"A mountain gave birth to a mouse," said Vladimir
Smejkal, an authority on IT-law in the Czech Republic, with irony
when referring to a draft of the Government Green Book on
E-commerce ("GGB"). GGB is a government analysis designed to map
the current conditions of e-commerce in the Czech Republic. A team
composed of IT-law and e-commerce experts, appointed by the
government and the Office for Public Information Systems, has been
working on a report since January 2001. The GGB should be the most
substantial contribution to even wider discussion that should
result in a fully fledged government policy for e-commerce.
At the beginning of January 2002 the Czech
government issued a resolution, which takes account of the report
and very briefly evaluates main achievements of the GGB. It also
includes instructions for selected government members to present
the Government White Book on E-commerce by December 31, 2002. As
the government statement says, the final statement on e-commerce
policy should be "emphasizing the importance of partnership between
private and public sectors in regards to knowledge-based
economy."
Although the GGB is only a preliminary imprint of a
more sophisticated government strategy, it has already instigated
controversy among many experts. No matter how arguable the
structure and content of the report appears to be, most of them
endorse the significance of the government support to
e-commerce.
The GGB is divided into five chapters, each chapter
covering one significant aspect of e-commerce and suggesting
further steps that need to be taken for its development in the
Czech Republic. The first chapter analyses legal framework and
application of e-commerce within the state administration in the
Czech Republic. The advantages of so-called e-government for fiscal
policy (e.g. collection of taxes and fees) or administration of
statistical data are obvious. However, the relatively unfriendly
legal environment in relation to the treatment of electronic
documents and also the insufficient state administration and IT
infrastructure do not allow for the proper exercise of
e-government.
The second chapter concentrates mostly on an
evaluation of telecommunications and the IT infrastructure. The GGB
exemplifies the impact of high quality infrastructure and efficient
market conditions on e-commerce development. Cesky Telecom, as a
former monopoly, still keeps its dominant position on the
telecommunications market, which, together with complicated and
slow deregulation of this sector, prevents development of healthy
competition with alternative operators. This lack of competitive
market influence results in higher costs and negatively affects any
expansion of medium and small size e-commerce businesses in the
Czech Republic.
The assessment of the overall business milieu in
the fourth chapter reflects a fact that a successful development of
e-commerce involves not only modern technologies but also a
favourable and cultured business environment. Although an annual EU
report on the overall progress towards accession for 2001 rated the
Czech economy as fulfilling all aspects of the market economy,
there is still an increased need for enhanced business education
and positive stimulation for entrepreneurs.
Czech e-commerce is only slowly finding its
position within the Czech economy. Only large commercial
corporations, companies rendering services, IT companies and some
financial institutions have enough resources and know-how to
capitalise on the advantage e-commerce is rendering. In the mean
time the Czech Republic still experiences only minor upheaval on a
smaller scale in selling books, tickets or consumer electronics. A
consistent government strategy that complies with the trends of
knowledge-based society for the next century as defined in the
eEurope initiative, is a good hope for the future of Czech
e-commerce.
For further information please contact Ian Parker
at ian.parker@cms-cmck.com or Ondrej Rob at ondrej.rob@cms-cmck.com
or on 00 420 2 96798111.