DJIRC CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

The Novel Challenge for Consumers: An Urgent Need to Revisit Sri Lankan
Competition Law in the Age of the Digital Market

Dianarthy Suthakar

The consumer market in the digital economy relies on technology, the internet, and online
platforms. The digital market transformed traditional business patterns into digitalisation which
caused a huge impact on the established principles of market competition and consumer safety.
Most prominently, the purchase and choice patterns, safety standards, and price determination
methods of consumers have drastically changed. Even though the platform-based business model
allows consumers to get access to many choices, consumer behaviour on the online platform is
subjected to various algorithms which target the consumers through self-preferencing and
advertising which cause harm to consumers. The objective of this research is to analyse the impact
of digital market practices on the existing government policy on competition established under the
Consumer Affairs Authority Act of Sri Lanka. Consequently, the research addresses the central
question of whether the existing law governing market competition in Sri Lanka is adequate to
regulate the novel issues that arise within digitalised markets. To this end, the paper analyses the
emerging issues in market competition in digitalised markets, in particular the ways to resort to
fair competition in these novel markets through the legal and policy frameworks. It argues that to
strengthen consumer well-being in the digital market, there is a need to review the existing
competition laws and adopt a new legal framework for market competition to effectively deal with
digital anti-competitive practices. Cooperation between relevant authorities and regulator is
essential to deal with the challenges of the digitalised market with a holistic approach. The study
is a doctrinal analysis, and various primary and secondary sources are utilised, and concludes that
the existing competition law of Sri Lanka can be reshaped with a new set of principles as those
adopted in the Digital markets Act 2022 of the European Union which aims to regulate and ensure
fair and contestable digital market platforms.

Keywords: anti-competitive practices, consumer welfare, digital market, market competition

44

The Role of the Tax Laws during the Financial and Economic Recession: The
Sri Lankan Scenario and the Crisis

R.P.D Pathirana
The people living in a country and all its units are obliged to pay taxes to the government. The
government must provide its citizens with various facilities and public services for that payment.
Moreover, as a government, there is a solid responsibility to incur those tax revenues for the
various responsibilities, expenses and needs in a very responsible and manageable manner. The
government cannot be freed from its own responsibilities by simply handing over its
responsibilities to the people. Therefore, any government that puts its entire tax-paying and non-
tax-paying people in danger by not fulfilling its duties as a government is guilty of a criminal
offence. Looking at these facts more closely, one realises that taxes, people and government are
three essential concepts that go hand in hand. Against this backdrop, this article, which consists of
many common points related to taxation and tax laws, expects to critically study the effect on the
primary relationship mentioned earlier. It further discusses how the primary intentions and
principles of taxation and tax laws should be included in Sri Lanka, which is currently under severe
financial and economic recession. Due to the priority of tax income over other incomes in the
country, it should be noted that it is vital for Sri Lanka to impose taxes with proper management,
vision, tax collection and compliance with tax laws. For that purpose, leading the country should
be the primary intention of the tax specialists and the administration. Hence, the research is
qualitative in nature, while the quantitative method is used to collect statistical data from
government websites, databases and publications.
Keywords: tax principles, objectives, fiscal policy and government economic policy

45

A Critical Appraisal of the Legal Framework on Price Control and Emerging
Challenges in Sri Lanka: A Way Forward

Sivanesan Pradinath
Price control of goods and services is a policy instrument by which a State safeguards the rights
of consumers. The Sri Lankan economy has encountered a tremendous economic challenge in
recent years. Consequently, the importation and exportation of goods have been restricted, and the
seller of goods and services tend to increase the prices arbitrarily. Therefore, this paper examines
the effectiveness of the legal framework governing the increment of prices of goods and services
and its significance. In order to provide a detailed account of the existing legal framework on price
control, the author examines the statutory and judicial approaches toward price control and
consumer protection. Furthermore, the study elucidates the most recent scholarly contributions
using a systematic literature review method. The findings of this study reveal that even though the
statutory framework provided numerous mechanisms to curtail the arbitrary price increment of
goods and services, they are outdated and unsuitable to meet the emerging challenge of arbitrary
increments of prices. This paper offers specific legal and practical recommendations by comparing
the Sri Lanka statutory regime on price control with the United Kingdom and India. It will benefit
the policymakers, traders, academics and other stakeholders to understand the price control regime
and recent challenges.
Keywords: price control, consumer affairs authority, consumers, sellers, monopoly

46

Consumer Privacy vs Marketing Opportunities: Regulating Unsolicited
Messages across Communication Channels in Sri Lanka

