billion), which was higher from the previous year’s $1 billion.
Statista also estimated that some 30.3 million people in the Philippines have made a purchase via e-commerce.
