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

[Jeanette Hofmann]

Hi Nick,

conflicts between international treaties are not that unusual. Given the 
increasing density of international organizations and agreements, and 
the lack of any formal hierarchy among them legal inconsistencies happen 
more often than one may expect.  An example that involves the WTO 
concerns intellectual property rights. TRIPS and CBD, the convention on 
biological diversity imply conflicting principles. They were negotiated 
around the same time but reflect different concerns, actors and venues. 
The fact that trade experts and WCIT advocates hardly take notice of 
each other seems to make conflicting outcomes even more likely.

jeanette

Am 28.11.2012 16:02, schrieb 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 <mailto:nashton at ccianet.org>
> Skype: nashtonhart
> http://www.ccianet.org <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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