Barbara Wanner Archives

APEC E-Commerce Steering Group Works With EU, Looks to Broaden Scope

Published on August 28, 2017
USCIB’s Barbara Wanner at the Electronic Commerce Steering Group meeting

Last week, at the APEC Third Senior Officials Meeting (SOM 3) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Vice President Barbara Wanner took part in APEC’s Electronic Commerce Steering Group (ECSG). The steering group wrapped up four days of meetings that included formal announcement that South Korea was approved to become the fifth APEC member economy to participate in the Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system. Singapore also indicated it has submitted dual applications to be certified under the CBPR system and the complementary Privacy Recognition for Processors system.

The meetings also featured a dialogue with the European Commission concerning possible approaches to realize inter-operability of the CBPR and EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as consideration of a U.S. government proposal to “Modernize the ECSG.”

The latter is aimed at broadening the scope of the ECSG work to address arising from digital transformation of the economy. USCIB will pursue collaboration with other global trade associations on a statement supporting this initiative.

In a key SOM 3 side event, Vietnam’s industry and trade ministry organized a public-private dialogue, “Facilitating MSMEs to Adopt Cross-Border E-Commerce,” which explored how to facilitate greater participation by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in cross-border electronic commerce in APEC through participation in the CBPR system. The event also examined the applicability of the APEC Framework on Cross-Border E-Commerce Facilitation, and sought to enhance understanding of the trade promoting benefits of the e-commerce chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other regional trade agreements.

USCIB Discourages Regulatory Overreach in Comments to ITU

Published on August 16, 2017

USCIB filed comments with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) last week as part of the agency’s public consultation on policy considerations for “over the top” services, urging the ITU to avoid expanding its jurisdiction to include Internet-related issues. The public policy aspects of OTT services have been identified as a priority by several governments in the ITU. The U.S. government considers OTT services to offer a range of economic benefits, including increased consumer choice, increased use of underlying networks, and contributions to further innovation and investment.  However, other countries view OTT services as adjuncts to traditional telecommunications services, and should therefore be subject to regulation.

USCIB’s comments emphasized the importance of staying true to the ITU’s primarily technical mission in developing international telecommunication standards and allocating spectrum, and not expanding the ITU’s work program to include Internet-related issues that are well beyond its remit, core competencies, and budgetary resources. Such issues are most effectively addressed in multistakeholder forums, where policy is holistically and expertly informed by consultations among business, civil society, the technical community, and government, USCIB stated. USCIB  further highlighted the promise of innovative online services and applications for economic, developmental, and societal benefits, which will help to realize many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

“An enabling environment for continued innovation and investment in these services is crucial,” noted USCIB Vice President Barbara Wanner. “In this regard, market-driven solutions and voluntary, industry-led standards best ensure a healthy digital ecosystem,” she said.

The ITU will consider contributions from USCIB and others at a face-to-face open consultation, which will be held in Geneva on September 18, 2017.

ICC Advocates for Women Empowerment Through Technology

Published on July 21, 2017

The annual UN High Level Political Forum wrapped up last week having measured progress and implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the past two years. USCIB was on the ground during Agriculture and Food Day, which focused on Goal 2-Ending Hunger, as well as the UN SDG Business Forum, which focused on business support among all 17 SDG’s.  SDG 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls and calls for enhances use of enabling technology –information and communications technologies (ICT’s) in particular—to promote the empowerment of women.  For many women around the world, ICT’s can be leveraged for personal security, better access to education and jobs, financial inclusion and access to basic healthcare information. But benefits such as these rely on women having meaningful access to ICT which can be facilitated or prevented by several factors, including affordability, relevant content, skills and security.

To help turn commitment into action, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) partnered with UN Women – the global champion for gender equality – to host a side-event during the HLPF.  The event, Accelerating Women’s Economic Empowerment to Achieve the 2030 Agenda, showcased the global efforts stakeholders have embarked on to bring women’s economic empowerment to the forefront of all the SDG targets.