Panduka Warun Bandara

Direct communication is important for marketing a product or service and often happens by way
of unsolicited messages under which a communication is sent to a recipient without a request being
sent by the recipient requesting such communication. Currently, there are regulations under
telecommunication laws on unsolicited promotional messages sent across mobile networks.
Comprehensive laws were also adopted with the enactment of the new Personal Data Protection
Act (‘PDPA’) in Sri Lanka, wherein a prohibition is enforced for unsolicited messages except for
the prior consent of the recipient has been obtained. An absolute prohibition on unsolicited
messages can cause implications in the fast-growing digital marketing industry. Therefore, the
main objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the law on unsolicited messages in
Sri Lanka against privacy and their impact on the growth of businesses. To realise the aforesaid
objective, the researcher endeavours to find answers to three questions, namely, what is the scope
of the prevailing legal regime on unsolicited messages in Sri Lanka, and what kind of approach
does the law need to take to promote business growth while safeguarding the privacy of the public
and what practical measures the government authorities do are required in taking that approach.
The methodology of this study is mainly focused on doctrinal research wherein a qualitative
analysis of materials is carried out to reach the findings. The information for the study has been
gathered from a myriad of sources, including legislation, journals, textbooks, conference papers,
industry reports, and other professional publications. The study has found that the approach taken,
especially under the PDPA, is burdensome on businesses and makes suggestions to provide a
chance to consumers to opt out of receiving messages. Furthermore, it also suggests implementing
a ‘do-not-call’ registry so that the consumers can actively exclude themselves from unsolicited
messages.

Keywords: privacy, data protection, unsolicited messages, telecommunication

47

An Analysis of the Law’s Entrapment in the Private-Public Dichotomy
through the Lens of Domestic Violence

Rose Wijesekara

This paper examines one of the most prominent divisions in the landscape of law: the private-
public divide. This division is examined in the context of the imposition of responsibility for
violation of human rights within family settings. The paper argues that the ideological structures
that determine the ‘level of intimacy’ of the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator
provide the basis to create a dividing ‘line’ between ‘accepted forms’ and ‘unaccepted forms’ of
violation of rights in human lives. The criteria for acceptance depend on the social conventions,
assumptions and perceptions in a given society/community. The different forms of violation of
rights are then categorised as ‘private’ and ‘public’, making a critical difference in the outcome of
a lawsuit, as it determines the legal responsibility of the perpetrator and the relief granted to the
victim, based on the legal status of the parties. This division prevents a victim-centred remedy
based on the actual violation of rights or the victim’s vulnerability. Using domestic violence as its
main example, this paper questions the dichotomy that the Sri Lankan law has created between the
violation of fundamental rights of a human being within a ‘domestic’ sphere and in a ‘public’
space. Arguing against the artificial separation of public law and private law, it proposes
constitutionalisation of the law categorized as private so as to protect individual rights. It urges in
favour of an alignment between fundamental rights and private law. For this end, it proposes a
broader legal education that contextualises human problems in lived socio-economic-political-
cultural contexts rather than teaching concepts in their abstract. It offers recommendations for a
contextual learning of the law to replace the teaching of law in isolation.

Keywords: private-public dichotomy, domestic violence

48

Fighting Online Harassment: A Comparative Analysis of the Different
Approaches

Kushanthi S. Harasgama, Samurdhi Jayamaha and Chaga Bihari Mahingoda

With the increased digitisation of everyday lives of individuals in the last decade or so, online
harassment has come to the forefront as one of the most prevalent and pernicious issues. Online
harassment covers a wide range of behaviours, such as cyberstalking, cyberbullying, cyber
sextortion, non-consensual pornography, and many other types of online misbehaviour. The
increasing prevalence of this issue worldwide as well as its diverse adverse impacts on the physical,
psychological and socio-economic well-being of individuals, are well documented in the existing
literature. In this context, many countries have started to address this growing menace through
their laws. This paper aims to engage in a comparative analysis of the approaches to legislating
against online harassment in several jurisdictions, namely, Sri Lanka, Australia, the United
Kingdom, the United States, India, and Singapore. This study was conducted as a library-based
study involving mainly an analysis of the black letter law and relevant case authorities. The
analysis reveals that all the jurisdictions considered herein treat online harassment as conduct that
should be dealt with using penal laws, although jurisdictions like Australia adopt a two-pronged
strategy supplementing the penal laws with a civil penalties scheme. While some countries have
enacted specific laws on online harassment, others have resorted to using their existing criminal
laws on sexual harassment, criminal intimidation, etc., to prosecute cases of online harassment.
Moreover, in drafting specific laws, the countries have once again adopted varying approaches,
with some opting for narrowly drafted laws targeting one or two particular kinds of online
harassment, such as revenge pornography, cyber-stalking, etc., while others have opted for more
broadly drafted laws capable of capturing many types of online harassment. In jurisdictions like
the US, the reach of the laws is further limited through special immunities provided to ISPs and
website/platform hosts. The paper discusses the pros and cons of each of these approaches and
concludes with some recommendations.

