Institute for Internet Policy & Law @ Beijing Normal University

The Asia Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum 2011, under the theme of “Trade Facilitation beyond Borders: International Supply Chain Efficiency,” focusing on how trade facilitation can enhance supply chain efficiency, was held on October 3-8, 2011 in Seoul. Critical trade facilitation issues affecting the efficiency of regional and international supply chains were discussed. There were two events related to UNNeXT Legal Panel, which is primarily tasked to research the feasibility of a Regional Agreement on Electronic Exchange of Trade Data and Documents and provide the pertinent training materials and services for the stakeholders in the Region.

On October 6, 2011, The United Nations Network of Experts for Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (UNNExT) had a side meeting at the Forum in the afternoon. The leads of each working group on legal issues, data harmonization, trade process and single window implementation gave a briefing on their works done so far. Prof. Xue presented on behalf of the legal panel and reported the outcome of Legal Panel Bangkok Meeting in July. The suggestions on the regional agreement attracted many comments from the audience.

On October 7-8, 2011, UNNExT Capacity Building Workshop on Addressing Legal Issues for Single Window Implementation and Paperless Trade was held at Seoul COEX Complex. The pilot workshop introduced participants to legal issues that need to be addressed to enable paperless trade and single window implementation at the national level, as well as to facilitate interoperability and interconnectivity of e-trade systems across borders. It built the capacity of participants to develop comprehensive and harmonized paperless trade legal frameworks, providing a sound legal basis for the operation and interoperability of national single windows and related e-business and e-logistics platforms. More than 20 countries’ delegations joined the workshop. Prof. Xue who reviewed the training materials prepared and presented by Prof. Rolf Weber, gave a presentation on the Legal Environment of Paperless Trade in China. The audience was particularly interested in the progress China made to legally enable and facilitate the electronic transaction, particularly on Internet Retails. Prof. Xue’s talk had got most questions of the workshop. These questions are on the electronic signatures and transactional data that are newly subject to national regulations.

IGF 2011 was completed in the last week of October in Nairobi.  Before the workshop on Government’s Responsibility on Day 4, I prepared a written statement and sent to the moderator and organizer well before.

I’m posting here the OBSERVATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT FOR INFORMATION SECURITY (September 28, 2011) I made at a CoE workshop.

“I note a group of civil society organizations’ Open Letter to the President of the UN General Assembly on International Code of Conduct for Information Security. I deeply appreciate their timely contribution. I agree with some of the views they presented, but also believe we should be focusing on the most important issues.

I would like to share with you my observations. As a Chinese poem says, “you could not see the whole picture of a mountain when being in the ranges of the mountain.” Since I’m now almost 10,000 km away from Nairobi, hopefully my observation could be interesting to you.

I agree that the International Code of Conduct For Information Security (ICOC) proposed by the four countries does not have any direct “reference to the multistakeholder approach.” Although the document primarily defines the responsibilities of the States, it does not seem being the product of multi-stakeholder consultation and consensus.

On the other hand, ICOC, para. (h), does mention “all elements of society.” Given that language difference may result in variants of expressions, such as calling “civil society” as  “social groups” (see “MIIT of China response to the Further Notice of Inquiry on the IANA Functions”) , “all elements of society” could arguably imply multi-stakeholders. Truthfully,  the statement that “all elements of society” are under the leadership of the States does not imply the equal footing of all stakeholder groups. But is there any INTER-NATIONAL decision-making process really ensuring equal footing of all stakeholder groups? I’d be happy to learn more about how international law-making adapts to multi-stakeholder environment, as I had presented via unsuccessful remote participation system in Workshop 144 on September 27.

Making a simply comparison between ICOC and the two documents presented by Council of Europe (the “Declaration by the Committee of Ministers on Internet governance principles” and “Recommendation CM/Rec(2011)8 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection and promotion of the universality, integrity and openness of the Internet”), I can see quite a lot of commonalities and interoperable elements. Both initiatives have the emphasis on “No harm”, which reflect the concern for world peace in the Internet age.

Since CoE’s document also mentions “Cultural and linguistic diversity”, I think it could be biased or mind-guessing to state that ICOC’s reference to “ ‘respect for the diversity of history, culture and social systems of all countries’ might be interpreted as diminishing the commitment of the UNGA to the universality of human rights.”