“Through innovation, investment and development of products and services, the private sector plays an important role in advancing gender equality and improving the lives of women,” said Barbara Wanner USCIB vice president for ICT Policy. ICC highlighted several private sector initiatives during the side-event that are catalyzing women’s economic empowerment in developed and developing countries and presented the role of ICT’s in advancing the SDG’s.

Participants included contributors to the UN Secretary General High-Level Panel for Women’s Economic Empowerment and representatives from the governments of the United Kingdom and Costa Rica, UN Women, the International Labor Organization, ICC Secretary General John Danilovich, and Carolyn Nguyen of Microsoft who is also vice-chair of the ICC Commission on the Digital Economy.

For additional information on this event, please visit ICC’s website.

Industry Appeals to China on Cybersecurity Law

Published on May 15, 2017

With China’s broad cybersecurity law set to take effect next month, USCIB has joined with a range of industry groups from the United States and other countries in appealing for the country to delay its entry into force. Among other things, the new law would give law enforcement enhanced authority to access private data and require data to be stored servers located in China.

In a joint letter, the business groups said they are “deeply concerned that current and pending security-related rules will effectively erect trade barriers along national boundaries that effectively bar participation in your market and affect companies across industry sectors that rely on information technology goods and services to conduct business.”

The letter called on China to ensure that cybersecurity regulations comply with China’s World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments and encourage the adoption of international models that support China’s development as a global hub for technology and services.

B20 Issues High-Level Digitalization Statement

Published on April 10, 2017

blue tone city scape and network connection conceptThe B20 issued a high-level statement on “Digitalization for All: Towards an Inclusive Interconnected World” which was signed by fifty leading business representatives including USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson, who serves as co-chair of the Employment and Education Task Force. The high-level statement emphasizes the benefits of digitalization, from boosting consumer welfare to facilitating equality, and highlights it as a critical cross-sectoral and cross-cutting mean to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. However, obstacles remain in terms of inadequate internet access, insufficient broadband coverage and the need to build skills to realize the full potential of the digital economy.

The statement recommends public-private collaboration to better prepare business and people for the digital economy and the need to regularly adjust curricula in schools, continuing education and requalification programs, especially for women and girls. The statement notes that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) also need government support in increasing knowledge exchange and fostering expertise on technology application.

In addition to Robinson, signatories include Tom Donohue, co-chair of the Employment and Education Task Force and president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a USCIB Trustee, Daniel Funes, chairman, International Organization of Employers and co-chair of the Employment and Education Task Force and Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of the Trade and Investment Task Force.

The B20 Task Force on Digitalization also released a policy paper on “Digitalization for All: Future-Oriented Policies for a Globally Connected World.” Key recommendations in the policy paper include: (1) fostering global connectivity, which includes improving cybersecurity and enabling cross-border data flows; (2) strengthening Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet by fostering innovation and ICT infrastructure deployment; and (3) supporting the evolution of human-centric artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies.  USCIB actively contributed to this paper.

Wanner Represents Business at ICANN Meetings in Denmark

Published on March 20, 2017
Wanner at ICANN Meetings in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Wanner at ICANN Meetings in Copenhagen, Denmark.

USCIB vice president for ICT policy, Barbara Wanner, attended meetings of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Copenhagen, Denmark last week, concluding a first of three rounds of meetings scheduled for 2017. Wanner joined 2,400 participants from business, government, civil society, and the technical community for a six-day meeting largely focused on domain name system (DNS) policy issues and inter-stakeholder discussions.

Wanner participated in DNS related meetings in her new capacity as the Business Constituency representative to the Commercial Stakeholder Group, enabling greater input to policy discussions at the executive committee level on behalf of USCIB members.

A noteworthy addition to this meeting – and reflecting heightened global concerns about protections of personal data – was a special “privacy summit,” which featured senior privacy officials from the Council of Europe and EU Article 29 Working Party. “An important result of the “summit” was recognition by the ICANN community of the need for timely, legal analysis of the implications of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which goes into effect May 28, 2018, on the processing of data related to domain name registrations and related contractual obligations of companies that register domain names,” observed Wanner.

