Towards Operational Solutions for Legal Interoperability
On June 3-5, 2019, almost 300 key stakeholders from over 50 countries gathered in Berlin for the 3rd Global Conference of the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network. Senior-level representatives of states, the world’s largest internet companies, technical operators, civil society, academia and international organizations engaged in the Policy Network reiterated the need for cooperation among all actors to jointly address the most pressing cross-border legal challenges of the digital 21st century. The Conference marked a significant milestone towards the development of operational solutions and policy standards. It produced the Berlin Roadmap that will guide the work of stakeholders on such frameworks in the Programs of the multistakeholder organization for the period until the 4th Global Conference of the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network in 2021.
The 3rd Global Conference of the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network was hosted by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, and institutionally supported by six international organizations: the Council of Europe, European Commission, ICANN, OECD, United Nations ECLAC and UNESCO.
Release of the Secretariat Summary & Berlin Roadmap
The Outcome Document released today contains the Secretariat Summary and the Berlin Roadmap that was discussed by stakeholders.
The Berlin Roadmap consists of detailed Work Plans for the three thematic I&J Programs: Data & Jurisdiction, Content & Jurisdiction and Domains & Jurisdiction. They are based on discussions about the Operational Approaches documents in April 2018 in each I&J Program. These documents were developed by Members of the Programs’ Contact Groups comprising over 100 key stakeholders from five continents. The proposed Operational Norms, Criteria and Mechanisms developed by these Members over the course of 10 months implemented the Ottawa Roadmap, which came out of the 2nd Global Conference of the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network in Canada in February 2018.
TIMELINE 2019-2021
To implement the new Berlin Roadmap, each Program of the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network will have regular virtual meetings of its Members. A Contact Group will help steer the work. Two initial Working Groups will be launched in each Program to structure the work on operational solutions and policy standards: Working Group A will deal with Interoperability among actors, and Working Group B will deal with interoperability between norms.
The Programs of the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network will each have one major physical Global Program Meeting in 2020 to take stock of the progress and first outcomes on the path to implement the Berlin Roadmap.
To complement the policy development process in its thematic Programs, the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network also launched on the occasion of its 3rd Global Conference Key Findings of the world’s first Internet & Jurisdiction Global Status Report (download here), a timely compendium of global trends, actors, and initiatives of this policy ecosystem. The Report will enhance evidence-based policy innovation, build capacities, and contribute to creating policy coherence.
Stakeholders from around the world will be invited to contribute to the collective data gathering process through this procedure from July-September 2019. The resulting full version of the first Internet & Jurisdiction Global Status Report will be launched on the occasion of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in November 2019. On its basis, a first Internet & Jurisdiction Regional Status Report will be produced in partnership with United Nations ECLAC in Latin America and the Carribeans and launched in 2020. The 2nd edition of the Internet & Jurisdiction Global Status Report will be launched in 2021 on the occasion of the 4th Global Conference of the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network.