To my belief, the most important commonality is that both ICOC and CoE’s documents highlight the human rights and fundamental freedom. ICOC, the third sentence of para. (a), is a brilliant statement that is so dear to the people who are keen on access to knowledge. It may also explain why ICOC was not widely reported in the media in these four countries . So it would be good if ICOC, including the third sentence of para. (a), could be avail to the people of the four states, particularly when not all four states have ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

But the devil is in details. I fully agree that ICOC, para. (c) is the real concern and can be subject to different interpretations. Actually even the second sentence of para. (a), “respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of all States” could have alternative implication. I shall sincerely hope none of the interpretations would revoke the commitment to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as stated in ICOC, para. (a) as well.”

The proposed International code of conduct for information security is contained in a Letter dated 12 September 2011 from the Permanent Representatives of China, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General is attached here for reference.

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Many people was not able to attend physically. But the so-called remote participation is most unreliable and ineffective way for anyone who genuinely intended to participate.

In the morning of Day One, I spent a long time to test and wait patiently for workshop “IG Principles” that I would present. Tragically, there was no signal on both the webcast and webex (participation platform) until the whole session started several minutes later. After I could finally log on webex, I posted messages to let the remote moderator know that there would be speakers remote and asked for testing. My testing requests were denied for unknown reason. Then I found that there was neither video nor sound on webex and told the RP moderator. The replies was always “fixing.” Frustrated by inaccessibility, I had to rely on the webcast to listen, which made me in an awkward situation of either listening without participation or particiaption without sounds. After one third of the workshop, I can finally hear some sounds from webex but the sounds were extremely weak, unclear and full of noises. I contacted the RP moderator but no fixation was offered.  As a result, I was not able to interact with the moderator and speakers of the workshop. Most unforgivably, my chance of presentation was unfairly deprived. I was merely given a few seconds to talk before the line was brutally cut by the RP moderator. I heard mildly that people on spot said that I should submit a written statement and RP was not reliable. Okay I then wrote a short note and posted on the webex. It was not read until almost the end of the workshop by the impatient and unqualified RP moderator.

After experiencing such unhappiness, I learned that RP was very unreliable.

My RP at another workshop on sort of OKE was equally unpleasant. There was no other RP participants at all. I sent in a comment but it was not read until the very end of the workshop. Sadly it was distorted and mutilated by the RP moderator. It was the insult to my sincere participation.

The current CEO of ICANN made the announcement on 16 August 2011 his intention to leave the corporation in July 2012, at the end of his current contract. This was quickly followed by an official announcement on the ICANN website. Some concern was expressed about the way the search for a CEO had been conducted in 2009, a process which many consider had not been transparent, nor a model of good governance within the ICANN Board itself.

In this context of fairly wide concern for the future of ICANN, a group of ICANNers, (in alphabetic order)

AIZU Izumi, from Japan; 

Manal ISMAIL, from Egypt; 

Yrjö LÄNSIPURO, from Finland; 

Evan LEIBOVITCH, from Canada;

Alejandro PISANTY, from Mexico;

Nii QUAYNOR, from Ghana; 

Njeri RIONGE, from Kenya; 

Carlton SAMUELS, from Jamaica and US;

Jean-Jacques SUBRENAT, from France; and,

XUE Hong, from China,

reflected on the situation, and on 17 September 2011, sent the following letter to Dr. Stephen D. Crocker, Chair of the Board of Directors of ICANN.

The letter was widely circulated in the community and more people are showing their support. For example, two persons from North America have asked to add them as co-signatories.

The content of the Open Letter is below. The Chinese version is attached as well.

“As a group of friends of ICANN from various parts of the world, we would be grateful if you would share this letter with your fellow Directors.

The President & CEO of ICANN has announced that he will be leaving this corporation in July 2012, when his current contract expires. At a time when ICANN has to deal with other important challenges, its Board of Directors will have the additional task of selecting his successor.

In any corporation, selecting a CEO is one of the most crucial responsibilities incumbent upon the Board. In ICANN, with its distinctive multi-stakeholder structure and volunteer Board, the importance of such a choice cannot be overstated, especially at this stage in the development of the Internet and of ICANN itself. The progress made by ICANN so far must be further consolidated. At the same time, upholding the value of the multi-stakeholder model, which some are actively seeking to jeopardize, requires continuity of purpose as well as renewed imagination. Under the guidance and oversight of the Board, the next CEO will have the duty not only of leading, but also of strengthening ICANN.

