Annexes to COM(2004)480 - Towards a Global Partnership in the Information Society: Translating the Geneva principles into actions - Commission proposals for the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS)

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dossier COM(2004)480 - Towards a Global Partnership in the Information Society: Translating the Geneva principles into actions - Commission ...
document COM(2004)480 EN
date July 13, 2004
agreements: This is the case e.g. for Latin America, the ACP, the Mediterranean region or the Newly Independent States.

* Stakeholder networks and Public Private Partnerships: This encompasses co-operation with different civil society organisations, regulatory authorities, development organisations or research entities. The commitment and participation of the private sector and civil society in the deployment of the POA is key to its success. Co-operation with individual companies, industry associations, users' organisations and non-governmental organisations may be envisaged.

* Co-operation with international organisations: In order to increase synergies, co-operations with the United Nations and different international organisations could be envisaged.

3. Follow-up of the unsettled Issues of Phase 1

The Geneva Summit agreed to set up two working groups under the authority of the UN Secretary General for the two most contentious issues of Phase 1: Internet governance and Financing.

3.1. UN Working group on Internet governance

An over-riding public policy objective is the continued stability and growth of the Internet and its ability to deliver social and economic benefits. There is a need to build on the present structure of the Internet to reinforce its stability and growth potential. Wherever possible, a bottom-up approach to policy making should involve all stakeholders, in particular developing countries whose participation to policy making can be improved. Naming and addressing, security and dependability of the Internet, including spam, are key priorities for governments impacting directly on the proper functioning of the Internet. At the same time, a broad range of public policy issues are relevant for the Internet such as harmful content, data protection and privacy, consumer protection, e-commerce, intellectual property rights (IPR) and the digital divide. The Commission may envisage participating actively in the UN Working group.

3.2. UN Task Force on Financing

The fight against the digital divide was one of the main topics of the Geneva Summit. ICT are not to be considered in isolation, but as part of an overall development strategy and policy dialogue with beneficiary countries. The international community can play an active role by pointing to the potential benefits of new policies and helping interested countries in designing appropriate policies as a function of their situation and priorities. Depending on the final set-up of the Financing Task Force, the Commission may envisage active participation.

International co-operation and financing related to WSIS should be framed in the context of the Monterrey consensus with proposed actions at the level of foreign direct investment and other private flows, international trade, as well as financial and technical co-operation.

In its communication on the progress on the Monterrey consensus [6], the Commission advocates for stronger EU coordination in the area of development cooperation. Aid-recipient developing countries and countries with economies in transition could be assisted in strengthening their capacity to mainstream ICT in their national development plans and poverty reduction strategy papers and to effectively co-ordinate donor funding. In this context, it may be proposed to elaborate a document outlining the activities of Member States and the Commission to present a full overview of development aid delivered by the European Union in the field of ICT.

[6] Translating the Monterrey Consensus into practice: the contribution by the European Union - COM(2004) 150, 5.3.2004.


Follow-up of the EU-ACP Joint position on the IS for Development

In this joint position, signed on 10 December 2003 in Geneva, the ACP group and the EU have agreed a strategic partnership on IS to jointly contribute to the implementation of the POA. It reaffirms the common determination to intensify collaboration to develop demand-driven IS strategies in ACP countries and regions in the context of overall development strategies, including where appropriate, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. As a first step, the Commission has recently approved an "ACP ICT-Programme".

4. Horizontal Issues of the Information Society

The Geneva POA also calls for action on horizontal issues. Progress at international level could be useful in particular on issues such as: security, spam, different software models, IPR. Some of the issues are already discussed in other international forums (e.g. IPR in the World Intellectual Property Organisation) and it should be assessed where a discussion should take place, as WSIS might not be the most appropriate forum for each of them.

Network and information security is about ensuring the ability of a network or an information system to resist accidental events or malicious actions that compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity and confidentiality of data and related services offered by or accessible via these networks and information systems. Communication networks are global, and security issues highlight the need both for closer international co-operation and for a common approach. Although many initiatives need some adjustment to local environments, it is clear that international co-operation should be more widespread. There is a need to pursue a truly open, global and multidisciplinary approach to security to effectively tackle the complexity and global nature of the security challenges.

Spam (unsolicited commercial communications by e-mail) is another challenge for the Internet that can undermine confidence in the use of ICT. To combat spam effectively and thereby implement the Action Plan, appropriate action at both national and international level should be taken. Efforts made in the EU and other regions of the world should be echoed by similar efforts at global level. The European Commission facilitates both bilateral cooperation and multilateral cooperation, including in organisations like the OECD and the ITU. The WSIS should seek to promote greater awareness, as well as the need for effective legislation against spam, the need for international cooperation on enforcement, the need for best practices and (technical) solutions by industry and for greater user awareness.

The WSIS agreed to encourage research and promote awareness among all stakeholders of the possibilities offered by different software models, and the means of their creation, including proprietary, open-source and free software, in order to increase competition, freedom of choice and affordability, and to enable all stakeholders to evaluate which solution best meets their requirements. This should in particular be seen in the co-operation with the developing world. Common accessibility standards for the web and also of ICT equipment can lead to better and cheaper products that would be compatible across borders, facilitating access to the IS and related services to a large number of potential users that are excluded today. Industry will also benefit from the possibility of having larger markets and governments and public administrations could offer better accessible services and environments for their employees and for all the public.

On IPR protection, the WSIS concluded that it is important to encourage innovation and creativity in the IS. Facilitating meaningful participation by all in IPR issues and knowledge sharing through full awareness and capacity building is fundamental for an inclusive IS. The EU attaches great importance to adequate IPR protection and the respect for and enforcement of established rules.

EU initiatives taken to address these horizontal issues (e.g. ENISA, the Action Plan for Safer Use of the Internet) could be used as models for actions at the global level and could take a broader worldwide leadership in the WSIS follow-up.

5. Conclusions

The EU has a broad offer for international co-operation in the IS, which can be used as a basis for the actions to be developed for the Tunis Summit. This communication gives an outline of possible actions, which could be developed in more detail during the co-ordination process for the second phase of the WSIS.

The proposals in this communication may form the basis for the EU-input to the second phase of the WSIS, enabling the Commission and the Member States to have a comprehensive package of actions ready for the Tunis phase to contribute to the success of the Tunis Summit.