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

Oksana Prykhodko sana.pryhod at gmail.com
Thu Nov 29 03:32:16 EST 2012


Dear  Wolfgang,

You described Ukrainian situation)

I am very happy with Dubai process - for the first time I see such
consolidation of ICANN, ISOC, European Parliament, Council of Europe
efforts to safeguard the freedom of Internet, and for the first time I
see the understanding of officials, that they cannot even elaborate
their own common position, say nothing of joint position of all
stakeholders!

2012/11/29 Adam Peake <ajp at glocom.ac.jp>:
> 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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>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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