Keywords: online harassment, cyberstalking, cyberbullying, regulating, comparative

49

Trends of Intellectual Property Law: Epilogue to the Pandemic and a
Prologue to Global Economic Downturn

Ruwini Nissanka

The rationale of intellectual property (IP) law is to incentivise innovation and creation while
promoting economic growth. With the strike of the COVID-19 pandemic, mandatory lockdowns
were implemented, and people were forced to work remotely. As a result of the new extremes,
many inventors across the globe, including Sri Lankans, emerged with creative thinking from
COVID-19 cures to remote systems of every possible nature to literally home-made everything.
Digital assets such as bitcoin, blockchain-related inventions and non-fungible tokens became
widespread, and more businesses started working with Artificial Intelligence over the past couple
of years, resulting in many new patent applications being filed globally. The IP indicators report
of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, 2021, showed a remarkable expansion of patent
applications being produced worldwide. The new normal resulted in unlocking new trends and
possibilities in the IP law arena, such as introducing digital and remote patent prosecution
techniques into court systems, countries adopting the European Union’s Unified Patent Court,
Digitalisation of IP filings, start-up enterprises developing their own Patent portfolios and by-laws,
countries reconsidering patenting requirements, courts giving new definitions to IP parameters etc.
With young inventors popping up island-wide, Sri Lanka also started facing many issues in IP
aspects, considering the need to reassess the parameters of IP rights, balancing the rights of
stakeholders affected by IP rights, modifying the rigid patenting requirements etc., making the
need of more research on Sri Lankan IP law prominent. This paper aims to navigate its readers
through new trends, twists and turns that IP Law has taken amidst the prevailing global health-
economic-political crisis giving special attention to the contemporary and future projections of the
IP law of Sri Lanka highlighting Patent protection. This study is intended to be carried out as
qualitative research comprising a library and literature-based approach with the objective of
finding out the possibilities and the methods of incorporating global trends to the betterment of IP
protection in Sri Lanka. It concludes that Sri Lanka is in great need of reshaping its IP laws to
match up with international standards, with new knowledge taking over the nullified IP laws and
norms on a global scale.

Keywords: intellectual property law, patents, trends, digital assets

50

Passive Smokers’ Right to Health; Analysing the Tobacco Control Policies in
Sri Lanka

W.G. Nadeesha Sewwandi

According to the World Health Organisation, passive smoking causes 1.2 million deaths
worldwide each year. Sri Lanka recorded a 10.8% rate of exposure to passive smoking in 2011,
according to the non-communicable diseases risk factor survey 2015 (NCDRS). Due to this burden
problem, particularly vulnerable groups like children and women experience serious issues with
violations of their human rights, particularly the right to health. Therefore, the purpose of this study
is to outline the suggested procedures for analysing the current tobacco control policies in Sri
Lanka in order to safeguard the right to health of passive smokers. The doctrinal research design
will be used, and primary and secondary sources will be used to collect and analyse the data.
Legislation and case law will be the main sources in this case. Constitutions, statutes, cases, and
regulations will serve as the primary sources in this case, while legal dictionaries, textbooks,
journals, articles, case digests, legal encyclopedias, and other materials will serve as secondary
sources. In this study, the researcher hopes to analyse domestic and international tobacco control
policies relating to the right to health of passive smokers in Sri Lanka and how they impact the
whole society as there is no proper investigation into the existing policy system. In the future,
policymakers and decision-makers can be mindful of making regulations in order to not harm
human rights violations. As a tool for early warning and early targeted action, human rights
information and analysis are very important. It influences national and international policymaking,
strategies and operations to prevent, mitigate or respond to emerging crises, including
humanitarian crises and conflict. As a result, this researcher will conduct an analysis of
international and domestic tobacco control policies in order to assist public officials, decision and
policymakers, and other responsible parties in reducing the harmful impact of tobacco smoking in
Sri Lanka by protecting the rights of passive smokers.