The selection of a new CEO, shortly after the completion of the first Accountability and Transparency Review, provides the Board with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that it is now fully equipped and prepared to implement all the ATRT recommendations, perhaps even to go beyond that. In the spirit of these recommendations, the Board of ICANN should adopt a more transparent and accountable method for the selection and appointment of the next CEO.

Candidates should be sought through a transparent process (appropriate advertising in global and regional media; call for tenders in order to choose an external consultant, if one is needed). The Board should remain on top of the process, so that all its members are fully informed by the time a decision is called for. Failing to abide by these basic rules of good governance would expose Board members to the risk of eschewing one of their chief responsibilities toward the ICANN community, which is the duty of care. While the confidentiality of some Board deliberations sets understandable constraints, it is possible and desirable, within those bounds, to carry out the selection process in an open and transparent manner, so as to make it irrefutable. It is also important that the next CEO be chosen before the end of the predecessor’s current term, and be ready to begin without delay.

These improvements would be in line with ICANN’s committments. They would also send a strong signal of confidence and clarity to ICANN’s worldwide community, while at the same time consolidating the foundation upon which it aspires to build further global partnerships for the Internet and its users.

With best wishes to you and the Board of Directors, we remain

Yours sincerely”

致互联网名称与数字地址分配机构（ICANN）理事会的公开信

 尊敬的理事会主席库克先生：

吾辈ICANN之友谨此致信于阁下并理事会其他人士。

ICANN现总裁暨首席执行官任期将届满，将于2012年7月卸任。籍此ICANN关键之际，理事会必于万机之中，着眼于选任继任者之重任。

任一机构之中，选任首席执行官均为理事会之第一要务。于ICANN，独特之多方利益相关者之结构及其志愿者理事会，此选择之重大，莫可过之，更遑论互联网与ICANN正值发展之机。已获之进展葺需巩固。持多方利益相关者模式之价值，不致其危，需目的之坚持、想象之充盈。理事会之指导与监督下，下一任首席执行官之职责何止领导，更在加强。

新首席执行官选择正值首次问责和透明度审查完成之后不久，理事会可以此证明践行所有之问责及透明度之建议，甚或可过之。此等建议精神之下，理事会甚应于新任首席执行官之选任中愈加透明与负责。

候选人应藉透明之程找寻（经全球和地区媒体之适当宣传；如有必需，或可以招标之法选择一外部顾问）。理事会应全程领导，决定之时，全体成员均须充分知悉。置妥善治理基本规则于不顾，将致理事会成员不履行于互联网社区之主要职责（即注意义务）之境地。虽理事会某些商议之秘密性需予合理保护，然于此界限之内，将选举过程公开、透明展开、不授人以柄，实为可行与理想之举。下一任首席执行官之选择须在本届任期结束之前进行，不可迟延，极其重要。

上述之改进符合ICANN所承担之义务。籍此ICANN向全世界社区传递信任与透明之明确信号，同时巩固其基础，并进一步奠定与互联网及其用户之全球合作。

致敬于您及理事会成员全体！

商祺

IZU Izumi 自日本; Manal ISMAIL 自埃及; Yrjö LÄNSIPURO 自芬兰; Evan Leibovitch 自加拿大；Alejandro PISANTY 自墨西哥;Nii QUAYNOR 自加纳; Njeri RIONGE 自肯尼亚; Carlton Samuels自牙买加和美国； Jean-Jacques SUBRENAT 自法国; 薛虹自中国

二零一一年九月十七日

On 5 August 2011, the Nominating Committee announced its selections for eight leadership positions within ICANN.Prof. Hong Xue is the only appointed Council Member of ccNSO. The Appointees will take up their positions after the end of ICANN’s Annual General Meeting in Dakar, Senegal, on 28 October 2011.

The NomCom’s Chair, Adam Peake, said “We are very pleased to have been able to select such high quality people to join ICANN. They are a great group, bringing skills and experience that will serve the community well. It’s been a tough job, the NomCom had to choose from a very strong applicant pool, with many highly qualified candidates for every position, including a record number of female applicants. After many hours of teleconferences and meetings, and then almost two and half days of discussion locked away in a room in Singapore, we reached unanimous agreement on all the selected nominees and the overall slate that includes individuals from China, Germany, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines and United States. Thanks to my committee for their hard work, and on behalf of all the NomCom a very sincere Thank You to all 88 candidates who gave their time and effort in volunteering to help ICANN”.

