the Development of e-Transactions and Trust Services Law in Yemen

The consultant is expected to deliver: • The report prepared should be in Arabic and in electronic format. • The report submitted should not be less than 30 pages. • A 2 to 4 pages executive summary of the report. All deliverables must be submitted in Arabic (with professional quality and clarity). The completed parts should be edited and saved in MS-Word (*.docx file) or an alternate compatible format. Note that PDF format will not be accepted. It should include a table of contents to be automatically updated followed by a list of all tables and figures. The various parts should be submitted in electronic form and sent to the email of the designated focal point. Attention is kindly drawn to the need to ensure that the final draft of the outputs be thoroughly reviewed prior to submission and to indicate the sources of tables and diagrams. References to reports and other substantive material should be clearly indicated within the text and noted at the end. It is also essential to send, with the completed output, photocopies or scans of at least the first page of books, reports and bulletins, used as reference material as well as copies of the pages quoted. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA. Their contents cannot and must not be presented, discussed or published without the express authorization of ESCWA. The consultant shall keep in mind that UN-ESCWA routinely checks all deliverables for plagiarism using readily available electronic tools. All previously published content, even if written by the selected consultant, must be clearly referenced where required within the text and end-noted at the end of the study. The report submitted by the consultant must not contain quoted, previously published text equalling more than 20 per cent of the total number of pages. The consultant shall not publish or announce or reveal the content of the report, partly or entirely, on social media or any other public channel, without ESCWA and MTIT permission. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA.

I. GENERAL SCOPE The rapid adoption and expansion of information and communications technologies (ICTs) across public and private institutions have fundamentally transformed the way governments, businesses, and individuals interact. This ongoing digital transformation offers significant opportunities for economic growth, innovation, and improved service delivery, while simultaneously giving rise to complex legal, regulatory, and security challenges. In this context, the development, modernization, and effective implementation of e-transactions legislation have become a critical priority for governments worldwide to ensure legal certainty, trust, and security in digital environments. Across the Arab region, several countries have made notable progress in establishing legal frameworks governing e-transactions, trust services, data protection, cybersecurity, and related areas. Nevertheless, the continuous emergence of new digital applications—such as cloud computing, mobile platforms, digital identity systems, and artificial intelligence (AI)—has requested countries to continuously upgrade those laws to align with the best international practices and the evolving requirements of the digital age. At the global level, the UN continues to promote the responsible, inclusive, and trustworthy use of emerging technologies in support of sustainable development. In September 2024, during the Summit of the Future, world leaders adopted the Pact for the Future, together with its annexes—the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and the Declaration on Future Generations. The GDC underscores the importance of digital trust, secure and interoperable digital systems, and effective digital governance. These objectives depend fundamentally on robust e-transactions legislation that provides legal recognition to e-communications, signatures, trust services, and contracts mechanisms, thereby enabling safe participation in the digital economy. The UN‑ESCWA has a long-standing engagement in supporting its member States in the field of cyber legislation. In 2007, UN‑ESCWA published the study “Models for Cyber Legislation in UN‑ESCWA Member Countries”, which reviewed regional and international legal developments and introduced practical templates for assessing and reforming national cyber laws. The objective of those templates is to support Arab countries in drafting and harmonizing national cyber laws. Through its technical cooperation program, UN‑ESCWA remains committed to assisting member States in strengthening legal and institutional capacities related to the digital and emerging technologies. Recently, the Ministry of Telecom and Information Tech (MTIT) in Yemen requested UN‑ESCWA’s advisory services to develop e-transactions and trust services law aligned with international standards and regional best practices. In response, UN‑ESCWA is engaging a qualified legal consultant to provide specialized expertise in the area of e-transactions and trust services, with a particular focus on the Yemeni legal and institutional context. The consultant shall use as primary reference frameworks the ESCWA Cyber legislation directives, UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce (1996), the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Signatures (2001), and the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (2017), supplementing these with the EU eIDAS Regulation and relevant Arab country implementations. For the purposes of this consultancy, 'trust services' include: qualified electronic signatures and seals, electronic timestamps, electronic registered delivery services, website authentication certificates, and preservation services for electronic signatures, consistent with the eIDAS framework or its functional equivalent. This consultancy is part of a coordinated package of three inter-related legal instruments being developed simultaneously for Yemen: Access to Information Law, Personal Data Protection Law, and an e-Transactions and Trust Services Law. The consultant shall be aware of this broader legislative package and shall flag, in the drafting notes annex, any provisions in the assigned law that intersect with or depend upon the other instruments, to ensure coherence across the three laws. The provision of this advisory service, including the scope of work and expected outputs, is outlined in these Terms of Reference III. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES The consultant shall propose to the designated ESCWA focal point a detailed version of the report on e-transaction law. To produce the draft report, the consultant is requested to conduct, among others, the main following tasks: 1. Benchmarking and Best Practices • Review current national laws related to digital and emerging technologies in Yemen; • Review best regional and international practices in e-Transaction and trust services law (at least 2 selected regional and 2 international cases) and justification for case selection provided in the report; 2. Stakeholder Engagement • Identify main national stakeholders, hold, in coordination with MTIT, interviews and meetings with the main national stakeholders and preparing minutes of each meeting/interview summarizing the discussed points, their remarks, observations and proposals; • Contribute to sectoral workshops to discuss needs and priorities, if needed; • Discuss priorities and needs with MTIT and ESCWA; • Document findings, priorities, and challenges. 3. Situational analysis • Analyze existing legislation, and regulatory frameworks; • Conduct a comprehensive gap analysis; 4. Law Development • Draft a suggested law based on national needs, gap analysis, international/ regional best practices, and ESCWA template for cyber legislations. The draft law shall, at a minimum, address the following elements: (i) Definitions and scope of application; (ii) Legal recognition of electronic records, communications, and contracts; (iii) Legal equivalence between electronic and handwritten signatures; (iv) Classification of electronic signatures and seals, together with their respective legal effects and evidentiary value; (v) Regulation of trust services, including the rights, obligations, and liability of trust service providers; (vi) Requirements for certification authorities and/or trust service providers, including accreditation, supervision, and compliance with applicable technical and security standards; (vii) Cross-border recognition of electronic signatures, electronic identification, and trust services, including criteria for recognition of foreign trust service providers; (viii) Provisions on automated transactions, including the legal validity of contracts formed wholly or partly by automated systems; (ix) Supervisory, oversight, and enforcement mechanisms; (x) Sanctions and remedies, including administrative, civil, and, where appropriate, criminal penalties. 5. Validation and Consultation • Present and discuss, under the guidance of ESCWA and MTIT teams, the draft law with national entities in an enlarged meeting or workshop; • Update and enrich the suggested draft based on the comments received during the workshop/meeting and from ESCWA and MTIT team. 6. Finalization • Deliver a final report that includes a summary of implemented activities with the suggested law and implementation recommendations. ESCWA promotes gender equality and integration of youth through its publications and therefore the consultant should pay attention, with the help of ESCWA staff, to gender considerations and youth dimension throughout the research work to ensure that the report gives equal attention to the needs of both men and women, as well as girls and boys. Writing should use gender-sensitive language.

An advanced university degree in law or a related field is required. A Ph.D. degree is desirable. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in the drafting or advisory assessment of e-transactions legislation, electronic signature law, or trust service regulation is required. Familiarity with PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) frameworks and certification authority regulatory models is desirable. Familiarity with the Yemeni legal system or civil law systems in the Arab region is an asset. Previous experience in the delivery of research papers is desirable.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position,Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic is required. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Not available.