Washington Conference Looks at OECD’s Role in Fostering Digital Transformation

Published on March 13, 2017
OECD Deputy Secretary General Doug Franz
OECD Deputy Secretary General Doug Franz

Cross-border trade in digital goods and services has grown 45-fold over the past decade. How can policy makers and the business community work together to ensure that new technologies and digital applications can lead to a more prosperous, productive, inclusive and socially beneficial world? And what lessons can be learned from current discussions and related work within the 35-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)?

This was the focus of a conference today in Washington, D.C., “Facilitating Digital Transformation: The OECD’s Role,” organized by the USCIB Foundation, the educational arm of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), in partnership with the OECD and Business at OECD (BIAC).

In opening keynote remarks, David Redl, chief counsel for communications and technology at the Energy and Commerce Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, compared extending broadband access to the construction of the interstate highway system. “Despite everyone’s best efforts, there are still parts of the United States that lack the infrastructure to meet universal availability and adoption,” he stated. Redl said government spending alone won’t get the job done. “We must also foster investment in U.S. networks, streamline regulation, and improve online trust and security to bring the benefits of the Internet to every American.”

OECD Deputy Secretary General Douglas Frantz identified several factors as key to ongoing digital transformation: improved communications infrastructure and services, new and innovative business models, improved consumer trust and privacy protection, effective policy making, and a robust approach to the challenges and opportunities posed by improvements in artificial intelligence (AI). On the latter point, he proposed that the OECD work toward some sort of policy instrument to address AI.

Andrew Wycoff, director of the OECD’s Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, outlined the OECD’s work to assess the G20 economies’ uneven progress to date toward enabling the digital transformation. He said the OECD’s upcoming policy recommendations would focus on the importance of boosting investment in digital infrastructure, ensuring competition in the ICT sector and the broader economy, and establishing sufficient trust in the digital economy while also making it truly inclusive.

Jacqueline Ruff, Verizon, gives remarks during panel
Jacqueline Ruff, Verizon, gives remarks during panel

During an industry roundtable on emerging technologies, Jacqueline Ruff, vice president for international public policy and regulatory affairs with Verizon, said public policy will be important to remove barriers to the deployment of fifth-generation wireless technology, while creating a pro-investment environment. “They key to 5G will be smart communities,” she stated.

Other conference panels examined questions of equity and potential negative effects of digital technologies, as well as ways to enhance trust in an increasingly connected world. Organizers said the event would help steer discussion toward practical measures to maximize the benefits of new technologies. Panelists also focused on jobs, as well as education and skills-development challenges and opportunities, posed by digital transformation and the efforts by companies, such as IBM, to create “new collar jobs” enabling a segment of workers in more mature industries to become productive participants in the digital economy.

“Getting policy right for digital innovation is a critical factor for economic competitiveness, for trust and confidence in the digital environment, and ultimately for societal well-being”, said Bernhard Welschke, Secretary General of Business at OECD. “We need to communicate the benefits of digital transformation and Business at OECD will continue to work closely with the OECD on this challenge.”

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson stated: “We hope that today’s discussions will enable those who may not participate directly in OECD meetings to learn more about the OECD’s work and its value to the process and substance of crafting sensible, effective policy and regulation. Whether it is in providing frameworks, or in the development of consensus-based guiding principles, the OECD has a lot to offer and think about.”

David Redl to Speak at Conference on Fostering Digital Transformation: The OECD’s Role

Published on February 24, 2017

David Redl, chief counsel for communications and technology for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, will give the keynote address at USCIB’s timely conference, Fostering Digital Transformation: The OECD’s Role,”  on March 8 in Washington, D.C. The conference is organized by The USCIB Foundation, the educational arm of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), in partnership with Business at the OECD (BIAC) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD). The conference will explore ways that policy makers and the business community work together to ensure that new technologies and digital applications can lead to a more prosperous, productive, inclusive and socially beneficial world, while considering what lessons can be learned from recent discussions and related work within the 35-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

“This will be an important forum for dialogue among technologists and policy makers to help us navigate toward a more robust, secure, resilient and inclusive digital economy,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson. “Following last year’s pivotal OECD Ministerial in Cancun, which recognized the digital economy as a powerful catalyst for innovation, growth and overall prosperity, the focus will be on moving forward the OECD’s ambitious agenda. We will explore how broad-ranging OECD policy frameworks can help to address new challenges posed by changing global policy dynamics.”