The NomCom evaluated over eighty-eight candidates, many of whom with exceptional qualifications in relation to the key criteria as set out in the ICANN Bylaws. With such a rich pool of candidates and very few seats to fill, the NomCom found itself unable to appoint all the applicants the Committee members would have desired to see on the Board and on the other bodies.

This year’s Nominating Committee received 88 Statements of Interest from candidates all over the world (23 female and 65 male), during its open nomination period from 17 December 2010 to 4 April 2011. The regional breakdown of this year’s candidates is:

• 19 from Africa,
• 24 from Asia/Australia/Pacific
• 14 from Europe
• 15 from Latin America/Caribbean
• 16 from North America

The founding APILP organized by the Institute for Internet Policy & Law of Beijing Normal University was held in Beijing on July 6-8, 2011. Program Director and Chair of Faculty Board is Dr. Prof. Hong Xue, Director of Institute for Internet Policy & Law, Beijing Normal University.

Asia Pacific Internet Leadership Program (APILP) is the very first multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder capacity building project on Internet Governance in Asia Pacific. The Founding Event was successfully held in Beijing. A group of distinguished experts from academia, governance organizations, technical community and judiciary in Asia Pacific constituted the faculty board. 20 fellows  from a variety of stakeholder groups joined the event. As the Faculty Chair, Prof. Xue, stated at the Opening Ceremony, APILP features 3 keywords as Internet, Governance and Asia Pacific and is becoming a research/learning center on Internet governance issues for this Region. The core members of the Faculty Board and the leading scholars from Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan Economy unanimously agree to continue the project. Next year the event will be hosted by India NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad.

Academic Faculty Board for founding APILP

Dr. Prof. Hong Xue, APILP Faculty Chair, Director of Institute for Internet Policy & Law, Beijing Normal University, China

Prof. Ang Peng Hwa, Director, Singapore Internet Research Centre; Acting Head, Division of Journalism and Publishing, Nanyang Technology University, Singapore

Ms. Bonnie Chun, HKIRC, Hong Kong SAR China

Mr. Champika Wijayatunga, Training Manager, APNIC

Ms. Christine Runnegar, ISOC, Switzerland

Prof. Izumi Aizu, Senior Research Fellow & Professor at Institute for InfoSocinomics, Tama University , Japan

Mr. Kuo-wei Wu, Director of Board, ICANN, USA

Prof. Vivekanandan, Ministry of HRD IP Chair Professor, NALSAR University of Law, India

Scientific program :

Day 1: Wednesday July 6, 2011

8:30-9:30 Registration

9:30-12:30 Opening and Orientation

Introduction to Internet governance—An Asia-Pacific Prospective

Lectures and discussions will focus on general issues and principles of Internet governance and current policy and legal framework. Historical review and stocktaking will analyze and assess the principles of openness, access, diversity and security. Lecturers and discussions will specifically address the concerns and priorities of Asia-Pacific Region.

9:30-10:30 Welcoming Addresses (Video 1)

Faculty Chair: Prof. Hong Xue, Director of IIIPL, Beijing Normal University

Speakers:

Prof. Bingzhi Zhao, Dean of Law School, Beijing Normal University

Pof. Qiheng Hu, President of Internet Society of China

Prof. Xiangyang Huang, General Director of CNNIC

Prof. Xianqiang Tang, Deputy General Director of CONAC

10:30-10:40 Break

10:40-11:10 Participants’ Networking

11:10-12:30 Keynote Speeches (Video 2)

Prof. Peng Hwa Ang, Director of Singapore Internet Research Center, Nanyang Technology University

Prof. Izumi Aizu, Japan Tama University, Co-Coordinator of Internet Governance Caucus

12:30-14:30 Lunch Break

14:30-17:30 Internet Technology and Infrastructure: Training by APNIC (Video 3)

This session will elaborate on how Internet works, what are the organizations that coordinate its addressing system, how these organizations relate to each other in an ecosystem and how decisions are being made by the Internet community.

