Digital ID card registration legal though laws not yet in effect – PM Phillips

Last Updated on Sunday, 23 November 2025, 16:20 by Writer

The registration of public servants for digital identification cards is legal although the Digital Identity Card Act and the Data Protection Act are yet to come into force, Prime Minister Mark Phillips said on Saturday.

“Every thing that’s being done is legal,” he told Demerara Waves Online News when asked specifically if that was the case although the orders had not been issued.

He said the commencement orders for those laws that were approved by the National Assembly and assented by President Irfaan Ali in August 2023 would be issued but he did not specify. “We’re going to do it very soon. There are couple of things that we need to put in place,” he said.

The Data Identity Card Act stipulates that the Digital Identity Card Registry “shall be administered by the Data Protection Commissioner who is exclusively authorised to issue the Digital Identity Cards.”

Former House Speaker and Attorney-at-law Raphael Trotman is already on record as saying that if a commencement order for an Act has not been issued, it means that legislation could not be used. “If an Act explicitly states that a commencing order has to be issued, and it has not been, then it is inoperable,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

At the same time, Mr Trotman said, “However, the commencement order could be subsequently issued to save and validate all previous actions.”

President Irfaan Ali has already been issued with his card, but the Data Protection Act has not been activated and so there is no office or commissioner that enforces that law related to confidentiality and secrecy of data.

Currently, the ministries of health and education are among several public service agencies that have instructed their staff to register when staff from the PM’s office visit them to do so.