[governance] New report makes clear upcoming WCIT proposals could conflict with WTO Members' obligations

[Nick Ashton-Hart]

Dear Friends,

I thought I would write to advise you of an important report, just released today by LIRNEasia and ECIPE, that makes clear that a number of the proposals being put before the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) this month in Dubai could result in conflicts for WTO member-states.

Entitled “Whither Global Rules for the Internet? The implications of the World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT) for international trade,”  it was released publicly today at 1400 Central European Time.

This report is the first to look at current proposals for WCIT and whether they are congruent with binding rules on trade developed at the World Trade Organisation. Among the report’s key conclusions:

Proposals being made by governments for the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) do not adequately take into account their commitments under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS);
WTO member-countries have made commitments that forbid them from imposing restrictions on the most common forms of Internet services that would likely be broken were proposals in front of the upcoming conference to be agreed to.
All WTO member-states must abide by a moratorium on tariffs and equivalent fees on data transmissions that explicitly forbids access fees for data whether they are discriminatory or not. Some proposals, such as those promoted by some European telecommunications operators, would likely conflict with this obligation.

Matthias and I have found when we meet with the trade community in Geneva that there's little awareness of the trade dimension to WCIT proposals. Obviously it is in nobody's interest for WCIT to result in ITRs that conflict with WTO obligations. 

The report may be found here: http://www.ecipe.org/media/publication_pdfs/PB201212b.pdf. 

-- 
Regards,
 
Nick Ashton-Hart
Geneva Representative
Computer & Communcations Industry Association (CCIA)
Tel: +41 (22) 534 99 45
Fax: : +41 (22) 594-85-44
Mobile: +41 79 595 5468
USA Tel: +1 (202) 640-5430
email/IM (Jabber/GTalk): nashton at ccianet.org
Skype: nashtonhart
http://www.ccianet.org

Need to schedule a meeting or call with me? Feel free to pick a time and date convenient for you at http://meetme.so/nashton

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