Everything about the new Internet law

The Law for services of the Information society and electronic commerce (LSSICE), first norm for Internet that the Spanish state has passed, will come in force next October three months after its publication in the Official White Paper (BOE) of July 12, 2002. The LSSICE and other norms of the state pending, such as the Law of Electronic Signatures, that will replace the Royal Decree-Law 14/1999 on electronic signatures; the General Law for Telecommunications, that will be passed to substitute the General Law 11/1998 for Telecommunications; and the Nacional Plan for Internet Domain Names, that has the objective to make the applicable norms more flexible for the designation of domain names (".es") contained in the Order of March 21, 2000; together with other current norms such as the Organic Law 15/1999 for the Protection of Personal Data, the Royal Legislative Decree 1/1996 for the Law of Intellectual Property and the Law 17/2001 for Brands, amongst others, configure the new legal frame that will regulate the world of Internet in Spain.

The LSSICE incorporates to the legal internal norms, the Directive 2000/31/EC about services of the information society and electronic commerce in home commerce. At the same time, it incorporates in part the Directive 98/27/EC relating to the regulation of actions of suspension in the area of protection of the interests of consumers against conduct that goes against the Law.

The new Law regulates the services of the information society and electronic contracts stipulating the obligations and responsibilities of the so called suppliers of services of the information society, including those who act as intermediaries in the transmission of contents via the telecommunications networks. It also regulates, amongst other questions, the electronic commercial communications, prior and posterior information for electronic contracts, the relative conditions for their validity and efficiency and the different sanctions applicable to the suppliers of services in the information society.

The LSSICE considers a supplier of services in the information society all those individuals and companies who supply a service to the information society, including such services supplied in exchange for money at a distance via electronic connection and individual petition of the destinatory, and also the services not paid for by the requester, in as much they constitute an economic activity for the supplier.

Some legal experts consider that the articles 8 and 11 of the Law, that deal respectively with the restrictions of the services and the duty to collaborate by the suppliers of intermediary services, violates the freedom of expression and information and the right of privacy and secrecy of communications recognised in articles 18 and 20 of the Constitution. In this connection, the popular electronic publication Kriptópolis is promoting a campaign for the declaration of non constitutionality of the LSSICE.

In view of the complexity of the new legal text and great number of new obligations and responsibilities that will fall on the so called "Suppliers of services for the information society" once it is becomes current, BalearWeb has thought it would be interesting to give a maximum diffusion of the new norm by carrying out a review of the most important aspects of the LSSICE.

More information: Todo sobre la nueva ley de Internet

Date of publication: 02/09/2002

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