Keywords: passive smokers, human rights, tobacco control policies, Sri Lanka

51

Land Reform Law Act No. 01 of 1972 Sri Lanka: Policies, Practices, and
Problems

S.M.A.G. Senevirathne

Land is a unique and expensive commodity that is affected by demand and supply. Land ownership
and land management by both private individuals and the State have multi-perspective aims and
considerations such as economic, social, humanitarian, and political. Sri Lanka’s experience in
land law is different from other countries mainly due to the diversity of changing state policies,
ideologies, and practices. Gaining ownership of a plot of land in most developing counties
including Sri Lanka is a tedious, expensive, time consuming, and lengthy process. Sri Lanka
consists of 6,570,134 ha. of land area where only about 50 percent is arable due to unsuitable
terrain, inland water bodies, and forest reservations. Sri Lankan landownership comprises 82.25
percent state land and 17.75 percent privately owned land. Thus, residential land is in high demand
due to its scarcity. Apart from the physical scarcity of land, the land law of Sri Lanka is complex
and confusing due to unsystematic policy formulation as well as poor public administration. Sri
Lanka has more than 39 statutes pertaining to land law as at the year 1985. In 1972, based on the
objective of maximising the agricultural production and employment as well as overcoming the
inequalities in wealth and income in Sri Lanka land reform law programme was initiated by the
government at that time. To reach the said aim the Land Reform Law Act No. 01 of 1972 was
enacted imposing a maximum ceiling for private ownership of land (25 acres for paddy land and
50 acres for other categories of land) and establishing Land Reform Commission through vesting
the powers to acquire an excess of land above the said ceiling held by the private individuals and
companies. This study attempts to identify how the said Land Reform Law Act No. 01 of 1972
affected land ownership in Sri Lanka in past, present, and future and its consequences. This is a
qualitative research based primarily on respective statutes and associated judgements. The findings
of the study show how ad hoc government policy formulations and enactment of connected
legislation without a proper national land policy and a holistic approach to domestic land problems
resulted in deviations from its initial legislative aim overtime by resulting in practical land
ownership issues, other serious legal and social repercussions due to Land Reform Law No. 01 of
1972 and its subsequent amendments.

Keywords: land-ownership, land-reform-law, Sri Lanka

52

Strengthening the Legal and Regulatory Framework to Combat Corruption
in Public Procurement in Sri Lanka: A Comparative Study

U.A.T. Udayanganie

Sri Lanka’s current economic crisis is a result of several years of mismanagement of public funds,
corruption, shortsighted policymaking, and an overall lack of good governance. Public
procurement is a key economic activity of governments that represents a significant percentage of
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) generating huge financial flows. An effective procurement
system plays an iconic role in governments to avoid mismanagement and waste of public money.
One of the key allegations made about the government’s large infrastructure projects is how the
money has been spent and the criteria whereby projects were selected. Recently, several projects
were questioned regarding due process and an absence of following the competitive bidding
process. Sri Lanka’s procurement procedure is governed by the Procurement Guidelines and the
Procurement Manual as amended. The absence of proper legislation sheds a red light to ensure
transparency, accountability, fairness, competitiveness, and cost-effectiveness in public
procurements. Given the important role that public procurement plays the question has often arisen
as to whether, and if so how public procurement should be regulated to combat corruption. This
study advances the argument that the poor adherence to the public distribution of information
relating to procurement procedures and contracts, including information on invitations to tender
and relevant information on the award of contracts and frequent deviations from competitive
bidding creates a larger space for corruption. On the other hand, the inadequate role of the judiciary
in reviewing public contracts further facilitates the corruptive practices of the public procurement
process. In this background, the paper aims to analyse the Sri Lankan legal and regulatory
framework on public procurement with a view to fathoming accountability and transparency.
Finally, the paper suggests an integrated approach of simplified rules, specific legislative
provisions, more circumscribed administrative discretion, and a robust but principled judicial
review of procurement decisions to combat corruption in the field. This paper seeks to recount
experiences in public procurement law and regulations in the UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong and
to glean lessons that can be learnt with regard to proper regulation. Hence, the paper is based on
the combination of the black-letter approach and the comparative research approach.

Keywords: public procurement, corruption, transparency, accountability, legal and regulatory
framework

53

Analysis of legal Methods of Argument Formation and E-discovery: A
Complete Toolkit for Legal Professionals in International Law

