Establishment of the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility Coordination Office: Policy and Advisory - Cybersecurity and safeguarding electronic transactions in the Pacific islands

TA No.: 8345-REG
Executing Agency: Asian Development Bank
Contract Description: Policy and Advisory
Objective and Purpose of the Assignment:
The PRIF Coordination Office (PCO) is hosted by the ADB Pacific Liaison Coordination Office (PLCO) in Sydney, Australia. It follows procurement procedures and financial management in accordance with ADB practices. In prioritizing its work program for Phase 3, the PRIF ICT Sector Working Group has established a critical need for some work on assessing the environment for electronic transactions – ‘e- transactions’ - across the region, and identifying an action plan for the way forward. Several governments and development partners active in the Pacific region have already embarked on initiatives related to electronic transactions and in particular on cybersecurity, and these topics have been flagged as priorities by Pacific regional leaders under the Framework for Pacific Regionalism. The non-exhaustive list includes, for example: (a) initial support for cybercrime legislation in selected Pacific countries (International Telecommunications Union/ITU and World Bank); (b) support for e-transactions and cybersecurity related legislation in Vanuatu, Timor-Leste and Tonga (World Bank); (c) an initial regional collaboration to set up a computer emergency response team (CERT) under the University of the South Pacific (Pac-CERT—now in abeyance) and interest by at least four Pacific States (Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu) to set up country level CERTs (US); (d) an ongoing regional cybercrime readiness assessment (New Zealand); (e) a prospective regional workshop on cybersecurity issues (US); and (f) member awareness raising and training initiatives sponsored by the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA).

In this context, and in light of the keen interest of development partners, the objective of this assignment is to identify measures that will enhance confidence and trust in a broadband-enabled, digital economy throughout the Pacific through advising Governments of Pacific Island States on in the following areas: a) The elements of best practices in elaborating an enabling electronic legal and regulatory framework, including e- commerce and transactions, digital authentication, cyber-security and cybercrime, data protection and retention, country top level domain (ccTLD) administration and regulation, protection of intellectual property in the broadband digital context, access to information and related issues; b) An assessment of existing policies and institutions focusing on cyber-security and data protection in member states; c) The status of initiatives across the Pacific to provide support in these areas; d) Identifying gaps in member states’ legal frameworks in these areas; and e) Proposals for prioritizing and addressing those gaps.