Ottawa,
7 October 1998 - A
broadly based business alliance today presented an action plan for the development
of electronic commerce to governments attending the "Borderless World"
conference called by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD). The plan calls for minimum government regulation and emphasizes business
self-regulation as the most effective way of building confidence in transactions
over open networks.
The plan submitted to the OECD governments sets
out industry's views on the full range of e-commerce issues, including privacy,
cryptography, consumer protection in the online environment, taxation of e-commerce,
intellectual property protection, standards, competition and Internet governance.
It describes in detail business initiatives in
all these fields so that governments are informed of the extent to which self-regulation
is already operating and what further initiatives are in the pipeline. The plan's
stated aim is to create trust in e-commerce across the whole spectrum of providers
of services and goods. Carol M. Stephenson, President and CEO of Stentor and
Chair of the Information Technology Association of Canada, said: "We are
convinced that user confidence and trust in e-commerce can be ensured effectively
through industry self-regulation and leadership."
Business organizations whose members account for
the bulk of electronic commerce throughout the world are backing the Global
Action Plan on Electronic Commerce. The international coalition that put the
plan together includes providers of information and communications products
as well as user industries such as financial services, retailers and others.
It numbers large multinational corporations alongside small firms from developed
and emerging economies.
Issued on the first day of the two-day ministerial
conference, the plan was drawn up by the Business and Industry Advisory Committee
to the OECD (BIAC), the Global Information Infrastructure Commission, the International
Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Telecommunications Users Group
and the World Information Technology and Services Alliance. It is supported
by more than 50 national, regional and sectoral trade associations, ranging
from the Confederation of British Industry to Japan's Keidanren, the International
Air Transport Association and the Australian Information Industry Association.
The plan builds on fundamental principles for industry-led
policy for global electronic commerce that were first set out at an earlier
OECD conference in Turku, Finland, in November 1997. Dr Etienne Gorog, Vice
President of IBM Consulting Group and information policy leader in BIAC, who
led the business representation at that event, said that if governments did
not quickly arrive at a globally-compatible and business-friendly policy framework
"the development of computer generated business would not be stopped, but
it could be slowed to a trickle."
The main thrust of the business declaration to
ministers in Ottawa is that the private sector, responding to market forces,
should take the main responsibility for regulating e-commerce. The business
initiative is directed
at all governments and not just those of the 29 most
industrialized countries that make up the OECD membership. The action plan says:
"Business has a strong market incentive to foster the empowerment of users,
but will only make the necessary investments if it can trust that governments
will recognize and reinforce the leadership of business responding to the highly
dynamic nature of electronic commerce."
Harris N. Miller, President of the World Information
Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) and the Information Technology Association
of America (ITAA), said: "Governments around the world have called for
industry leadership on electronic commerce issues. They have thrown down the
gauntlet of leadership and industry has picked it up."
ICC Secretary-General Maria Livanos Cattaui said:
"As a general rule business urges governments to leave untouched all those
areas - and this should be most of them - where there is no clear evidence that
business conduct will have a negative effect on society or the fundamental rights
of individuals."
Business would like to see governments concentrate
on providing consistent basic legal guarantees for effective global enforcement
of essential rights in e-commerce, for instance the protection of intellectual
property.
The document describes specific business actions
and commitments and business expectations of government action. "Government
regulation may be required in such matters as intellectual property protection,
taxation, and the removal of barriers to competition in providing the underlying
infrastructure," it says. An annex to the action plan contained summaries
of business initiatives. Business executives who compiled the document said
they provided ample evidence that comprehensive business self-regulation of
electronic commerce is well on its way.
Mrs. Cattaui said: "The dividing line between
government and business responsibilities for Internet governance needs clarification,
and that is what the action plan sets out to achieve. Furthermore, international
organizations must ensure that their initiatives do not duplicate or contradict
each other."
The global business action plan will be used by
the coalition to convey industry's views on electronic commerce in several fora
beyond the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. Electronic
commerce, by its nature, defies national borders. It is a global medium and
we are committed to seeing it grow globally," said Jim Johnson of the Global
Information Infrastructure Commission. He added that to that end, the coalition
plans to use the document in discussions with several other international organizations
including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the Free Trade
Area of the Americas, the World Trade Organization and others.