Madrid hosted last 23-25 March a meeting of the projects teams of the Committee for ITU Policy (Com-ITU), meant to prepare for the next ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP10), which will be held in Mexico on 4-22 October. The teams in question are: PT1 (PP10 issues concerning the Constitution and Convention, including generic issues not included in the mandates of PT2 and PT3); PT2 (PP10 issues concerning finance and human resources); and PT3 (PP10 issues concerning the internet, information society (deriving from the WSIS World Summit on the Information Society) and the ITR International Telecommunications Regulations).
The meetings were chaired by Marie-Therese Alajouanine of France (PT1), Blanca Maria González of Spain (PT2) and Wim Rullens of the Netherlands (PT3). Highlights of the discussions included the following:
- The need to produce a set of European common proposals (ECPs) in the scope of preparations for PP10 was approved. The editing of those proposals was therefore discussed, namely:
- PT1: ICTs and climate changes (rapporteur: United Kingdom); TELECOM fairs, whose rapporteur is France (the writing of a report containing some principles to follow on this matter began – it should be approved as an ECP at a future meeting); satellite communications (rapporteur: United Kingdom); non-alteration of provision 197A of the Union Convention, concerning functioning of the standardisation sector’s advisory group (TSAG);
- PT2: Financial implications of proposals submitted to ITU conferences and assemblies (rapporteur: Portugal); process of choosing and setting the contribution unit (France will possibly be the rapporteur country). The PT2 meeting also debated creating an audit committee in the ITU. This matter, which has been discussed in the ITU Council and some of its working groups, may also justify writing an ECP;
- PT3: International Telecommunication Regulations – ITRs; IPV6. The United Kingdom is mainly responsible for both documents. The possibility was also put forward of an ECP on security questions, in the scope of Resolution 130 (Strengthening the Role of the ITU in Building Confidence and Security in the Use of Information and Communication Technologies).
- Other matters debated at the project team meetings:
- In the scope of PT1 the proposals already known from the USA and APT (Asia-Pacific Telecommunity) for PP10 were discussed. One of the US proposals, concerning the elimination of Resolution 86 on the process of allocating frequencies belonging to satellite networks and systems, led to the writing of an ECP calling for a ‘no change’ position for this standard; the project team debated the usefulness of the Management and Budget Group (MBG) in the context of the discussion on creation of an audit committee. Also discussed was the discussion on the ITU’s management and functioning;
- In PT2 the results of the Financial Regulations Working Group (FINREGS) and the Tripartite Group on Human Resources Management (HRM) were commented on;
- The PT3 chair summarised a report on the internet’s future presented in the meeting of the Dedicated Group on Internet-Related Public Policy Issues and stated that the report’s conclusions were in no way controversial. The United Kingdom presented conclusions of the January 2010 meeting of the ITU Council working group meant to prepare for the 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications (WG-WCIT). The United Kingdom and Switzerland also presented a summary of the first meeting of the working group on children’s online protection.
