Commissioner Bangemann calls for Global Communications Charter
Commissioner Martin Bangemann, responsible for industry and telecommunications, has called for a new Global Communications Charter to be established. This would allow governments, industry and regulators to operate within a global framework in the next millennium, ensuring coherence and mutual recognition at global level. Mr. Bangemann was speaking in Geneva, on 8 September 1997, at the Telecom Interactive conference and exhibition, a major event organized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). He emphasized that despite the steps already taken within the EU towards telecommunications liberalization, and the recent WTO moves towards global telecoms liberalization, the development of the Information Society would require much greater focus across all policy areas. The Information Society would need to become a key driver for all other policies, he said, in particular as regards job creation. To take advantage of the developing Information Society, however, Europe must adapt much faster than previously. The Commissioner then turned to two key areas which would form the basis of the global charter: Convergence - the lowering of boundaries between telecoms, audiovisual, multimedia and publishing industries - means that existing regulatory structures become less and less viable. A new open, flexible and adaptable regulatory framework for communications and media in Europe needs to be established. To this end, the Commission will publish a Green Paper on Convergence in late 1997, the tenth anniversary of the publication of the 1987 Green Paper which led to telecoms liberalization as of 1998. Secondly, as a result of global digital communication networks, geographical frontiers and distance are irrelevant. This means that regulation at national level, unless developed in a harmonized fashion, may lead to conflicting standards for the content of communications. Furthermore, without legal security and trust in the electronic medium, the development of electronic business, and commerce in particular, will be hindered. According to Commissioner Bangemann, the best solution is to agree, at international level, on a framework based on a range of principles and basic rules. This Global Communications Charter would have to be flexible and open, in order both to keep up with and not block technological developments. The Charter would build on existing agreements, such as those of the WTO and WIPO. However, new agreements would have to transcend existing international organizations, in order that different organizations do not establish differing rules with different sets of countries. He also encouraged developing countries to participate in the process of establishing a global charter, since international discussions in the field have, thus far, tended to involve only the richest countries. The EU's goal, he concluded, is twofold. Firstly, to prepare Europe for a smooth transition to the Global Information Society, and secondly, to play an active role in shaping the new global communications framework. The challenge is to find new policy mechanisms to handle technological developments, and to enable the benefits of these developments to reach the entire globe.