Egypt may finally be ready to offer e-signature services, Niveen Wahish reports Five years following the issuance of the e- signature law in 2004, Egypt this week announced that it is ready to launch e-signature services. According to Hazem Abdel-Azim, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), the infrastructure is ready, along with the companies that will offer the services to the private sector and to the government. ITIDA is the regulatory authority for e-signatures. Abdel-Azim was speaking during a ceremony where the launch of e-signature services was announced. Some might think that e-signatures means to sign one's name on a piece of paper, scan it and have it sent by e-mail. But things are not that simple. In fact, e-signature is an intricate process of electronic authentication backed by an even more intricate infrastructure. E-signature services in Egypt had originally been scheduled to take off over three years ago when four companies were issued licences to become Certificate Service Providers (CSP) and to deliver digital signature services to the community to push and secure e-government, e-banking, and e- commerce services. The four companies should have been up and running by January 2007, but only this week has the first company, Security and Network Services (SNS), been given the permission to commence operations. Two companies -- namely, Egypt Trust and Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry (MCDR) -- are ready with their infrastructure and awaiting permission to operate. The fourth company has yet to lay down its infrastructure. The Egyptian Government Certification Authority (Gov-CA), affiliated to the Ministry of Finance, is also up and running. The Gov-CA is responsible for certifying applications carried online by the Egyptian government and its affiliated bodies and employees. The companies were already operative before gaining permission from ITIDA. An example of the products they were offering was what is called "information security certificates". These require the same technology, but they are not considered e- signature certificates. These are used in services such as Internet banking, checking one's account online or account transfers. However it is ITIDA's permission that gives legal coverage to transactions, enabling electronic documentation to be used as proof before law. Transactions involving e-signatures include everything from government transactions, such as issuing national identity cards or passports, paying taxes, to electronic trade and contract signing. One's e- signature will be carried on a USB-style token or a smart card that is read by computer. According to Sherif Hashem, vice- executive president of ITIDA, using e- signatures could cut as much as 80 to 90 per cent of the cost of government services. And according to Youssef Boutros Ghali, minister of finance, it could mean monthly savings of up to LE3 billion on inter- government transactions. Nonetheless, the real success of e- signatures, as Abdel-Azim of ITIDA put it, would be adoption by ordinary citizens. Amr Attiya, chairman and CEO of SNS, the company that has received approval by ITIDA to offer e-signature services, told Al-Ahram Weekly that his company would start by concentrating on corporate clients, such as banks or companies. As for e-signatures for the general public, Attiya believes it will only take off once all e-government services are available. It will also need to be accompanied by substantial awareness raising campaign. But SNS also hopes to target a large segment of the population by offering its services through mobile phone operators. E- signature could be marketed as a service mobile subscribers access for a monthly fee. Once the pool of users widens, Attiya said, it would encourage them to use their e- signature for other services. For the moment ITIDA does not have a specific target for the size of the e-signature services market. Abdel-Azim told the Weekly that the size of the market will depend heavily on the degree of people's interaction with the services, variety of the applications and services offered, and the effectiveness of the awareness campaigns that will be launched in the coming period. "Ideally, we will see some sectors and community layers interacting at a faster pace with the services, like financial institutions, governmental bodies, and various business sectors that will embrace the faster, safer transactions and electronic services." Another source that preferred to remain anonymous believes that, "when applications are ready, the usage will spread." He gave the example of mobile telephony, saying that when it first started in Egypt expectations were not high. Later, the number of users shot up, becoming a massive market. One of the factors that he believes will trigger e- signatures to take off is when government businesses are ready to move from paperwork to electronic applications. "Currently, most governmental exchange of documents is on paper. If that changes, it will make a big difference." For example, he suggested that citizens be given the incentive to apply for passports online. Pricing will also play a role in spreading the usage of e-signatures. According to the source, to be able to offer a cost-effective service that is accessible to individuals there is a need to broaden the usage of the service, ideally to tens of millions of people. "That will create a bigger market, rendering the service cheaper," he said. In the meantime, Abdel-Azim said ITIDA plays a governing role in setting the prices of tokens and licences sold by companies. "The licensed companies should be granted approval from ITIDA on the prices they plan on proposing."
