6 April 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has today published a public consultation document, entitled “Disaster Management Regulations for the Electronic Communication Sector in The Bahamas (ECS 03/2020)” (the “Proposed Regulations”).

URCA considers disaster management regulations to be a matter of significant public interest, and sections 11, 12, and 13 of the Communications Act 2009 requires URCA to consult with interested parties on matters of public significance. Therefore, the purpose of this consultation document is to seek comments from stakeholders and other interested parties about the Proposed Regulations.  The Proposed Regulations, among other things, will:

• specify which electronic communications networks and services URCA proposes to  designate as Critical Electronic Communications Infrastructure; and
• stipulates the actions Critical Electronic Communications Infrastructure Providers must take during the mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery phases of an Emergency or Disaster.

URCA invites comments on this document from all interested parties. Responses to this document should be submitted to URCA by 5:00 p.m. on 19 May 2020. Written responses or comments on this document should be sent to URCA’s Chief Executive Officer, either: 

• By hand, to URCA’s office at Frederick House, Frederick Street, Nassau; 
• By mail to P.O. Box N-4860, Nassau, Bahamas;  
• By fax, to (242) 393-0153; or 
• By email, to info@urcabahamas.bs. 

URCA reserves the right to make all responses available to the public by posting responses on its website at www.urcabahamas.bs. If a response is marked confidential, reasons should be given to facilitate evaluation by URCA of the request for confidentiality. URCA may publish or refrain from publishing any document or submission, at its sole discretion.

URCA will review all responses and comments received from this consultation document before publishing its Statement of Results and the Final Decision.