 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
EU Upgrades Consumer Rights,
Spars With Telecom Regulator
The European Parliament approved a measure last week that would strengthen consumers' e-commerce rights, but critics fear the legislation could create a legal nightmare for dot-coms.
The measure, which updates 1968 Brussels Convention on jurisdictions and applicable laws, enables consumers in individual member states to sue Internet sites including ones that sell goods online. It reverses an earlier decision of the EU's legal affairs committee to limit lawsuits against e-retailers to their own country.
Mike Pullen, a partner in law firm Dibb Lupton Alsop's Brussels office, told the London Independent that the measure "is an absolute nightmare."
"The Internet is supposed to break down barriers, but all of a sudden a dot-com could be sued under the laws of a foreign country," Pullen added. "It would be the equivalent of someone from, say, Denmark traveling to Harrods on the EuroStar and then suing the company under Danish law because he was unhappy with something he had bought."
All 15 member states must approve the measure before it is enacted as law.
EC Addresses 'Local Loop' Issue
Meanwhile, the European Commission is drafting proposals requiring the unbundling of the last mile of "local loop" telephone networks, creating friction between Europe's telecom watchdog and Britain's telecommunications regulatory body, the Office of Telecommunication (Oftel). Oftel is challenging the commission requirement that British Telecommunications, a former state monopoly, open its local network to rival competitors by the beginning of next year. U.K. regulators want to push the date back by six months. But Europe's competition watchdogs are criticizing Oftel for allowing BT to dominate the marketplace. Olli Rehn, head of cabinet for Erkki Liikanen, Europe's information commissioner, told The Financial Times, "The U.K. has relegated itself from the premier league [of European telecoms regulation] to the relegation zone of the second division. Things have moved quite fast in other member countries. The U.K. was in the vanguard of telecoms liberalization but has slipped substantially in recent years."
The European Information and Communications Technology Industry Association (EICT) last week criticized certain measures within the European Union's directives on communications legislative proposals. The EICT called for "harmonization" of existing data protection rules in an effort to simplify the regulatory framework within the European Union. The trade association argued in a statement Friday that disparate rules already at work in member states "inhibit the delivery of cross-border services in the European Union to the disadvantage of companies and citizens in the EU."
Life After PNTR
At the heels of the Senate's approval for permanent normalized trade relations with China, and what is now expected to be full ascension into the World Trade organization, China is seeking to clarify laws on its investments in the telecommunications sector. Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan told reporters at a press conference in Beijing Tuesday that China would comply with WTO requirements, and open its telecommunications sector to foreign ownership and private sector competition, noting, "Private businesses meeting certain conditions will be allowed into the sector upon approval."
But Jichuan cautioned that China is still in the midst of drafting its rules, which will impose some restrictions on foreign ownership, though the process will obey principles of transparency and non-discrimination. Before China can enter the WTO, it must amend its laws to comply with the basic agreements governing telecommunications.
"I think that the Chinese will move slowly toward compliance, just as they are moving slowly toward a final accession agreement. But they will eke out every possible concession along the way," said Larry Wortzel, Asian studies director at the Heritage Foundation. "The effort to comply with WTO obligations is probably a genuine stagement of long-term intent, but implementation will be like water torture."
A Chinese official said Tuesday that third generation wireless standards ought to be determined by companies. "Companies ought to determine it for themselves," Chinese Vice-minister of the Ministry of Information Industry Lou Qinjian told Reuters during a Beijing conference on next-generation wireless technology. "The Ministry of Information Industry requires only that they choose common international standards. As for which standard an operator chooses specifically, that is for the market to determine.'' Debate has been rancorous, as competing global standards for wireless technology will widely impact the future of the markets. In China, the world's second largest wireless market, officials also have announced intentions to develop its own standard of next-generation wireless, with the help of Motorola and Nortel Networks and German-based Siemens.
In related news, Hong Kong billionaire real estate developer Li Kai-shing announced Monday a $10 million donation to Beijing's Qinghua University to build a "western-style" research facility to develop next generation Internet technology, China Daily reported. In conjunction, China's Ministry of Education will give $5 million to the center.
Japan Bolsters Wireless Efforts
Lauded as a leader in wireless technology, the Japanese government is crafting a new information technology strategy. A government task force, along with a panel of business leaders and Japanese cabinet members, approved the framework for a new bill last week that calls for the creation of "electronic government," the building of a broadband network infrastructure, and data security and privacy protection. Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is seeking the new legislation as a foundation to building an efficient means of electronic government, Japan Times reported. The 20-member panel and government task force will merge into one cabinet unit under the proposed legislation to oversee and administer IT policies.
Internet Connection Plans Spark Controvery
Companies using the Internet to avoid pesky interconnection rates for telephone calls may be in for a surprise. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) this week will host the World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly conference in Montreal where attendees will debate standardizing rates for global connections to the Internet backbone. The draft proposal includes recommending that companies providing access to international Internet connections should share costs of global connections, and compensate each other, in much the same way telecommunications companies agree on interconnection rates to complete international phones calls. Critics charge the added regulation will stifle inter-access worldwide. "ITU has been looking for the role in the Internet," says Scott Harris, former FCC International Bureau chief. Several countries complaining of the high access charges to the global Internet backbone are providing a convenient excuse for ITU to exercise policy initiatives, he argued.
The FCC has vowed to oppose the initiative, but it could pose a problem for American Internet service providers. The ITU cannot force the United States to participate in a cost-sharing regime, benefiting foreign countries, but the issue could be taken up by the World Trade Organization.
Global Cyber Crime Summit
And cybercrime is on the minds of the Group of Eight as senior officials from the G-8 countries — the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia — announced a high-level meeting in November to discuss ways to combat high tech crime. Officials told the Japan Times that the Lyon group, or the senior G-8 police, justice and other policy officials, will present and address policy options, as a follow-up to the G-8 Ministerial Conference on Combating Transnational Organized Crime, held in Moscow last October.
- by Maureen Sirhal
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
