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Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft
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------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 23:01:01 -0500 From: Barry Steinahrdt <Barrys@aclu.org> Subject: EU commissioner pushing for Net self-regulation To: gilc-plan@gilc.org Send reply to: gilc-plan@gilc.org
Another American export, that Europe could do without.
Bary
EU commissioner pushing for Net self-regulation
By Bloomberg News
Special to CNET News.com
November 30, 1999, 10:20 a.m. PT
URL: http://news.cnet.com/category/0-1005-200-1474413.html
BRUSSELS--European Union Telecommunications Commissioner Erkki
Liikanen said he plans to propose guidelines by next April for
businesses to set up ways to self-regulate the Internet. Government
action is necessary in some areas such as copyright protection and
liability, he said. But in other cases, governments should leave it to
businesses to come up with ways to manage the Internet, he added. Such
self-regulation could involve ways for consumers and companies to
resolve disputes out of court. "We should have regulation where it's
necessary, and where it's not necessary we can trust self-regulation,"
Liikanen said after meeting with EU telecommunications ministers. He
called his approach "coregulation." E-commerce could be a $2 trillion
to $5 trillion market in the next six years, with the United States
accounting for half. Europe's online market could top $64 billion, or
1 percent of its gross domestic product, according to Forrester
Research. Previous EU calls for tighter protections for data privacy
have sparked a trade standoff from the United States, which wants a
more hands-off approach. EU ministers generally backed Liikanen's
approach, with Rik Daems, Belgium's telecommunications minister,
saying, "We should only adopt legislation where you need it." Others
stressed that regulation may be needed to protect consumer rights. "We
should promote businesses to make codes of good contact, such as
out-of-court settlement procedures," said Jose Maria Villar Uribarri,
Spain's state secretary for communications. However, he warned that
"self-regulation by companies alone could entirely ignore consumer
rights." Liikanen said he would like to propose the guidelines before
an international conference on the Internet industry, to take place in
Lisbon in April. Although the telecommunications ministers endorsed
Liikanen's suggestion, he still needs to gain the approval of the
European Commission to make the proposal.
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