UAE Proposes ‘New ITRs’ Amid WCIT Deadlock

A United Arab Emirates-led proposal for a “new” version of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) threw a further wrench into talks Friday at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai, even as debate over existing proposals had led to little progress. The UAE said during a plenary meeting that its proposal was borne out of its own frustrations over the lack of progress at the conference toward revising the existing ITRs, which have not been revised since 1988. WCIT began Dec. 3 and runs through this Friday. Discussions during the conference have thus far remained stuck on whether to change the scope of the treaty-level document from applying only to “recognized” operating agencies to applying to all operating agencies. The U.S. opposes any change in scope because it would make the ITRs apply to Internet providers, which would in turn allow the ITRs to stray into Internet governance issues (CD Dec 7 p18).

"Ha, very funny,” a consultant at the conference responded when we asked if there had been any progress. All the interesting items are being dealt with in “informal committee,” he said. Expect some “horse trading” next week, he said. Informal committees can be set up very quickly to resolve particular issues with a good deal of freedom to discuss broad issues, an ITU spokesman said. The polarization at WCIT is in part because it has been so long since the ITRs have been revised, said Tony Rutkowski, a senior research fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology who worked in the ITU secretariat when WCIT last met in 1988. “It was dealing with a substantially different environment,” he said in an email.

The UAE said its proposal for a set of “new ITRs” came out of discussions with regional groups and member states. “We didn’t come here to just do editorial changes or small changes to the current ITRs,” the UAE delegation said in a translated webcast by the ITU. “There are some critical issues, very important issues that have to reflect reality. After 24 years, the whole world has been changed.” The proposal’s backers plan to publish the document Monday in anticipation of that day’s plenary session, the UAE said.

Delegations from Bahrain, Oman, the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia said they support the UAE proposal. Various members of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications, which covers nations in Central and Eastern Europe, had also seen the UAE’s proposal, said Victor Strelets, a deputy head of the Russian Federation delegation. “It is now high time to get moving, because 50 percent of the time of the conference has already passed,” he said through a translator. “We need to prepare a document which will respond in full to today’s requirements and demands, which will respond in full to expressing the rights and duties of member states when it comes to the implementation and observance of the rules applying to this sector.” Russia’s own proposal to add an entire section to the existing ITRs that covers Internet governance remained stalled Friday. The U.S. and its allies have argued the Russian proposal is “shocking” and is not covered by the scope of the current ITRs (CD Nov 30 p9).

The U.S. did not immediately oppose the UAE proposal, but argued that it fell outside WCIT rules that said any initial proposal needed to be submitted no later than Aug. 3, four months prior to the beginning of the conference. “This sounds like a substantive proposal to the conference, which is comprehensive to the ITRs,” said Richard Beaird, deputy head of the U.S. delegation. The proposal should have been submitted by Aug. 3 as a matter of courtesy to the rest of the conference delegates, he said. The U.S. submitted its initial set of proposals to WCIT on Aug. 3 and a revised version on Oct. 31 (CD Nov 1 p4).

José Barros, co-head of Portugal’s delegation, also said he was concerned about the timing of the UAE proposal. “Last-minute contributions that were, I guess, prepared in closed groups between I don’t know which member states, can somehow, in my opinion, be negative for the flow of the conference,” he said.

The UAE proposal is a compilation of proposals already submitted to the conference, Strelets said. “There are no unpleasant surprises. … It’s a compromise document prepared by some countries because the conference appeared to be heading towards a bit of a dead end.” An Internet governance expert familiar with the conference proceedings said it was difficult to know whether the U.S. and its allies would oppose the UAE proposal because it was not yet published.

The appearance of the UAE proposal should not be that surprising, Rutkowski said. “The Russians, [ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré], the Arab and African blocs and their allies have been pursuing definitive and well planned agendas for this conference that began ten years ago,” he said. “I know … because they actually talked with me about it."

WCIT delegates should “sleep on” the UAE proposal and take time to consider it, said Touré, adding that the conference leadership had itself considered offering up a compromise document at a later point if it still appeared deliberations were at a standstill. Touré said he also plans to meet with civil society members Monday to discuss their views on the issues being debated at WCIT. “The weekend will give us time to debate more,” he said. “I think debates are healthy. People are making points here on things that are very relevant and important for them and their constituencies. Let’s hear them all.”