El Salvador resumes debate of Digital Inclusion Law

By the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador

In order to formulate a legal tool that contributes to El Salvador facing the various challenges that arise from the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in terms of health and finances; the deputies of the Economic Commission resumed the study of the Universal Digital Inclusion Law, to facilitate the development of the information and knowledge society in order to take advantage of the benefits of mass access and use of technologies.

Within this framework, the parliamentarians met with representatives of the Salvadoran Chamber of Telecommunications to hear their assessments of the aforementioned bill, who pointed out the need for a diagnosis and to promote a national policy.

Based on said meeting, the deputy Margarita Escobar (ARENA), who presides over that legislative instance, concluded that "we are faced with a challenge never seen in El Salvador and it is a question that we are not going to give it a political treatment, sporadic and will require the energy, strength and unity of the people, including the political sector, and as the Economic Commission we must seek solutions that are relevant, such as intensifying the use of technologies, but it is not the only one.”

Always on this subject, Deputy Damián Alegría (FMLN) considered that, although it is an issue to be attended to promptly, it is a long process, since it is necessary to guarantee "the development of adequate infrastructure, which is something that takes time to even allow basic literacy, because there are still illiteracy problems and not only knowing how to read but also knowing how to discriminate lies and truths on social networks.”

For the deputy Juan José Martel (CD) this proposed law requires seeing the process for its implementation, "although now we have a new reality that we did not have scheduled, so I think that this is an element that must be addressed and the key to this law it is in the early stages of implementation,” for which reason it was proposed that the Superintendency General of Electricity and Telecommunications (SIGET) be consulted to standardize its regulations with the proposed Universal Digital Inclusion Law.

Among the agreements reached in the Economic Commission, it is worth highlighting the request for an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) impact diagnosis and the Salvadoran Chamber of Telecommunications to collaborate to connect virtually to learn about the private experience of other countries with realities similar to that of El Salvador in this area of digital inclusion and internet access.

On the other hand, the commission held a virtual meeting with representatives of the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUSADES), to address issues about the country's economic situation.