Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecoms (EBITT)

Introduction

Business leaders and experts drawn from the ICC membership establish the key business positions, policies and practices on e-business, information technologies and telecommunications through the EBITT Commission. With members who are users and providers of information technology and electronic services from both developed and developing countries, ICC provides the ideal platform to develop global voluntary rules and best practices for these areas. Dedicated to the expansion of cross-border trade, ICC champions liberalization of telecoms and development of infrastructures that support global online trade and the integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for economic growth and social development.

Objectives

• To promote the development of electronic business and the integration of information and communication technologies through policies, standards of practice and guidelines that encourage competition, growth and the secure and free flow of information.
• Formulate policies on critical telecommunications, information network security, data protection and privacy, trade-related matters, technical coordination of the Internet and jurisdiction and applicable law in e-commerce issues based on a consensus building process.
• Provide an business interface on telecommunications, ICT and e-business issues, with all relevant intergovernmental and technical (ICANN?)organizations, including: World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank, United Nations Conference on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UN ICT-related agencies and initiatives, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),G 8, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and the European Parliament and Commission of the European Union (EU).

Membership

Commission members include a cross section of senior corporate and policy executives, and lawyers representing users and providers of goods and services online and offline; telecommunications service providers; online content providers; IT equipment manufacturers and competitive service providers from a multi-sectoral group of companies. Members represent over 43 countries, and include both large multinationals and small and medium size enterprises. 

Work Products

This commission develops policy positions and practical tools to help businesses address and comply with legal and policy requirements while encouraging policymakers to minimize unnecessary obstacles or unintended consequences of their regulations or processes.

Examples of products and policy statements produced by the Commission:

• Tools for E-Business - a series of publications on:
  • Information security assurance for executives
  • Securing your business
  • Privacy toolkit
  • Resolving disputes on line
  • Procuring ICTs
  • Telecoms liberalization
• Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) application form recently adopted by data protection authorities across the EU
• Model contract clauses for international data transfer approved by the EU Commission in 2004
• Issues paper on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)
• Policy statement on “spam” and unsolicited commercial electronic messages
• Policy Statement: ICC Framework for consultation and drafting of Information Compliance obligations

Benefits and strategic advantages

ICC has direct access to national governments through its network of national committees. Backed by experts from its member companies, the ICC International Secretariat feeds business views into intergovernmental organizations as they shape policies that directly affect business operations.

Those views command the attention of governments because ICC has strong credentials as the world business organization.

Representation to governments

1. ICC speaks for world business when governments make decisions affecting business, like negotiations on intellectual property rights at the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, on trade law or electronic contracting at the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), or on investment and development at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
2. ICC maintains a flow of business advice to the World Trade Organization on trade and investment liberalization and strengthening the rules-based multilateral trading system. It conveys business support for further trade liberalization through articles in major newspapers and TV and radio interviews.
3. Every year, ICC submits world business views on key international economic policy issues to the heads of state and governments participating in the G8 summit.
4. ICC has a history of leading the global business participation in major international conferences affecting business, for example the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Geneva 2003, Tunis 2005.

• Through its BASIS (Business Action to Support the Information Society) initiative, ICC represents business at the post-WSIS (UN World Summit on the Information Society) global meetings. These meetings include:
  • Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
  • UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID)
  • WSIS action lines and follow-up process within the UN system, notably via the UN Commission for Science and Technology for Development (CSTD)  

Projects for 2008

• Advocate ICC positions on key international initiatives including the removal of regulatory barriers to the deployment of new technologies, telecoms liberalization, technical coordination of the Internet, information and network security, open source software, and internationalized domain names.
• Develop new policy positions and business tools to encourage legal, regulatory and policy environments that facilitate the use of information and communication technologies for economic growth and social development.

Conferences 2008

• 28 May, ICC Paris - A Global Perspective on Data Protection and Processing

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