18. (1) Any provision in any law, whether enacted before or after the commencement of this Act, that confers a power to prescribe or determine – (a) any form to be used for any purpose; (b) the manner or procedure of making an application or providing any information to an institution or body, is, unless a contrary intention appears, construed to authorise the functionary concerned to – (i) prescribe or determine a procedure involving the use of a data message or the interaction with an automatic data entry system; (ii) require the provision of data in any prescribed or determined computer readable format; (iii) prescribe or determine compliance with any specified protocol or procedure; (iv) prescribe or determine any technical or other requirement that may be necessary in order to allow or facilitate the use of information systems; (v) prescribe or determine that a specified type of electronic signature is required; (vi) prescribe or determine the manner and format in which such electronic signature must be attached to, incorporated in or otherwise associated with the data message; (vii) prescribe or determine that a specific class of accredited security product, service, provider of a security product or renderer of a security service must be used; (viii) subject to any law regulating electronic payments in Namibia, prescribe or 18