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

[Adam Peake]

And features in the USA proposal and principles Australia has said
should guide the ITRs

"6.	Proposals are consistent with WTO Agreements, in particular the
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)."

Europe makes the same point, but about commitments member states have
to EC treaties, rules etc.

Going to be a complicated 8 days of negotiation.

Adam


On Thu, Nov 29, 2012 at 1:36 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian
<suresh at hserus.net> wrote:
> 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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