[governance] FW: [A2k] EU's follow actions from WSIS

Tue May 2 14:19:12 EDT 2006

-----Original Message-----
From: a2k-admin at lists.essential.org
[mailto:a2k-admin at lists.essential.org] On Behalf Of Michelle Childs
Sent: May 2, 2006 7:08 PM
To: a2k at lists.essential.org
Cc: ecommerce at lists.essential.org
Subject: [A2k] EU's follow actions from WSIS

DG Information Society has today released a list of 'actions' to follow
on from the Tunis meeting. A number have been announced before or are
simply joining existing policy forums.  But they specifically refer to
net neutrality <snip> Finally, the Commission expresses, in today's
Communication, its readiness to closely monitor attempts to call into
question the neutral character of the Internet.

Michelle

Press Release:
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/542&fo
rmat=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Reference:  IP/06/542    Date:  27/04/2006

 Brussels, 27 April 2006

Internet: Commission seeks global partnership on Internet governance,
freedom of expression and the combat against cyber-repression

To keep up the momentum of the successful World Summit on Information
Society (Tunis, 16-18 November 2005), the European Commission has set
out today its priorities for implementing the international policy
commitments made at the Summit. These priorities include safeguarding
and strengthening human rights, in particular the freedom to receive and
access information. Information and communication technologies (ICTs)
should be used to contribute to open democratic societies and to
economic and social progress worldwide. The Commission calls for
continuing international talks to improve Internet governance through
the two new processes created by the Summit: the multi-stakeholder
Internet Governance Forum and the mechanism of enhanced cooperation that
will involve all governments on an equal footing.

"The European Union must be at the forefront of an open, accessible and
undivided worldwide Information Society and of a free exchange of
information, ideas and opinions around the globe", said Viviane Reding,
Member of the European Commission responsible for the Information
Society and the Media. "At the World Summit in Tunis last year, we made
an important step towards a global consensus that the day-to-day
management of the Internet should take place without the interference of
any government. Now we must ensure that those commitments are fully
implemented. Interventions in the core architecture of the Internet can
no longer be justified if not made on the basis of globally accepted
public policy principles."

In its Communication adopted today, the Commission outlines the
follow-up actions it proposes for implementing the commitments made at
the World Summit of last November (see IP/05/1424 and IP/05/1433). The
EU has actively contributed to the success of this Summit and, by
speaking with one voice, helped to find viable compromises among
diverging positions among UN partners.

The Commission welcomes the clear and unequivocal statement of the World
Summit on the primary importance of the information society for
democracy and the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; in
particular the freedom of expression and opinion, as well as the freedom
to receive and access information. Therefore, the Commission notes with
concerns the cases of cyber-repression, which means the misuse of ICT to
help repressive regimes to restrict the free flow of information on the
Internet. The Commission encourages the companies concerned to work on a
code of conduct on this crucial issue, in close cooperation with NGOs.

On Internet governance, the Commission highlights that the
multi-stakeholder Forum on Internet governance (the first meeting of
which will take place in Athens this autumn) and the enhanced
cooperation model agreed at the Summit are a prerequisite for developing
a worldwide commitment to fight effectively against spam and malware and
to ensure the sustainability of the Internet as a global network.

On digital divide, the Commission already proposed in October 2005 a new
Partnership on Infrastructures, which will cover areas such as ICT
strategy and regulation, technology-neutral broadband networks and
development of non-commercial pan-African electronic services.

EU action should also include promoting international cooperation in ICT
R&D, which is to become a priority in the EU's new Framework Research
Programme, with the opening-up of all activities to researchers from
third countries and joint research programmes between the EU and
specific countries or regions.

Finally, the Commission expresses, in today's Communication, its
readiness to closely monitor attempts to call into question the neutral
character of the Internet.

Background:

The World Summit on the Information Society was a formal UN initiative
at the level of Heads of State and Government. It took place in two
phases: in Geneva in December 2003 and in Tunis in November 2005. The
outcome of the World Summit is a consensus on a global approach to the
Information Society that is common to all UN Member States and reflected
in the documents adopted in Tunis. The Tunis documents recognise in
particular acknowledge the need for enhanced cooperation on Internet
governance matters of a public policy nature to enable governments, on
an equal footing, to carry out their roles and responsibilities. They
also lay the foundation for a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy
dialogue, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). The EU is participating
actively in the setting up of both processes.

See also MEMO/06/172
Today's Communication and the Tunis documents are available at:

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/internationalrel/glo
bal_issues/wsis/index_en.htm

--
Michelle Childs -Head of European Affairs
Consumer Project on Technology in London
24, Highbury Crescent, London, N5 1RX,UK.
Tel:+44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252.
Mob:+44(0)790 386 4642. Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607 http://www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology in Washington, DC
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA .Tel.:
+1.202.332.2670,Fax: +1.202.332.2673

Consumer Project on Technology in Geneva
1 Route des  Morillons, CP 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 791 6727

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