Pawan Kumar

International law is an ever-growing subject. With the rise of international institutions, like the
United Nations and other global players as law makers and norm creators, researching the field
has become more technical. With a number of courts and tribunals internationally and regionally
passing judgments on international legal issues, it becomes necessary to learn the art of argument
formation and e-discovery. This article makes a case for legal tools available in doing research on
complex international legal issues. It also seeks to trace time-tested legal methods aimed at
effective argument formation. Objective protocols for information gathering analysis and narrative
building through an investigative approach along with electronic legal research are also discussed.
This article aims at combining the methodologies of legal methods aimed at information collection
and processing and electronic legal research on international legal issues. The requirement of
uniform syntax, simplified communications, structured presentation of facts, completeness of the
narrative and a thematic approach shall be dealt with under the section dealing with legal writing
and information gathering. Methods of international legal research are simplified through easily
understandable insights into the working of major legal e-discovery and case law search providers.
It is recognised that the very high cost of proprietary legal e-discovery platforms might be a
roadblock for emerging and struggling young lawyers based mostly in the global south. This article
demonstrates that high precision boolean query searches of legal data can be achieved by the use
of open source software like Docfetcher which is an open source and freely available document
search engine. Additionally, targeted legal research through popular search engines like Google,
Bing and Yahoo is also discussed. Various lesser known search operators supported by Google
and which can be of immense help when searching legal data sites would also be discussed. The
approach would be to evaluate various methods of legal writing vis-a-vis modes of electronic legal
research, aimed at finding out the best plausible protocol which can effectively be accessed by all
for conducting legal research and writing legal arguments in international law.

Keywords: International Law, international Institutions, methods of international legal research

54

Analysing the Procedures and Advantages of International Arbitration in the
Context of Leading Cases

Kazi Tamanna Ferdush

The process of international arbitration is almost like a suit filed in the domestic court. However,
as opposed to occurring under the watchful eye of a domestic court, it happens before the persons
appointed by the parties themselves acting as arbitrators. Arbitration is a unanimous, nonpartisan,
official, and enforceable method for international dispute settlement that is normally quicker and
more affordable than domestic court procedures. The operation of the international arbitration
process has advanced to permit parties from various legal, semantic and social backgrounds to
settle their disputes in an effective and compulsory way, ordinarily without following the customs
of the procedural principles of their intrinsic legal frameworks. The award or the decision is given
by the tribunal after giving both parties a reasonable hearing in which each party will get a chance
to state its position. Though it is unlikely, in some cases, arbitrations can be conducted entirely on
paper; for example, cases where the cause of action or issue in question does not require a hearing.
However, the tribunal will decide the matter in question as per the law governing the relevant
agreement. The fundamental advantages of arbitration are simplicity of implementation and
confidentiality. Additionally, the impartiality that arbitration offers is a key selling point.
Contracting parties regularly need the question to be heard in their domestic courts. This study
focuses on the process of international arbitration and examines the core advantages of
international arbitration. Various leading cases on international arbitration are discussed to
understand the topic in a more distinct way. The sources of data are both primary and secondary.
The primary ones include national and international law, and judicial decisions. The secondary
ones include books, journals, websites and various reports.

Keywords: international arbitration, agreement, mediation, tribunal, case law

55

Balancing Inherent Human Rights and Protection of Public Health: Special
Focus upon Compulsory Vaccination against Infectious Diseases

Susarithaa Segar
“Man is a political animal” is a famous quote by Aristotle. As per the history of the evolution of
human rights, at a certain point in time, man has agreed to surrender such animal-like qualities to
lawmakers for the protection of his inherent natural rights. Lawmakers tend to restrict inherent
human rights in extreme situations when there is a threat to public health. Such restrictions must
be imposed following nature and reason. This paper expects to examine the question of vaccination
against infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Whether there is a balance between the imposition
of compulsory vaccination against such infectious diseases and the protection of inherent human
rights is a puzzle. This paper will primarily focus on Sri Lankan laws during a pandemic such as
COVID-19, an infectious disease. For the above discussion, a conceptual analysis of democracy
and the philosophical foundation of Human Rights will be dealt with in this paper. This paper
seeks to provide sustainable recommendations to retain a balance between inherent human rights
and public health at large. For such purposes, this research exercise will engage in a comparative
study. This study is a preliminary outcome of a literature survey on this topic. The necessary
information is gathered from primary sources of Constitutions, legislation and international
instruments; and secondary sources accessible and available such as journal articles, textbooks,
research and working papers, government publications, newspapers, electronic databases and e-
journals.
Keywords: COVID-19, vaccination, philosophical foundation, human rights, infectious disease

56

Intellectual Property in School Curricula: Prospects and Challenges for Sri
Lanka

