EURIM had a busy spring as we began to implement the strategies described in the last Newsletter. These are being targeted against the priorities outlined by Sir Leon Brittan in January (see page 2).
The five working parties which have so far organised meetings in Brussels did so very differently. All were successful but we can draw three unsurprising conclusions. The first is that the desirable timing, venue, format and invitation routes differ according to whether the target audience is MEPs and their assistants or is Commission Officials. The second is that, despite the apparent absence of institutional taboos, meetings to discuss issues with both MEPs and Commission Officials are no easier to organise than meetings with both MPs and Civil Servants in London. The third is that the nature of lobbying in Brussels in such that the candour of an all-party, cross-industry group like EURIM comes as a welcome relief to MEPs and Officials. We are the Heineken of the Information Society debate, reaching parts, illuminating issues, and achieving contact, goodwill and influence, which other groups do not reach.
EURIM has not, however, neglected UK activities. I was delighted to be asked by Ian Bruce to put his Telecoms Fraud Bill (1997) through the House of Lords. This received the Royal Assent in March. The EURIM briefing on Regulatory Structures for converging industries was agreed and will be promoted after the General Election. The EDLI, IPR, Network Security, Procurement and Training working parties all have briefings ready for presentation. We are also ready to launch a new working party on Internet Content Regulation. In short, we are set fair to be even busier after the Election.
The Lord RenwickEURIM’s Godfather, Sir Leon Brittan, addressed members at our “Third Birthday Party” on January 17th in the Moses Room of the House of Lords. He was very pleased with progress to date but went on to focus on six priorities for action for Europe to be globally competitive in the services and content industries which now account for 20% of world trade and are growing rapidly as employment sectors.
The priorities are:
Sir Leon’s list was not in order of priority for he concluded that “The last of these is one of the most exciting and fastest growing areas. It is led by business and industry; the task of government is to follow. That is not a criticism but a test and a challenge”.
He was also clear as to the growing role of EURIM. “Policy makers and officials need to be made aware of key policy issues. You are in the best position to identify priorities, establish the pros and cons and remind legislators of the urgency of finding solutions. We cannot afford the more leisurely progress used in other areas.” Sir Leon also stressed the need to network with others to achieve results. The IT revolution “must not be elitist but a mass-led revolution if it is to achieve its full potential”.
A summary of Sir Leon’s address and the following discussion has been sent to all members as an “Occasional Paper”. The agreed transcript is also available to members on request.
The Global Internet Project (GIP) is an alliance of suppliers, including AT&T, British Telecom, Deutsche Telecom, EDS, Fujitsu, IBM, NEC, Netscape and VISA, which aims to ensure that the growth of the Internet is truly global and not just the USA plus add-ons. Lord Renwick, was approached to help with the UK invitations to their “Encryption Summit” on 8th April in London and was delighted also to be able to host a dinner for their Council and a reception for delegates in the House of Lords.
The “Summit” was noteworthy for “free, frank and informative” discussion involving those responsible for security for leading international users as well as supplier experts and spokesmen for the UK, US, German and Canadian governments. There was seen to be much confusion over terms. Current concepts, including of Trusted Third Parties holding keys “in escrow”, may soon be made obsolete by changes in encryption technology. National policies based on traditional concepts already pose a problem (both in cost and in vulnerability to fraud and espionage) for the internal communications of globally integrated suppliers and users. They are, similarly, an increasingly serious problem with regard to secure and trustworthy external business communications and thus to the overall growth of electronic commerce.
EURIM has recommended that Regulatory Structures have the scope and flexibility to meet future needs and are technology independent. We look forward to co-operating with the GIP members to apply these principles to the debate on encryption policy so that the needs of law enforcement agencies can be met effectively into the future, without undue cost to legitimate business activity and personal privacy.
The WP will be reconvened after the General Election to work on the implementation of the new Directive in the UK and on the Telecoms Data Protection Directive which is now subject to co-determination between the European Parliament and the Commission.
The WP responded to Commission consultation exercises on Universal Service Provision and Numbering and liaised with the Regulatory Structures WP to ensure the need for regulators to be politically independent was fully covered.
