As a result of the Information Technology revolution, in the steps to guarantee, (amongst other things), an equivalent approach regarding electronic mail and computer generated documents, the legislator introduced this amendment to the Law of Evidence. The amendment provided that said electronic documents possess an evidentiary strength equal to that of regular documents i.e. handwritten and hand signed documents.

As a response to the increasing number of companies that invest in the software development sector, an amendment to the Copyright Law was introduced to acknowledge that copyright ownership of all works created by employees shall rest with the employer provided that such works are related to the business of the employer and provided that said employees are utilizing the knowledge, know-how, tools, and resources made available by the employer.

An amendment was made to the Labor Law in order to be coherent with the Copyright Law as amended by Temporary Law No. 52 for the year 2001. Accordingly, the amendment states that ownership of the intellectual property rights for works created by the employees shall rest with the employer provided that such works are related to the business of the employer and provided that said employees are utilizing the knowledge, know-how, tools, and resources made available by the employer.

An amendment was made to the Patents Law similar to the amendment made to the Copyright Law. Accordingly, the amendment states that the ownership of the patent rights to inventions created by the employees shall rest with the employer provided that such inventions are related to the business of the employer and provided that said employees are utilizing the knowledge, know-how, tools, and resources made available by the employer. (Download the patent regulations here).

As part of its strategy to promote the development of the information technology industry in Jordan and to develop customer confidence in the Internet as a commercial medium, the Cabinet passed the Electronic Transactions Law. This Law is based to a large degree on the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce that is currently being used by various states to modernize their existing legislation.

The first principle of the Law is functional equivalence. This allows electronically transmitted information to be treated as functionally equivalent to their paper-based counterparts provided that the integrity of the information is ensured and where proper attribution to the source of the information is achieved. The Second principle is non-discrimination, where electronically transmitted information will not be denied its evidentiary value solely on the fact that it is electronically based. The third principle is to facilitate the conduction of business and the conclusion of contracts electronically, with regards to both public and private transactions. The Law goes beyond such principles to include chapters on electronic signatures, financial and banking activities and the electronic transfer of money, as well as fraud and other illegal and criminal activities that may be conducted through the abuse of the benefits facilitated by virtue of this Law.

In response to the demands of the growing Jordanian Information Technology industry, the legislator introduced a novel corporate form, the Private Shareholding Company. The contractual relationship between the company's shareholders govern all aspects of the corporate structure and supersede the law. However, where said contractual relationships fail to address a certain issue, the law in force shall apply. Such companies should have a minimum paid capital of fifty thousand Jordanian Dinars. The private Shareholding Company may issue stocks and securities that may be circulated in the financial markets. In addition the Private Shareholding Company may issue shares of different classes, which differ in par value, voting rights and profit distribution. Furthermore, the novel and highly beneficial concept of issuing Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOP's) were introduced within the private Shareholding Company allowing employees to own a stake in the institution, which they work in.

In a recent progressive amendment, the concept of Information Technology was introduced within this Law. This was defined as, the creation, analysis and storage of information through electronic means. The Law stipulates that the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology as well as the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission are the public bodies responsible for the provision of the general policy, setting the investment plans and regulating the telecommunications and information technology sector. Click here to download the regulations for Internet Cafes.

Click here to download the Financial Leasing Law

Click here to download the Regulations for Licensing and Monitoring the Activities of Representative offices of Foreign Banks-English

 

The REACH Initiative is supported by the USAID-funded AMIR Program