N.S. Punchihewa

The purpose of this paper is to explore, whether and to what extent Intellectual Property (IP)
education can be integrated into school curricula of primary and secondary education in Sri Lanka.
The research employs a critical review of literature method by following black-letter legal research
methodology. The results of this research indicate that there is a paucity of scholarly literature
dealing with this issue and inadequate attention to the topic in Sri Lanka, which factors motivated
the researcher to undertake this study. Even though IP is deemed the ‘currency of the 21st century’
and has gained immense recognition as a catalyst for economic growth around the globe, value of
IP has been neither adequately inculcated in the minds nor sufficiently embedded in the DNA of
the younger generation of the country. This is a worrying development which is a cause for concern
among educational policymakers in Sri Lanka. It is also evident that up until today, IP education
has been given meagre attention in the school curricula in Sri Lanka, except for a rudimentary
reference to IP rights in Grade 11 ICT subject. Arguably, the inadequate attention to IP at the
school level education has been instrumental in preventing Sri Lanka from becoming an
innovation-driven country during the last seven decades or so. Therefore, this research offers new
insights to educational policymakers on the paramount importance of introducing IP education
through the school curricula at least at the next curriculum revision scheduled to be implemented
in 2024. The National Institute of Education has proposed that IP education be embedded into the
Civic Education curriculum which shall be taught to Grade 9 students. Nevertheless, this proposal
will encounter several challenges: namely, the lack of learning resources; low-level of awareness
amongst teachers; priority given to certain other subjects; and parents’ negative perceptions due to
exam-driven educational culture in the country. In terms of originality, to the best of the author’s
knowledge, this is the first research that explores the prospects and challenges in teaching IP at
school level which will go a long way towards helping Sri Lanka to become an innovation-driven,
IP exporting economy in decades to come.

Keywords: intellectual property, school curricular, promoting innovation

57

Registration of Geographical Indications in Sri Lanka: An Analysis of the
Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003

Lankika Dayarathna

Protection of Geographical Indications (GI) has been the subject of long-standing debate
internationally as countries driven by their national interests espousing divergent systems of
protection. While the so called ‘old world’ countries call for a strict protectionist system, the so
called ‘new world’ countries advocate a less stringent approach. The Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) bringing GIs under the umbrella of Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) sets the minimum standard of protection permitting its members to decide
the domestic level of protection. Hence, countries have adopted various systems of protection for
GIs. Some have used the trademark regime while some have used sui generis systems of protection.
Laws focusing on business practices is another mechanism adopted for GI protection. Sri Lanka
which has a rich natural and cultural heritage could benefit immensely from the concept of GIs. In
fact, it already has some world-famous GIs that have accorded great yields to the country.
Nevertheless, Sri Lanka does not seem to have gained the potential socio-economic benefits from
the concept of GIs. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to examine the Sri Lankan law
governing the protection of GIs to see if there is an effective system for protection of GIs. This
paper adopts the black letter research methodology and would primarily be a literature survey with
special focus on the Intellectual Property (Amendment) Act, No.8 of 2022 which amended the
Intellectual Property Act, No. 36 of 2003 to establish a registration system for GIs. Having
analysed the system of registration adopted by Sri Lanka against the international law and other
comparable jurisdictions the paper identifies certain gaps in the domestic law and argues that the
Sri Lankan law governing the protection of GIs needs further improvements for effective
protection of GIs.

Keywords: geographical indications, registration, Sri Lanka

58

Critical Analysis of Interim Measures of Arbitration in Sri Lanka: A
Comparative Study of UK and India

K.H.M. Navoda
Arbitration is one of the most prominent alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in the
commercial world. Parties resort to arbitration mainly because of privacy, party autonomy and
effectiveness as opposed to litigation. The UNCITRAL Model Law provides the basic foundation
for States to formulate their domestic arbitration legislation, whilst the United Nations Convention
on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards facilitates the Recognition and
Enforcement of foreign arbitral awards among States. To this end, interim measures of arbitration
play a major role, and different jurisdictions have different laws. However, the interim measures
stipulated in Arbitration Act No.11 of 1995 in Sri Lanka are different to that of India and the United
Kingdom in terms of their effectiveness and practical implementation. Therefore, they question
whether the law relating to granting interim measures is effective and enforceable in the Sri Lankan
context. The main objective of granting interim measures is to provide immediate temporary
protection to relevant parties pending the arbitral award. Accordingly, the objective of this study
is to analyse the powers, standards and enforceability of interim measures granted by arbitral
tribunals and national courts in Sri Lanka in comparison with the UK and India and the
amendments that can be brought in for the effective enforcement of interim measures. The study
is mainly based on legislation, case laws and a literature review. Further, this study would also
propose amendments to the prevailing law and best practices in a practical context to uphold the
most fundamental principle of party autonomy in arbitration while recognising the supportive role
of national courts.
Keywords: arbitration, interim measures, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms

59

Reforming the Legal Regime in relation to Independent Directors in Sri
Lanka: A Comparative Analysis

