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

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

Israel's recent submission to wcit is of interest ..

http://news.dot-nxt.com/itu/wcit/c28

● ITRs must not trump trade rules. Secure the overarching principle that
the ITRs shall not override any commitment made in the WTO, GATS or any
trade agreement.

Jeanette Hofmann [28/11/12 16:46 +0100]:
>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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