Committees

Committee work

Legal certainty, trust and confidence in the data protection framework is of paramount importance for both businesses and European citizens, in order to meet the aims of the Digital Single Market Strategy and to make Europe competitive in the global markets. EuroISPA believes that European citizens’ personal data should be granted a uniform level of protection, regardless of the geographical location or the economic sector of the service provider. In today’s ever-changing digital environment, data protection rules are reflexive to the emergence of new services such as cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence and must not burden the internet industry with crippling compliance costs.

Key ongoing dossiers 

• E-Privacy Directive
• Implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Committee work

EuroISPA’s cybercrime and cybersecurity committee enables its members to exchange knowledge about current security challenges and national good practise models. The Committee also works with the European institutions and international organizations to ensure a harmonised framework for digital security in Europe. Our members’ technical expertise and experience can guide policy that protects key network infrastructure and citizens fundamental rights, improving the cooperation between governments and industry and allowing the Internet industry to thrive as an economic enabler.

Key ongoing dossiers

• Cross-border access to electronic evidence (E-Evidence Package, 2AP, etc.)
• Data Retention
• National implementation of the Network and Information Security Directive

Committee work

EuroISPA’s Innovation and Growth committee brings together various Internet services providers with experience and insight on how to make Europe’s online content framework optimal for the digital age. The development of a virtuous and cross-border online content market in the EU is a key factor for the completion of the Digital Single Market. In the previous years, various legislative interventions have reformed, with different outcomes,  the European online content framework in the area of content portability, audiovisual and VoD, rights management, levies, geoblocking and copyright.  Amongst them the Copyright Directive reform has been the crux of this Committee’s work. EuroISPA, alongside other industry and civil society representatives, advocated against automated upload filters, and against what is known as the “link tax”, an ancillary copyright on snippets. Going forward, EuroISPA will closely follow the implementation of the Directive, and will share its expertise within the European Commission’s Stakeholder Dialogue on the implementation of Article 17. Euroispa is also eager to work with the new Commission about new proposals in the area of online content and audiovisual.

Key ongoing dossiers

• Implementation of the EU Copyright Directive

Committee work

Following the agreement reached on the European Electronic Communications Code in 2019, the Committee is instrumental in allowing our members to exchange information on national developments regarding the implementation of the Code, and the regulatory framework applicable to the sector.  This Committee also oversees matters regarding accessibility requirements.

Key ongoing dossiers 

• National implementation of the European Electronic Communications Code
• National implementation of the Accessibility Act

Committee work

EuroISPA members are at the forefront of efforts to protect children online, and use their practical experience and infrastructure control to assist law enforcement authorities. In addition to cooperating with law enforcement under the Notice and Takedown Mechanism EuroISPA members are strong supporters of the European network of Internet Hotlines, with four member associations actually managing the national Hotline in their countries. Our members also share bests practices by ISPs for preservation of evidence and policy development with public authorities.

Key dossiers

• Digital Services
• E-Privacy Directive
• European Commission’s Recommendation on tackling illegal content online and public-private partnerships’

Committee work

The EuroISPA International Affairs committee represents the views of the European Internet industry in discussions around Internet governance and international ICT cooperation.

Key dossiers

ICANN

EuroDIG

Internet Governance Forum

Council of Europe

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Latest developments

May 2016: EuroDIG and CENTR to host joint-workshop on content control at EuroDIG 2016

The European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) is an annual open multi-stakeholder platform to exchange views about the Internet and how it is governed. The 2016 installment will take place in Brussels on 09-10 June.

As part of the event, EuroISPA is teaming up with CENTR to organise a policy workshop for EuroDIG participants. The workshop will be titled Technical basics everyone should know before discussing online content control.

The session will be divided into two parts:

• Part 1 (50min): "Technical training" to provide the audience with information on the underlying building blocks of the Internet and the functioning of the different internet layers (ISPs, IP addressing, DNS, naming). Objective: explain the impact of online content control on the technical operations of the different internet layers and how this affects the daily use of internet; lay the foundation for an informed discussion about content control.
• Part 2 (40min): Moderated open debate kick-started by "fire starters". The moderator will build the bridge from the technical part to the policy debate. A balanced selection of "fire starters" from civil society, academia, law enforcement, etc. will fuel the debate with short, concise statements that are then open to discussion.

More information on EuroISPA's EuroDIG workshop can be found here.

Time has been blocked in the EuroISPA GM programme to allow members to attend the workshop.

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Previous updates

February 2016: ICANN finalises proposal to transition stewardship of key Internet functions from US government

Following its latest meeting in Marrakesh, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board submitted to the U.S. Government a plan developed by the international Internet community that, if approved, will lead to ICANN taking control of some key technical Internet functions.