K.L.P.D. Lekamge

It is observed that despite Sri Lanka having introduced Acts, codes, rules and directions dealing
with independent directors’ affairs, due to notable loopholes evidenced in the legal framework, the
corporate stakeholders were jointly affected. It has created a barrier to effective board performance
and hindered the economic development of the country in general when compared with countries
such as the United Kingdom, Singapore and China which have extensively benefited in the recent
past. It is brought to light that the shortages of the legal grid have yielded unbalanced corporate
boards, triggered ultra vires conduct and thereby deprived the rights of all the corporate
stakeholders. Concerning the compelling issue at hand, even if many believed that the need to
reform the legal regime is crucial, very little has been done to emphasise the controversy up until
now. On top of everything, investor confidence will diminish, capital will flow elsewhere, and
markets will not thrive. Accordingly, this paper will define the concept of independent directors,
analyse the existing legal framework in Sri Lanka and its adequacy, appraise the lessons that can
be learned from the selected jurisdictions and provide recommendations to the Sri Lankan
policymakers in implementing a comprehensive independent directors’ regime. Ultimately, the
paper concludes that the legal reforms in this area are pivotal in responding adequately to the needs
of modern-day pragmatic business matters concerning independent directors in Sri Lanka. Further,
this study follows a qualitative paradigm of legal research and it is carried out using the black letter
approach. Statutory instruments, case law jurisprudence and legislative examples of other
countries are used as primary sources. Textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, research papers,
case studies and review papers are utilised as secondary sources. Moreover, online law library
resources are used as tertiary legal resources.

Keywords: independent directors, corporate governance, Sri Lankan legal framework

60

Increasing Dangers of Cybercrime: The Need for a Robust Cybersecurity
Strategy to Safeguard Digital Consumers

W. I. Nanayakkara

Consumers today participate in a digital marketplace due to its multiple advantages. On the other
hand, the increasing volume of cross-border transactions raises some complex consumer protection
issues. Cybersecurity is frequently cited as the most significant worldwide threat. With the advent
of cross-border and digital commerce, whether a specific jurisdiction has authority has become a
critical issue in consumer protection. The increasing sophistication of hackers and the
pervasiveness of cybercrime in today's digital economy highlight the critical need to ensure
consumer safety. Consumers may lose confidence in digital marketplaces if these problems and
regulatory challenges are not resolved. To resolve some of these concerns, governments must stay
receptive to the various initiatives that may be implemented to address the challenges posed by the
digital marketplace without impeding or stifling the numerous benefits these advances provide to
consumers. The significance of consumer protection mandates introducing new regulations to
safeguard consumers against the threats posed by evolving technology. This study explores the
potential legislative responses and offers recommendations for enhancing Sri Lanka’s consumer
protection laws in digital markets. To address the issue of consumer protection in cyberspace, the
study draws several conclusions, including the necessity for a new, comprehensive legislative
framework and an integrated approach to consumer protection enforcement at both the
domestic and international levels. This paper further proposes expanding Sri Lanka’s legal
framework to include information technology and consumer protection laws, two areas where the
country lacks specific legal provisions. Domestic reforms alone are insufficient to address the
problem in the Internet age, so higher-level security settings, globally permissible
countermeasures, international cooperation, and enforcement aspects are required to protect
consumers from cybercrime. This study utilises the qualitative methodology of relevant primary
and secondary sources to formulate a conclusion and provide study results.

Keywords: consumer protection, cybercrime, digital technology

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What ‘Deepfake’ Technology brings to the Table: Learning from the EU
Approach on Deepfakes

Ruvini Katugaha
The recent developments in deepfake technology are revolutionising not just the way we conduct
litigation but also the delivery of justice itself. AI-driven software can deep-learn facial
expressions and patterns of individuals, mimic their voices, and produce an ultra-realistic virtually
indistinguishable video/audio by studying available videos/pictures on the internet of individuals
(deep-learning) and manipulating them without any human aid. Deepfakes were coined as the
digital hijacking of people as they make it look like an individual has done or said things they had
never said or done, paving the way to a plethora of legal issues such as defamation cases, hate
speech crimes, revenge porn, blackmail, privacy, copyright violations etc. that the court will come
across. The historical belief that video and audio are reliable records of reality is no longer tenable
and courts will have to deal with deepfakes that are submitted as evidence in trials from divorce
cases to FR violations. The paper focuses on the question of whether the Sri Lankan legal
framework is comprehensive enough to effectively handle the onslaught of deepfake technology.
This comparative research analyses EU laws and regulations and analyses available literature on
the matter through a desk research. The study found that the EU has been proactively introducing
legislation and regulations (ex: Digital Services Act) in regard to the dissemination of deepfakes
to combat the threat posed by them and Sri Lanka too needs to take proactive steps to minimise
the damage that can be caused to individuals, the society and the administration of justice. The
paper concludes that even though there are some minor improvements to be made to the EU
approach, it is on an excellent trajectory and Sri Lanka needs to adopt a similar approach to
introduce such timely legislation to fortify the legislative framework surrounding deepfakes.

