Geneva hosted last 4-13 July a meeting of the ITU Council, the body responsible for managing the organisation between Plenipotentiary Conferences (PPs).
This session was chaired by Ahmet Çavusoglu of Turkey and attended by 341 participants representing 48 member states from this Union body, 33 member state observers (among them Portugal) and 7 sector member observers.
The following issues stood out at this Council session:
- approval of operating plans for the secretariat and each of the Union's sectors for the 2013-2016 period;
- confirmation of the place, dates and agenda of the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), to be held on 2-27 November 2015 in Geneva;
- confirmation of the place, dates and agenda of the World Telecommunication Policies Forum (WTPF), to be held in Geneva on 13-14 May 2013;
- approval of free online access to preparation documents for the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). A publicly accessible online webpage will also be set up where all interested parties can provide their opinion about issues debated at this conference;
- consensus about the mode of the public consultation under way in the scope of the ITU Council working group on public policy issues associated to the internet. It was decided that they will be online consultations open to all interested parties;
- approval of a resolution confirming the ITU’s leadership role in the general review of implementation of results of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10 overall review) as well as for preparation of theWSIS+10 High Level Event in 2014;
- approval of a resolution to apply results of the Rio+20 Conference in ITU activities;
- approval of an action plan to implement the programme for technical conformity and ITU interoperability certification;
- authorisation for the ITU Secretary General to continue manifesting interest in the Union becoming the supervisory authority of the future international registry system for space assets;
- approval of the participation of six regional organisations as observers in the ITU Council;
- approval of an experimental period for free online access to ITU Administrative Regulations, facilitating the participation of all stakeholders, specifically developing countries;
- approval of waiving interest resulting from payment delays, as well as from uncollectable debts worth 2,309,812.30 Swiss francs;
- presentation of the activities report of the Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC). The delegates considered this committee's activity to still be incipient and that the relationship with representatives from the member states and other ITU groups, specifically the Council working group on Financial Issues, should be strengthened.
The next ITU Council session will be held in June 2013.