EURIM’s new intercept strategy paid off when the WP was able to respond to the Commission Green Paper in good time, despite a change of rules and timetable. It was also able to organise a meeting with its authors, hosted by EDS in the CBI Brussels Office. This meeting is seen by both Commission Officials and EURIM as the first in a series of inputs to the review process. The revised WP submission and action plan will be presented to EURIM members on May 8th. The first action is a workshop on experience with the current directives to help us address the Commission’s need for specific examples of alleged problems and enable improved practice without awaiting changes to the Directives.
The presentation meeting on the briefing on regulatory structures for the converging communications and broadcast industries was among the most lively to date. There was easy consensus on the core recommendation of a unitary approach, the benefits if the UK were to lead on both debate and implementation (as with Telecoms Regulation) and on the need for early, open and public debate on the issues. The means of avoiding boundary conflicts between Communications and other regulators (eg Advertising Standards, Data Protection) and of ensuring proper balance between political responsibility and regulatory independence are among the topics for further discussion.
The WP objective is “to ensure that electronic commerce is not disadvantaged in law relative to manual commerce”. It began by looking at the Civil Evidence Act 1995 and the work of the HMG Working Party on other relevant statutes. Later it heard about ongoing work in the EU and UNCITRAL, commercial efforts to support electric commerce through contract and the problems of encryption. In March, sponsored by members LIRMA and ILU, it took its first draft brief to Brussels for discussion with MEPs and Commission legal officials. The presentation meeting to all members will be on 29th May
Members of this WP have been active in the relevant WIPO and OECD meetings. The draft for the first briefing will be circulated to members shortly, for presentation on 5th June. At that meeting a forward action programme will be proposed which includes work on the issues of managing multi-media IPR over networked distribution channels (as raised by Sir Leon Brittan on January 17th).
The EURIM Guide to Decision Making in the EU, written for us by Bryan Cassidy MEP, has been very popular. Members wishing extra copies should contact Emma Fryer.
The first deliverable was a briefing session (hosted by John Tomlinson MEP in the European Parliament in Brussels) on the technology and why the issues are too important to be left to the technicians. MEPs and research assistants from five member states attended and we moved rapidly to the key political issues. John subsequently arranged for the WP draft to be circulated to all MEPs for comment and feedback. The revised brief will be presented to all members on 29th May.
This WP built on the political feedback to the 1996 IDPM IT Skills Reports to move rapidly to an agreed draft on the actions necessary to make a reality of Sir Leon Brittan’s sixth priority: lifelong learning based on distance learning in the workplace to be the norm rather than the exception. The members of the WP are now discussing a high profile presentation meeting and an awareness and action campaign for launch after the General Election.
Pressure from both Parliamentary and Corporate members helped ensure the launch of the DTI Smart Card Forum before the election window. The first meeting of the Forum identified that common standards do not yet exist between the USA/UK (eg the EMV group) and Continental Europe. EURIM user members already state this is causing seriously increased costs. The need for pressure to ensure that action is given the necessary priority remains.
This WP has identified the need for a campaign to promote the benefits of combining value chain analysis, electronic communications and data sharing to improve the quality and cut the cost of public/private service delivery. The WP is collecting case studies which indicate how the benefits of this approach are being realised and looking to identify opportunities across the economy. The first WP deliverable was Tom McGuffog’s IDPM “Presidents’s Lecture” on February 28th, (copies of the text are available from Emma Fryer).
In view of the current political concerns in both the UK and European Union over pornography on the Internet, the Content WP to be launched by Baroness Dean on 22nd May will be asked to report before the Summer Recess on the issues involved in trying to regulate Internet Content.
For information on any of the above working parties please contact Emma Fryer (e-mail emma.fryer@geo2.poptel.org.uk, fax 0171-631 1164, tel 0171-436 6014). If you have a suggestion for an additional working party please contact please contact Philip Virgo (e-mail virgo.philip@geo2.poptel.org.uk, fax 0181-670 4345, tel 0181-761 5926).
EURIM Policy on sponsorship and hosted meetings: WP meetings, including presentation meetings, are normally hosted by members of the WP. The production cost of this newsletter is similarly sponsored. EURIM also welcomes offers from members to organise and host ad hoc meetings on topics of concern to them and/or receptions to enable informal networking. Please contact Philip Virgo if you would like to sponsor an issue of the newsletter or host an event or wish more information.
EURIM welcomes the following new members: Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS), Electronic Commerce Association (ECA), Infobank plc, PLAUT