Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-14-Speech-3-310"
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"en.20010314.14.3-310"2
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"Mr President, first I would like to thank the rapporteur, Massimo Carraro, for an excellent report. It is full of technical detail, but Mr Carraro has managed splendidly to raise the economically and politically important questions. Malcolm Harbour also deserves our thanks for the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market. At the same time I wish to thank the members of Parliament for this debate. There will come a time when the Internet will be spoken about by day and the Chamber will be full. For that reason I congratulate you: you are an avant-garde group in this field.
Finally, may I say that the Commission agrees with the rapporteur about the importance of liberalising the telecommunications industry and investing in the backbone Internet capacity both in Europe and internationally. We are actively seeking, with the help of a framework research programme, both to promote the development of the second generation Internet and strengthen cross-border and international links with regard to European research networks.
Regarding the .eu proposal, it is at present being discussed by the Council and Parliament. As soon as a legal basis is found for this, the Commission will take every practical step it can to ensure that European communities, companies and citizens have the use of this our own .eu facility, where the players will therefore obviously have to comply with European legislation, including the protection of privacy.
The Commission will notify the Council and specialists in the field in the Member States of the contents of Parliament’s report. Thank you all once again!
The Commission began to monitor these matters closely in 1997, when discussions started in the United States regarding the future of the management of the Internet. The Internet’s revolutionary impact on communications generally and
commerce in particular later confirmed the importance of this area of policy. Numerous questions arose in connection with the development of the Domain Name System (DNS) with regard to competition, freedom of speech, consumer protection, trademarks, rights to names, the reliability and transparency of transactions, the protection of privacy, the protection of data, and so on. The Commission agrees fully with the view expressed in the parliamentary report that these matters of public interest must be solved in a consistent and effective manner, with regard to the Internet.
At present the most important international forum, which has the powers and scope to begin discussions on these questions, is the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), which is an intergovernmental organisation. The Commission and the Member States are involved in large-scale programmes of cooperation in this area. The main aims of the EU parties involved are to ensure that the globalisation of the management of the Internet will also continue during the term of the new American administration, and make the job of the GAC more effective in the debate on political questions.
As Mr Carraro said, relations with the USA in this field are important, when we take account of the fact that the US congress and a part of the private sector is inclined sometimes to deny or ignore the Internet’s global dimension. We shall maintain close contact in this matter with the new American administration and we intend to send Mr Evans, US Secretary of Commerce, as soon as Parliament has voted in the report, a letter in which I shall clearly explain the interests of the EU in this field, and I shall also make known to him the content of your report.
Last October, the Council of Ministers passed a resolution on this issue. In it the Commission was empowered to coordinate positions within the EU, pursue the EU’s interests in international contexts, and establish a private sector network to support the work of the EU in this field. It is most gratifying that Parliament’s report should be in agreement with this policy and that the Commission’s actions have the support of both Parliament and the Council. This is important from the point of view of how effective we can be in international arenas.
I would then like to make a few observations and comments with regard to Mr Carraro’s report and Mr Harbour’s opinion. The report highlights the importance of defining the EU’s role, and I am happy that it expresses the desire to accord the Commission a strong position in these matters. Similarly, I note the desire to restrict the intervention of governments in the international self-regulatory process. In this respect we must advance one step at a time and bear in mind that our goal is a truly international, balanced and impartial regulatory system. But we have to recognise that we have not yet achieved this aim. The US Government still has special powers and ICANN’s Board of Directors and staff are still not always necessarily aware of all the EU’s views. For this reason, the Commission will follow the situation closely and inform our partners immediately of any problems that may crop up, for example, in the area of competition policy.
I am also ready to accept the general aims with regard to the administration of the ICANN, which have been set out in paragraph 8 of Parliament’s resolution. In practice, however, it remains very much the task of those involved coming from the private sector and, in particular, the national ccTLD Registries, to express their views within the structure of the ICANN. This is one reason why the Commission, back in 1997, urged players in the European private sector to get involved directly in action that would later take the shape of the ICANN process. I have to say that this has produced some excellent results, of which it is worth mentioning Europe’s firm involvement today in ICANN’s Board of Directors and supporting organisations. Many European organisations and companies were represented at the meeting this week in Melbourne. Unfortunately, I still have not had access to any report on the meeting, but I will inform the members of it as soon as I do. The delegates will have come back from Melbourne by now, but there was still nothing about it on the Internet when I left my room.
Paragraph 15 of Parliament’s resolution also refers to codes of conduct, best practice and legislation in this area. The Internet operators and users have a lot of work to do in these areas. The Commission obviously cannot do everything on its own. We can take appropriate action to promote and speed up the self-regulation process with the private sector and other governments, for example, within the framework of the Governmental Advisory Committee.
I have also noticed that Parliament’s resolution expresses the will to allow Member States to take care of certain matters. The national registries and the principles they are based on are very largely within the competence of the Member States. The Commission, however, has sought, in unofficial working parties and in an advisory committee, to introduce jointly approved principles. If the need arises, the Commission is obviously prepared to use its powers, for example, in the areas of internal market legislation and competition policy."@en1
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