The works of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2004 (WTSA-04), which was attended by 475 delegates from 75 countries, ended on October14, World Standards Day, in Florianópolis (Brazil). Decisions were taken on a wide range of standardization issues, with impact on the future of the telecommunication industry, as well as on the direction of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector activities.
The decisions arising out from this Assembly may be grouped in three main areas: Next Generation Networks – NGN, Internet and cybersecurity.
With regard to the new generation networks, it was decided to create a new study group to coordinate the activities developed by other study groups that may be involved in this topic.
As far as Internet is concerned, a resolution was approved consisting in preparing a report on the international initiatives of unsolicited electronic communications (spam), inviting the Member States to adopt appropriate measures to fight against it. On the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the Assembly decided to create a group aiming to organize the first meeting, to be held in 2005, of the ITU Council working group on WSIS, to discuss the technical aspects of the networks used by the Internet.
The Assembly adopted new resolutions on electronic numbering (ENUM), internationalized domain names (IDN) and country code top level domain names (ccTLD), as well as a resolution on cybersecurity.
This Assembly adopted also measures that aim to promote a greater involvement of the developing countries in the standardization activities, such as the action plan based on five specific programmes for that purpose, as well as the creation of regional groups to debate the needs of these countries.
In addition, the Assembly adopted measures to restructure its working methods and the organization of the ITU-T study groups.
Finally, we would like to underline, besides the Assembly, the presentation by the Brazilian authorities of the candidature of the current ITU vice-Secretary-General, Roberto Blois, to the position of Secretary-General, which election will take place in the next Plenipotentiary Conference in 2006.
Further information:
- Press encerramento WTSA-04 http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2004/25.html
- Press tópicos principais WTSA-04 http://www.itu.int/newsroom/WTSA04/Press-report.html
- WTSA-04 http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/wtsa-04/
Related information on ANACOM's website:
- World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=239006
- 35th World Standards Day, 14 October https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=235383
- General framework https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=106501