Topics for discussion include:

  • The Digital Economy and Information Society of the Future
  • Realizing the Global Commercial Benefits and Corporate Societal Responsibilities of Digitalization
  • Enhancing Trust in the Digitally Connected Ecosystem

Other confirmed speakers for the event include:

  • Douglas Frantz, deputy secretary general of the OECD
  • Andrew Wyckoff, director of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation
  • Anne Carblanc, head of the OECD Digital Economy Policy Division
  • Eric Loeb, senior vice president of international external and regulatory affairs, AT&T
  • Joseph Alhadeff, vice president of global public policy, Oracle Corp.

The conference, which is co-organized by the OECD and Business at OECD (BIAC), will take place at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center (901 K Street, NW, Washington, D.C.). Registration and additional information are available on the conference website. Event sponsors and partners include AT&T, Google, Microsoft, Verizon and the Internet Association. Inside Cybersecurity is a media partner.

USCIB Contributes to Annual Internet Governance Forum

Published on December 12, 2016
BarbaraWanner_IGF2016
Barbara Wanner, USCIB’s Vice President for ICT Policy moderating a workshop at this year’s Internet Governance Forum in Mexico

More than 3,000 stakeholders from business, government, civil society, the technical community and academia gathered December 6-9 in Guadalajara, Mexico for the 11th Internet Governance Forum (IGF). The four-day conference featured wide-ranging discussions under the overarching theme, “Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth,” a theme deliberately chosen to enable IGF participants to highlight the importance of the Internet and ICTs in realizing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set forth in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This was the first IGF meeting since the United Nations renewed the forum’s mandate for another 10 years as part of the 2015 WSIS +10 Review, last year’s UN conference to take stock of commitments made at the pivotal 2005 World Summit on the Information Society. USCIB members joined global business colleagues under the aegis of ICC-BASIS (Business Action to Support the Information Society) in urging that the IGF not remain static, but continue to evolve in the coming decade as viable multi-stakeholder entity.

Joseph Alhadeff (Oracle), chair of the ICC Digital Economy Commission and vice-chair of USCIB’s ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) Policy Committee, stated that this approach to involve “informed contributions from business, government, civil society, and the technical community will continue to be key to ensuring that policies and regulations do not create unintended consequences or unnecessary burdens that impair the potential of emerging technologies to propel sustainable and inclusive development.”

The week culminated with strong endorsements from all IGF participants for a comprehensive approach to tackling obstacles to inclusive growth. Barbara Wanner, USCIB’s vice president for ICT Policy, emphasized that “a comprehensive approach should feature a shared commitment to Internet openness, expanded public-private partnerships, more focused attention to both supply- and demand-related issues affecting Internet deployment, including digital literacy, and enlightened regulation and legal frameworks.”

Wanner said IGF participants acknowledged that much of this will continue to require multi-billion-dollar investments in both infrastructure and local content to reach all communities. “They also emphasized the urgent need to address security issues undermining user confidence and trust and in the Internet,” she said. “A refrain throughout the week’s discussions was that vibrant, multi-stakeholder dialogue will best enable the Internet community to navigate these many challenges.”

