Progress Report Table

• Taking the key messages from the E-Commerce Summit to the regions through workshops in the next year.

• The continued development of an e-commerce website by the Ministry of Economic Development.

• Working in partnership with Industry Associations and Regional Economic Development Agencies to develop and publicise quality information relevant to different sectors and regions.

• Provide better statistics on the penetration of ICT and ICT skills in business and throughout the community; and
• Improve our understanding of the constraints on the adoption of e-commerce by businesses, to inform policy responses; and benchmark New Zealand against the rest of the world.

• A report by the Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation identifying issues underpinning New Zealand's ability to measure and assess its performance, both absolute and comparative with other countries, in the field of e-commerce. This work will be further developed in discussion with the research community and in co-operation with Australian and possibly other overseas groups with similar needs and interests.
• A report by Waikato University on a survey of "Net Readiness" in eight industry groups. The results will be used to measure the effectiveness of Government initiatives in developing e-commerce in New Zealand, and to provide baseline information for extending the study to other industry groups.
• A report by Amos Aked Swift (NZ) Limited on the existing telecommunications infrastructure base servicing the rural and small urban towns and the potential to provide "broadband" access to these areas in the near future.
• A critical annotated bibliography of relevant research in New Zealand and from overseas, which will be maintained and updated regularly (forthcoming).
• Annual IT statistics published by the Ministry of Economic Development, which include information from an annual survey of the IT industry carried out by Statistics New Zealand.
• A report on electronic business in New Zealand by the Ministry of Economic Development based on a survey of 500 businesses conducted in August 2000 by BRC Marketing and Social Research.

In addition:

• The Inland Revenue Department, in conjunction with the Ministry of Economic Development, has commissioned a study of e-traders, which assesses the volume of Internet Web-based transactions in New Zealand (forthcoming).
• Te Puni Kōkiri has published a study commissioned from ACNielsen on Māori use of the Internet.
• Other work is being planned and will be co-ordinated through the ECAT Research Subgroup which now includes a wide range of university, private sector and government agencies.

• Developing New Zealand Government On-line (NZGO) as the primary Internet portal into government agencies and services, and Web-based access to forms, with 40% of all public service forms available on-line by 30 June 2001. Information and on-line payments systems will be in place by 30 June 2001; and
• Identifying activities where New Zealanders will be encouraged to interact with government agencies on-line, and providing incentives for them to do so.

• service level agreements between NZGO, agencies and users;
• improvement in the quality of data;
• new hosting arrangements;
• enhancement of search capability; and
• a prototype of a new portal as a "parallel" site.

Phase 1 of the Portal will be implemented by June 2002 and will enable customers to locate online and offline government services and information. The new government portal will make government services and information more accessible to New Zealanders. In addition savings in time and cost are significant incentives to deal with government electronically, eg company incorporation.

• advancement by the New Zealand Customs Service of its on-line strategy to provide a better service to importers and exporters and to promote the use of a single electronic platform which will support a single interaction between border and government agencies;

A strategy was developed to enhance quality, timeliness and completeness of export information and the Internet has been developed as a delivery channel.

Imports:

Approximately 95% of import entries are now lodged electronically, and the Internet is being developed as a delivery channel for one off imports and small importers.

Customs is working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) to determine whether there is value in integrating electronic services. A project has been agreed to review the compatibility between MAF's "Quantum" and Custom's "Cusmod" computer systems (the terms of reference of the project are currently being negotiated). A project is underway to identify possible economies of scale to be achieved by shared use of MAF's and Custom's wide area networks and infrastructure.

• the continued improvement in the ability to register companies electronically with the New Zealand Companies Office;

Presently the Companies Office Internet service supports specific registrations. Collectively, all those services mean that nearly three quarters by volume of all registrations are online capable. The Companies Office will introduce a user authentication process, to be known as "Company Keys" in the first quarter of 2002. This will mean that online company address and director maintenance software currently waiting for release can be enabled. When company charge and satisfaction registrations are excluded (this legislation is to be repealed on commencement of the Personal Property Securities Register on 1 May 2002) over 97% of all registrations by volume received by the Companies Office will be supported online.

The Companies Office continues to support paper processes in parallel with its online services for searching and each registration type. At this time the uptake of online services ranges between 50% and 92% depending on the registration type.

• further improvements in the on-line Māori Land Information Base;

• continued development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's ability to provide services such as electronic certification of goods and electronic management of dairy quota;

Seafood: E-cert is currently voluntary, use is increasing and negotiations are in progress with the sector to determine when e-certification will become compulsory.