Keywords: deepfake technology, law and technology, digital hijacking

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Digital Biometric Technology for Law Enforcement and Government
Agencies

M. S. Kawya Mallawaarachchi, M.S.P Serasinghe, W. Janani Parami Pabasara De silva and L.H.
Apsara Lakmini Bandusena

Biometrics technology, of which the digital facial recognition technology most prominently,
indicates a rising impact in digital transformation and the world market. However, concerns have
been raised regarding cyber security and privacy issues that may result in these emerging fields of
digital transformation. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this research is to explore, from the
perspective of legal implications, the utilisation of digital biometric technology to meet the
growing challenges of the modern world, the counter–challenges that this may engender and to
suggest possible reforms to rectify these challenges. While using comparative and empirical
analysis, this study analyses the challenges of using digital facial recognition as a biometric
technology in digital transformations, especially concerning cyber security and privacy issues and
how they have been innovatively dealt with in different legal settings. This paper establishes that
the rise of new technologies to overcome global challenges cannot be barred. Nevertheless, it can
be made more accommodative by creating a legal basis that adapts to new technologies while
laying a solid legal foundation that such technologies may have to abide by to avoid cyber security
and privacy issues. Thus, this study definitively addresses the concerns relating to the vital
connection between digital facial recognition as a biometric technology in digital transformations
and the laws that address cybersecurity and privacy issues.
Keywords: biometric technology, digital facial recognition, cyber security, privacy

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Combating Zoom Fatigue to Enhance Student-centred Teaching and
Learning through Innovative Approaches: A Case Study

Chathurika L. Akurugoda
The COVID-19 pandemic forced university teaching to transform from onsite to online education.
Though there were many obstacles at the outset, Zoom became the preferred academic teaching
and learning platform for synchronous education. Despite many technological challenges, students
and faculty now sat and looked at their screens for hours. While looking at their screens, the
viewers were often distracted by events in their environment, smartphone notifications, social
media, and email, which promoted multitasking. As a result, there are many complaints about the
stress generated by zooming in for long hours. Against this backdrop, this qualitative research aims
to ascertain the impact of zoom fatigue on student learning in the Faculty of Law, especially after
teaching was shifted to a Zoom environment without adapting the course materials to optimise
student-centred online learning and suggesting a few practical solutions to overcome it. Thus, the
first part of this paper will conceptualise the term 'Zoom Fatigue' in the context of higher education,
while the second part analyses the impact of the same on the learning and teaching process in the
Faculty of Law by using a few selected student-centred active learning theories. The third part of
the paper discusses a few innovative active learning methods that could optimise the online
learning of law undergraduates of the Faculty of Law.
Keywords: zoom fatigue, higher education, student-centred learning

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A Legal Study on Assessment of Illicit Narcotic Consumption and
Consequences of Provision of Bail under Exceptional Circumstances by the

Judiciary of Sri Lanka.

J.M. Sajini Poornima Jayathilake
The purpose of this paper is to examine Sri Lanka’s law relating to illicit narcotic drug
consumption and to discuss the consequences of providing bail for suspects by the Sri Lankan
judiciary upon exceptional circumstances considering section 83(1) of the Poisons, Opium and
Dangerous Drugs Act No. 13 of 1984. Accordingly, no person suspected of an offence under
section 54A(2) or section 54B(3) of this Act shall be released on bail, except by the High Court,
in exceptional circumstances. Against this backdrop, from a legal perspective, the study highlights
the distinction attached to illicit narcotic drugs considered to be harmful to society by the Act
above, discussing sections available in the Act which are essential to mitigating such illicit drug
consumption and trafficking in Sri Lanka. It further discusses the exceptional circumstances under
which the country’s superior courts provide bail to such suspects, discussing the grounds that led
the Sri Lankan judiciary to deliver such decisions. In order to assess the provisions of the Act
extensively, this research further examines the constitutional provisions on fundamental rights,
specifically Article 13(4) that guarantee that no person will be punished with death or
imprisonment except by order of a competent court, made following the procedure established by
law. The applicability of this fundamental right will be considered, focusing on circumstances
where suspects are kept in remand prison for an extended period without a trial being conducted.
In conclusion, this study shows how the Sri Lanka judiciary decides such bail applications
considering both the fundamental rights and exceptional circumstances and underscores the need
to explicitly mention such exceptions in the law rather than depending solely upon case laws.

Keywords: illicit, narcotic, bail, exceptional circumstances, judiciary

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