Workshops on the role of women, “demand-side” capacity

USCIB organized two IGF workshops that went to the heart of the inclusive growth theme. Wanner moderated “An ‘Internet of Women’ by 2020: WSIS Vision to Reality,” a discussion involving 10 representatives from all stakeholder groups who examined the factors causing a significant and persistent gender digital divide that has hampered the ability of women to become productive members of the digital economy. The WSIS Outcome Document calls for achieving gender equality in Internet users by 2020. USCIB Members Hibah Kamal-Grayson (Google), Carolyn Nguyen (Microsoft), and Jackie Ruff (Verizon) discussed what their companies are doing to bridge the gender digital divide by improving digital literacy and ICT-related professional opportunities for women. All agreed that the challenge of gender digital equality cannot be tackled effectively by any one company, organization, or stakeholder group. Rather, this requires collaboration among all stakeholder groups, partnerships between business and government, linkages between local communities and national governments, and coordination across various international organizations and a need for a mix of both bottom-up and top-down initiatives.

Another workshop, “Demand Side Capacity for Internet Deployment,” explored efforts in regions as diverse as Africa and Latin America to build “demand-side” capacity,” a term referring to the development of local content and services in a variety of languages and efforts aimed at improving digital literacy, among other measures. This workshop was moderated by Ellen Blackler (The Walt Disney Company.) The WSIS Outcome Document recognized that such demand-side initiatives serve as essential complements to government efforts to improve competition, expand infrastructure and connectivity, and other “supply-side” policies. However, numerous surveys of Internet use in developing countries have indicated that, even when people have Internet access they seldom use it because they believe Internet access would have limited value due to a lack of content relevant to their interests and needs. Workshop panelists looked broadly at stakeholder efforts to create locally relevant content and considered challenges they face, ranging from weak digital literacy, to phone affordability, to problems securing venture capital financing. In particular, they maintained that public-private partnerships help to ensure that the content is locally relevant.

Next year’s IGF will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, December 18-21, 2017.

Business Supports Expansion of APEC Privacy Rules

Published on November 29, 2016

Global Communications. 3D rendering.

Eight major business groups — including USCIB, Japan’s Keidanren and ICC Mexico — released a joint statement calling on all Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies to expand participation in the APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system. An important priority for USCIB, the CBPR is a high-standard and enforceable privacy code of conduct that facilitates cross-border trade and ensures strong privacy protection of personal information. The statement commended the work done by policy makers in promoting the CBPR system, and urged the 21 APEC economies to commit to the system during 2017.

CBPRs are based on the internationally respected APEC Privacy Framework and endorsed by APEC Leaders since 2011. They are an interoperable, enforceable, and high-standard privacy code of conduct that facilitates cross-border trade of goods and services and ensures that strong privacy protection will follow personal information across the Asia-Pacific region. By creating a certification system that bridges the privacy regimes of each participating economy in a cost-effective and scalable way, the CBPRs allow participating companies to focus their time and resources on innovating, serving customers, and pursuing their business objectives.

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson attended the annual APEC CEO summit and various side events alongside USCIB Vice President Helen Medina. Robinson featured the joint statement in his meetings with US government officials, as well as other APEC government representatives on the sidelines of the recent APEC Leaders meeting in Lima, Peru. “We applaud the support that APEC Leaders and Ministers have demonstrated towards expanding participation in the CBPRs. We believe this reaffirms both APEC’s recognition of the importance of data flows to trade and investment in the region and its commitment to building bridges between national privacy regulatory regimes. We see great potential for the CBPRs to serve as a platform for a truly global system of interoperable and robust privacy protection,” noted Robinson. USCIB members certified under the CBPR include Apple Inc., Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, HP Inc., IBM, and Merck and Co., Inc.

The CBPRs signal to governments in the Asia-Pacific and in other parts of the world that mutual cooperation between like-minded economies can serve as a rational, effective international approach to high-standard privacy and data protection, without requiring data to be stored, managed, or otherwise processed locally or prohibiting data transfers to other markets.

The next meeting of APEC’s Data Privacy Subgroup, which developed the CBPR framework and continues to oversee its implementation, will be held in 2017 in Vietnam. USCIB will work with APEC member economies to support these commitments and raise awareness with officials and stakeholders on the benefits of CBPRs, increasing participation and helping APEC economies set the standard for how to do privacy right globally.