Dairy: E-cert went live in August 2001 for EU certification. MAF is currently scoping automated verification of certificates (ie, validating that the information on the certificates is correct). The electronic dairy quota management system is continuing to operate successfully.

Plant-based products: MAF is developing with this sector an E-cert regime for plant-based products export certification. This is expected to be live by February 2002.

• continued development by the Inland Revenue Department of initiatives such as electronic filing, interactive voice response, and Internet-based applications;

Inland Revenue already engages in an array of electronic interactions with taxpayers. During 2000/2001 it received and processed 930,000 E-file (electronic) income tax returns (49% of all income tax returns received). Recently IRD has:

• reviewed and made improvements to electronic return filing for employers (ir-File);
• set up a project team to explore opportunities for improving electronic service; the team is working on improving Inland Revenue's Internet website, which will form the first building block for a range of other services;
• updated and revised the tax agents CD-ROM - a product designed specifically for tax agents that contains electronic copies of key Inland Revenue forms, booklets and information relevant to tax agents;
• provided fax back capability for tax agents - this allows them to receive limited and secure account transaction information on their clients accounts by accessing IRD's automated telephone response (INFOexpress), keying in the relevant client information, and receiving an automated fax with the client account transaction information; and
• actively contributed to e-government initiatives sponsored by the State Services Commission.

• reduction of compliance costs for SMEs by rationalising information flows;

• the development of a comprehensive e-strategy by the Department of Work and Income (DWI) to provide for better delivery of services.

S.E.E. PKI - 9 policy papers have been published.

S.E.E. Directory - The directory is for cross-government use. High level administration policies and data schema have been published. Introduction of a public key infrastructure (PKI) to ensure only authorised people have access to internal information will be completed in November 2001.

Provision of a secure area on the Internet where government departments can work together on projects will be completed in December 2001.

• The New Zealand Immigration Service has ICT occupations on its skills shortages lists so that a labour market test is not required for employers wishing to recruit ICT specialists from overseas.
• Since 1 July 2001, national representative organisations of occupations or industries in NZ experiencing significant difficulty recruiting highly skilled specialist employees from overseas under standard work visa and permit policy, have been able to make submissions to the NZIS requesting special provisions allowing the employment of such specialists.
• ICT specialists, holding a letter of support from the Information Technology Association of New Zealand (ITANZ) confirming their skills are in short supply in NZ, and may be awarded 10 points for qualifications to be counted towards the passmark for residence under the General Skills category, providing certain work experience and training criteria are met.

• the industry specialist support programme; and

• recognition under the Enterprise Awards Scheme.

• the provision of the highest quality information and training material;

• enhancing the quality of advice by building the capability of service providers and trainers;

• building local networks of business e-commerce mentors; and

• supporting initiatives to enable SMEs to exploit collective opportunities to extract economies of scale with respect to technology and e-commerce applications.

• is assisting dissemination of key e-commerce and ECAT messages through its publications and website;
• has funded regional studies of ICT needs in Northland and Southland and is contributing to the Broadband pilots; and
• through the Industrial Supplies Office (ISO) will continue to provide information to New Zealand business and will extend this to provide coverage of e-procurement opportunities.

• an education programme aimed at lifting exporter awareness of global e-commerce opportunities;

• commenced e-business education of its staff through three online learning modules and staff briefings;
• commenced client e-business education. This Includes three training modules as well as awareness building seminars around the country; and
• worked with their e-business partner consortium members to develop affordable e-business products/services for exporters, following the development of an e-business education "Road Map".

• delivery of an increasing range of Trade New Zealand services on-line through the utilisation of a new information management strategy;
• on-line matching of international business and investment opportunities; and

• developed and implemented an online database to profile all New Zealand exporters (NZ Exporters Online);
• redeveloped the Corporate Website, including implementation of an online content management system;
• begun developing a system to manage trade enquiries online, using the NZ Exporters Online system profiles;
• begun developing an online Newsroom to provide exporters with news and analysis on topical trade and investment issues; and
• worked on development and delivery of "off the shelf" services online.

• facilitating exporters' marketing to overseas buyers through digital marketplaces.

Existing initiatives, including Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI), the Tertiary Information Project (TIP), and Single Data Return (SDR) are well established.

Current work is being undertaken in developing a Management Information Project that will enable electronic information management and reporting for the schools sector. TKI has developed an expanded relationship with Learning Media Ltd that will enable electronic access to catalogues and ordering. A proof of concept trial is underway to integrate resources from local Teachers Centres.

