Europe’s role in shaping the future of Internet governance

The European Commission has issued a set of proposals on how the Internet should be managed and run in the future.

ACT

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Internet policy and governance - Europe’s role in shaping the future of Internet governance (COM(2014) 72 final of 12 February 2014 - not published in the Official Journal).

SUMMARY

The aim of these Commission proposals is to reform the way in which the resources and the functions of the Internet are managed and run. This is known as Internet governance. The Internet developed as a distributed network of networks and operates without a centralised governing body.

Recent revelations of large-scale surveillance have called into question the leading role played by the United States when it comes to Internet governance. Given the current US-centric model of Internet governance, the Commission sees the need to broker a smooth transition to a more global model of governance.

Internet governance is meant to ensure the proper functioning of the Internet. One example of this is that any website should be accessible from anywhere around the world. A second example is that technical systems all work together regardless of where the user is. A third example is that web addresses can be used around the world.

The proposals focus on the main policy areas relevant to the complex Internet governance ecosystem:

• the development of Internet governance principles, cooperative frameworks and core Internet functions (Sections 2, 3 and 4);
• strengthening the current multi-stakeholder model (Section 5);
• some key issues that must be addressed in the context of Internet governance in the future, namely the strong interplay between technical norms and Internet policy, the key challenges in rebuilding trust and conflicts of jurisdictions and laws (Sections 6, 7 and 8).

Its proposals include that the Commission:

• supports establishing a coherent set of global Internet governance principles consistent with fundamental rights and democratic values;
• should consult citizens’ groups, technical and academic communities and European industry, the European Parliament and EU Member States on how to ensure adequate and transparent multi-stakeholder involvement in the formulation of future European Internet governance policies;
• should work with the European Parliament and the European Council to achieve rapid adoption and implementation of key legislation in order to boost trust online: this should include the reform of the data protection framework and the proposed directive on network and information security;
• should launch an international in-depth review of the risksof conflicts of laws and jurisdictions arising on the Internet ;
• should assess all the relevant options to solve these conflicts of laws and jurisdictions.

In addition, the Commission proposals suggest a basis for a common European vision for Internet governance. This includes:

• defending and promoting fundamental rights and democratic values and multi-stakeholder governance structures that are based on clear rules;
• using a globalised Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA);
• using a strengthened and reformed Internet Governance Forum.

Furthermore, the Commission plans to develop an online platform called the Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO). The aim is to make the GIPO a global online resource for monitoring Internet policymaking, regulations and technology to help identify links between different forums and discussions. The thinking is that this would make it easier for stakeholders with limited resources to follow, understand and engage with Internet governance and policy.

RELATED ACTS

Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - Internet Governance: management of Internet names and addresses - Analysis and assessment from the European Commission of the United States Department of Commerce White Paper (COM(1998) 476 final of 29 July 1998).

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council - Internet governance: the next steps (COM(2009) 277 final of 18 June 2009).

22.04.2014