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ditation authority. The accreditation authority has the sole responsibility of monitoring the conducts, structure and procedure of certification service providers to guarantee conformity. They also have the power to “suspend or revoke the accreditation” of a service provider. The law is particularly silent on regulating the behavior of the signatory or relying party.

The South African electronic signature law also established a detailed provision to recognize accreditation or similar verification approval given to authentication services providers or the authentication technologies in other jurisdiction. [64]

RWANDA

Rwanda is a small country in central Africa. In 2010 the population was estimated at 11,370,425 in 2010. Rwanda is considered to be the most heavily populated country in Africa. In 1994, its economy crashed as a result of the ‘Tutsi genocide’. This greatly affected its economic development but that notwithstanding Rwanda with the help of international bodies was keen on reconstructing its economy and incorporating international best practices into its regulatory framework among other goals in its vision 2020 initiative which relied on the information communication technology (ICT) as a starting point. This was to boost the national economy by generating new technological innovations, promote commercial transactions and acquire the required skills and expertise [65] to further ease doing business internationally. Rwanda’s primary agenda till date is to provide an effective and transparent system of administration and implementation of electronic commercial transactions.

Rwanda’s economy is rapidly growing. The third quarter of 2009 witnessed a significant growth in its commercial activities. Importation of capital and consumer goods, crude oil and other raw materials into the country greatly increased by 24% compared to the previous year. [66] It is expected to still increase by 8.5% in 2011.

This is as a result of the series of social, economic and regulatory reforms taking place. Most significant in recent years with the introduction of electronic transactions is its economic reforms focused on modifying existing laws and implementing new legislations as regards electronic data messages, signatures and transaction meet the new economic challenges.

With a goal to becoming one of the best competing economies in the world, Rwanda enacted various legislations that would enable national and international uniformity of laws that would facilitate commercial and financial activities with other countries.

Rwanda enacted its first electronic signature law on the 12th May 2010 to regulate electronic commercial transactions and stop the abuse of communication and other information technologies in transacting business electronically. The electronic transaction law implemented the two tiered approach of regulation by recognizing all forms of electronic signatures and giving preferential requirements for digital signatures. First it gives legal validity to electronic messages by stating that electronic messages must “not be denied legal validity or enforceability on the ground that it is in electronic form” [67] and should be legally admitted in court as evidence Article 2(15) defined electronic signature in the same manner as provided for under article 2(a) of the UNCITRAL model law. The law specifically provides for