West Auckland and Gisborne

The ICT Technology Training pilot will provide students in five low decile secondary schools in West Auckland and Gisborne with access to:

• technology qualifications from Microsoft and other technology qualification providers (access to Microsoft qualifications will be the focus of the first year of the pilot);
• recognition for these qualifications on the NZQA framework;
• good quality connections to the Internet (minimum 128k two way connection); and
• computers, software, and professional development.

Learning Communities in the Far North

This project is led by Microsoft, in partnership with Clear Communications, IBM, TVNZ, and The Learning Centre Trust (which manages the Te Kete Ipurangi website). The Learning Communities pilot project will provide 10 schools in the Far North with access to:

• computer based bilingual learning resources, including interactive and tailored materials targeted at the mathematics, science, and technology curriculum. This includes creating resources and using existing resources from TVNZ and INL archives;
• good quality connections to the Internet (minimum 128k two way connection); and
• computers, software, and professional development.

ICT Boosted Study Support Centres in Southland and Canterbury

The study support centre pilot project involves providing three study support centres in Southland and Canterbury with an ICT boost. They will have access to:

• good quality connections to the Internet;
• computers, software, and professional development;
• training, technical and student support; and
• facilitated study support using ICT.

This project is led by Telecom, in partnership with Compaq, New Zealand Post, Microsoft, Vodafone, Renaissance, and the Learning Centre Trust.

Laptops for Teachers and Senior Students - Hutt Valley

The Laptops for Teachers and Senior Students pilot project provides teachers and some year 12 and 13 (6th and 7th form) maths, science and technology students in four low decile Hutt Valley schools with access to:

• laptop computers and software;
• computers, software, and professional development;
• professional development and student training; and
• back-up support and networking opportunities.

The project will also explore providing Internet access to the homes of participating students, thereby engaging their families. This project is led by Compaq, in partnership with Telstra Saturn, Renaissance, Microsoft, and The Learning Centre Trust.

Project Rorohiko has now provided 2000 computers for Te Tairawhiti schools.

Stakeholder consultation was undertaken to further understand where and on whom the digital divide is impacting, what is already being done and what more can be done. This was completed in April 2001 and a Stakeholder Consultation document was published on the Department of Labour website in May.

Work on formulating a Digital Opportunities Strategy is underway and being developed as part of a broader communication strategy.

• worked in the OECD to develop consumer protection guidelines that will form a basis for internationally consistent consumer protection of a standard expected by New Zealand consumers;
• implemented those consumer protection guidelines in New Zealand by issuing the New Zealand Model Code for Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, which can be adopted by businesses or used in self-regulatory codes of practice;
• conducted regular Internet sweeps to identify the level of compliance by New Zealand businesses with consumer protection and privacy laws and with the Model Code. The results of these sweeps have been widely published, and non-compliant or poorly complying businesses have been followed up;
• worked in international forums to explore ways to ensure New Zealand consumers have access to low cost and effective redress mechanisms for resolving cross-border disputes;
• entered into an international consumer protection enforcement initiative, to better protect New Zealand consumers against fraudulent traders and scams originating offshore; and
• worked to raise the profile of consumer protection within the Asia-Pacific region to achieve a more regionally consistent approach to consumer protection, so that New Zealand consumers can transact with businesses in the region with greater confidence of the level of protection they are afforded.

The first discussion paper reviews the impact of digital technology on the Copyright Act 1994 and discusses some of the key copyright issues that arise from the use of digital technology and the Internet. The second paper reviews performers' rights under the Copyright Act and looks at whether changes may be needed to meet the challenges posed by digital technology and new practices.

The Ministry of Economic Development is also active in the APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group, which has looked at international Internet charging and security issues, and in Study Group 3 of the ITU which has also discussed international Internet charging.

The report to Ministers on acceding to the WIPO treaties has been deferred, with Ministerial agreement, until the end of November to allow for further consultation on the basis of the above discussion papers, given the complexity of the issues.

• international alignment of law;
• minimisation of transaction costs for business;
• maintenance of an open trading environment for the free flow of information and services; and
• the interoperability of infrastructures, secure electronic authentication, and payments.

The focus is on securing positive outcomes from the e-commerce strategy, notably; an internationally agreed legal framework, minimal business transaction costs, an open trading environment with minimal impediments, and a robust and secure international infrastructure.