Should the proposal be accepted by the US government, it will relinquish control of the IANA function (management of protocols, the Country Code Top Level Domains and maintains the IP Address allotments). The US government had demanded strong guarantees of ICANN transparency and independence as a prerequisite for transitioning IANA control to the multi-stakeholder grouping.

The U.S. Government will now review the package to ensure that it meets transparency/independence criteria. If approved, implementation of the plan is expected to be completed by the end of September 2016.

EuroISPA is represented at ICANN by International Affairs committee chair Malcolm Hutty.  We will dedicate time for an ICANN debriefing at the next EuroISPA General Meeting in Amsterdam.

More information can be found here.

January 2016: EuroISPA joins forces with CENTR to propose EuroDIG 2016 technical workshop

Building on successful collaborations in 2015, EuroISPA is joining forces with CENTR to propose a workshop at the 2016 European Dialogue on Internet Governance. The conference will take place in Brussels and will coincide with the June EuroISPA General Meeting.

The joint EuroISPA-CENTR proposal is titled:

CONTENT CONTROL: The impact of voluntary and/or mandatory actions on the different layers of the internet, from a technical perspective and in the context of questions including jurisdiction, censorship, enforcement

The workshop is inspired by the technical trainings CENTR and EuroISPA have provided to officials from the European Commission in recent years.

More information on the proposal can be found here.

December 2015: Internet Governance Forum on the ‘evolution of internet governance: empowering sustainable development’

From 10 to 13 November, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held its 10^th conference on the “Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development”. The press release can be found here. Eight sub-themes were discussed during the conference:

• Cybersecurity and trust
• The Internet economy
• Inclusiveness and diversity
• Openness
• Enhancing multistakeholder cooperation
• The Internet and human rights
• Critical Internet resources
• Emerging issues

Over 150 thematic workshops were held at the 10^th IGF which focused on an array of topics; from zero rating and network neutrality to freedom of expression online and cybersecurity. One of the issues figuring prominently in the discussions was the issue of online privacy. Participants stressed that encryption and anonymity needed to be reinforced and agreed on the need for privacy, transparency and security issues to complement each other.

Amongst the participants was also the Vice President Ansip and various Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). A Joint Declaration (here) was signed by the Vice President and the MEPs which argues for improved internet access all over the world, an open and interdependent internet as a global resource, and the need to find solutions related to cybersecurity and cybercrimes. The EU delegation further recalled its support for the development of the Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO), an organization that will monitor Internet related policy, regulatory and technological developments across the world.

Next steps

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will gather for the 10-year review of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) on 15 and 16 December 2015. During the WSIS, the UNGA will discuss the renewal of the IGF mandate and the further strengthening of its resources.

September 2015: US Government Accountability Office gives endorsement to IANA transition as Republicans voice discontent 

A highly-anticipated report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has given an endorsement to transfer control of the IANA functions from the US government to domain overseer ICANN. The report was published in mid-September, and can be read here.

Alongisde this, four leading US Congressional figures, including  presidential candidate Ted Cruz, have questioned whether the Obama Administration has the legal right to transfer control of the internet's key technical functions outside the US government. In a letter to the US Government Accountability Office, the lawmakers note that the Internet’s Zone Root File is designated a "national IT asset" by the federal government, and argue that its creation was "funded by the American taxpayer and coordinated by the Department of Defense." As such, it constitutes property of the United States and cannot be legally transferred to a third party. Read more here (links to external site).

August 2015: Internet governance: ICG publishes draft IANA transition proposals as ICANN contract extended until September 2016

On 17 August, the US government announced that it would extend the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) contract with ICANN through to September 2016. The move comes as the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) concedes that it needs more time to complete its work, have the plan reviewed by the US government and then put it into action if approved.

The ICG recently published its draft proposals on transferring the IANA contract to a multi-stakeholder group, under the auspice of ICANN. But work on developing a system of governance to ensure manage the transition and ensure future accountability has been a considerable challenge, and it is unlikely that the final proposal will be ready to submit to the US government until next summer.

Since 1998 the United States has contracted out, through the Commerce Department, the management of the master database for top-level domain names like .com and .net and their corresponding numeric addresses to ICANN. On the back of international pressure, the US government decided to ultimately allow its contract with ICANN to expire, and to pass on oversight of the agency to a global governance model.

Next steps

Draft proposals by the ICG for transition and accountability are currently available for public consultation. The aim is to finalise the proposals by the time of the ICANN meeting in Dublin on October, before beginning the process of seeking approval for the proposals from the US government.