Chair: Mr. Champika Wijayatunga, Training Manager, APNIC

Speakers:

Dr. Shuo Shen, Deputy Director of Development and Research Center, CNNIC

Mr. Champika Wijayatunga, Training Manager, APNIC

18:00 Social Dinner Sponsored by APNIC

Day 2: Thursday, July 7, 2011

9:00-12:00 Managing Critical Internet Resources

Lectures and forum discussion will examine the current regime of management of critical Internet resources, particularly ICANN domain name policies that have significant impact on diversity, access and security.

9:00-10:00 Issues in New gTLDs (Video 4)

Chair: Prof. Kuowei Wu, Member of ICANN Board of Directors

Showcase of ICANN Video on New gTLD Program

Discussants:

HKIRC, CNNIC, CONAC, .Asia, .Telnet, JPNIC, Zodiacs

10:00-10:15 Coffee Break

10:15-12:00 Comparative study of registration management (Video 5)

Issues: IDNs, vertical Integration, trademark measures, supporting developing countries, whois accuracy, illegal contents

Chair: Mr. Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia and Member of ALAC

Speakers:

Ms. Bonnie Chun, HKIRC

Dr. Shuo Shen, Deputy Director of Development and Research Center, CNNIC

Mr. Yang Yu, Director of Legal and International Affairs, CONAC

Mr. Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia and Member of ALAC

Ms. Lucy Wang, General Manager, .Telnet

Mr. James Seng, CEO of Zodiac and Member of ALAC

12:00-14:00 Lunch Break

14:00-17:00 Critical Legal Issues in Internet Governance

Lecturers will address a variety of legal issues, such as alternative dispute resolution to domain name disputes and intermediary liability of Internet service providers.

14:00-14:45 ADR and Data Protection (Video 6)

Chair: Ms. Christine Runnegar, Senior Manager of Public Policy, ISOC

Speakers:

Ms. Christine Runnegar, Senior Manager of Public Policy, ISOC

Dr. Hu Li, Deputy Secretary General, CIETAC

Mr. Fanwu Wang, Chief Judge of Civil Tribunal, Beijing 2^nd Intermediate People’s Court

14:45-15:00 Coffee Break

15:00-17:00 Copyright on the Internet (Video 7)

Chair: Prof. Hong Xue, Director of IIIPL, Beijing Normal University

Speakers:

Dr. Dongchuan Luo, Director of Research Division, Supreme People’s Court

Ms. Hong Ge, Judge of Intellectual Property Tribunal, Beijing 2^nd Intermediate People’s Court

Ms. Xiurong Ma, Judge of Intellectual Property Tribunal, Supreme People’s Court

Prof.V.C. Vivekanandan Director of Global Internet Governance & Advocacy, Ministry of HRD IP Chair Professor, India NALSAR University of Law

17:00 Conclusion (certificate issuance)

18:00 Social Dinner Sponsored by DotAsia

Day 3: Friday July 8, 2011

9:00-12:00 Faculty Board Meeting (for speakers only)

12:00-13:00 Lunch

13:00-18:00 Tour to Great Wall (for speakers only)

Background

“Internet governance is the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.” -Paragraph 34, WSIS Tunis Agenda

Asia Pacific has more than a half of world population. The Internet penetration in the Regional is growing rapidly. By the end of 2010, almost a half of world Internet users will be in Asia Pacific. Governance issues, such as Critical Internet Resources, Security and Stability, privacy, e-commerce, cyber-crime, network neutrality, dispute resolution, Internet of things, etc., are critically defining the development of this region. However, Asia-Pacific’s multi-stakeholder participation in the global Internet governance is considerably underdeveloped. Technical community and civil society in Asia-Pacific Region is particularly underrepresented and inarticulate in most global arenas on Internet governance. ASIA-PACIFIC INTERNET LEADERSHIP PROJECT (APILP) wishes to enhance regional capacity on policy-making and process-building for global governance of the Internet.

Given the tremendous diversity in languages, cultures, eco-social status in this Region, a systematic, informative and insightful training program will meet the pressing need of the Regional. Asia-Pacific Internet Leadership Program (APILP) will provide a unique opportunity for the Asia-Pacific participants from various stakeholder groups who have actively involved in Internet governance activities. We invite technical and management community (such ccTLD managers, gTLD registries, registrars), governmental officials, civil society leaders and Internet entrepreneurs to become the fellows. APILP  will provides Internet policy training or brainstorming for current or future leaders of Asia-Pacific Region.

Sponsors for Beijing Event

CNNIC

CONAC

APNIC

DotAsia

Singapore Internet Research Centre