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Guyana only country in region that lacks digital signature
Guyana is the only country in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region in which services do not offer to their customers the option of digital signatures. This is according to the Wait No More: Citizens, Red Tape, and Digital Government Caribbean Edition— a report prepared by the Inter- American Development Bank.
A digital signature is a mathematical scheme for verifying the authenticity of the signature, where the basics are satisfied. It gives the recipient very strong reasons to believe that the message was created by the known sender (authentication), and that the message was not altered in transit or integrity.
These forms of signatures enables applicants to sign documents or forms online without having to submit a physical copy. This thereby potentially reduces the number of visits to a government office.
Without the digital signature, there are many government transactions that, despite being digitized in everything but the signature, still require an in-person visit to comply with this requirement.
The lacking in digital signatures has a damning effect on the ease of doing business and transitions. This effect is proven since the IDB reported that Guyana was ranked the lowest in Latin America regarding the transactions with Government institutions.
Doing such requires a lot of effort; from waiting at counters, filling forms reading communications, seeking information, sending letters or even learning to use a new system or website. All time consuming.
Further to this, the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2020 which analyzes the ease of doing business in 190 countries placed Guyana at rank 134/190.
This would mean that much more needs to be done to improve on the effectiveness of local services, one which could be the implementation of digital signatures.
With respect to regulation, there has been significant progress in the Latin American and Caribbean region with 25 of the 26 countries instituting a law which establishes the legal validity of the digital signature.
In some other countries including South Africa, the United States (U.S), Algeria, Turkey, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia Uruguay. Switzerland and the countries of the European Union (E.U) electronic signatures have legal significance.
Only Guyana lacks such a law in the LAC. However, having a legal framework does not necessarily mean that there is a digital signature in place that can be used by all citizens and that is accepted by all private and public institutions.
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