DSTI/ICCP(97)11/REV1
RESTRICTED
CEFACT/ECAWG/97N018
4 December 1997
Electronic Commerce Ad hoc Working Group (ECAWG)
Dismanteling the barriers to global electronic commerce
SOURCE: OECD
STATUS: for review
ACTION:
3
DSTI/ICCP(97)11/REV1
[Turku3_0.doc -- as of 7/10/97]
DISMANTLING THE BARRIERS TO GLOBAL ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
An International Conference and Business-Government Forum organised by the OECD and the Government of Finland in co-operation with the European Commission, Japan and BIAC
Turku, Finland, 19-21 November 1997
This document is the revised Draft Programme of the Business-Government Forum and Conference “Dismantling the Barriers to Global Electronic Commerce”, Turku, Finland, 19-21 November1997.
It will be preceeded by an informal round table discussion between business and government on taxation issues related to electronic commerce. This forum will be held in Turku, Finland, on 18 November 1997.
DISMANTLING THE BARRIERS TO GLOBAL ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
The inherently global nature of today’s network environment challenges the abilities of national governments adequately to address electronic commerce issues in isolation. In fact, uncoordinated, inconsistent approaches to electronic commerce policies by countries, no matter how well intentioned, could be worse than no action at all. It is generally agreed that an internationally co-ordinated approach is required. A number of international fora have been convened to discuss electronic commerce and the policy issues it raises, most notably the G7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society held in Brussels in February, 1995 and the Ministerial conference on Global Information Networks held in Bonn in July of this year. The OECD is building on this momentum both through the conference in Turku, Finland, “Dismantling the Barriers to Global Electronic Commerce,” and through a Ministerial-level conference scheduled for October 1998 in Ottawa, Canada, entitled “A Borderless World -- Realising the Potential of Global Electronic Commerce.” These Conferences have the following objectives:
- first, to identify major policy problems, their potential solutions and organisations able to develop and implement them;
- second, to take stock of the initiatives currently under way and contribute to ensuring consistency and effective co-ordination among them;
- third, to develop a consensus between business and government as to some of the guiding principles that will constitute a framework for electronic commerce policies.
The orchestration of this work could begin with the Turku Conference and be agreed and established in Ottawa
DISMANTLING THE BARRIERS TO GLOBAL ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
PART I
OECD-BIAC BUSINESS-GOVERNMENT FORUM
Turku, Finland, 19 November 1997
BACKGROUND
BIAC has organised the Business-Government Forum which constitutes the first day of the Conference on “Dismantling the Barriers to Global Electronic Commerce.”
In focusing on the subject of dismantling the barriers to global electronic commerce, the Business-Government Forum discussion is expected to enhance the understanding of what these barriers are; what they prevent business from doing; what solutions are recommended by business and what for business are the priorities for reducing the barriers both through regulatory reform and new business-led initiatives. It is anticipated that the “Business-Government Forum” format, within an agenda built around business needs and potentials, will enable a fruitful dialogue leading to a basis for agreement on principles upon which a policy framework for global electronic commerce chould be based.
Day 1: 19 November 1997
From 8:30: Registration
9:00-10:15: Welcome, Introduction and Keynote Addresses
Introduction by the Chair, Etienne Gorog, Vice President, IT Solutions Consulting, Europe, Middle East and Africa, IBM Corporation (and Chair BIAC Committee on Information, Computer and communications Policy)(*)
Key note speaker : Donald Johnston, Secretary General , OECD (*)
Key note speaker: Ira Magaziner, Special Advisor to the President, US (*)
Key note speaker: Takuma Yamamoto, Chairman of the Board, Fujitsu (*)
Key note speaker: Jorma Ollila, CEO, Nokia (*)
10:15-11:00: SESSION 1: WHAT ARE THE NEW NEEDS AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES (including question/answer session)
Chair: Chair, Etienne Gorog, Vice President, IT Solutions Consulting, Europe, Middle East and Africa, IBM Corporation (*)
The perspective of users/consumers
John Sacher, Executive Director, Marks & Spencer (*)
Advancing the public policy agenda
David Johnston, Chair of the Information Highway Advisory Council, Canada (*)
The need for a higher-level vision in electronic business
John B. Landry, Strategic Technology Consultant, Lotus (*)
11:00-11:30: Coffee Break
11:30-13:00: SESSION 2: THE SECTORAL PERSPECTIVE
(concurrent sessions)
Session 2a Finance And Insurance
Thomas Glück, CEO, Guide Dataconsult (*)
Guy Knight, Vice President, Charles Schwab, Inc. (*)
Jay Simmons, Senior Vice President, CertCo(*)
Alexander von Stülpnagel, Chair, Information Centre of Savings Banks (*)
(*) confirmed speaker
Session 2b: Manufacturing
Frederick Bystrand, Vice President, Information Systems, Asea Brown Boveri PTI, AG (*)
GE (invited by BIAC)
Hajime Kimura, General Manager, Integrated Information Technology Business Unit, Mitsubishi Corporation (*)
13:00-15:00: Lunch
15:00-15:15: Address by Antti Kalliomäki, Minister of Trade and Industry, Finland (*)
15:15-16:45: SESSION 3: THE SECTORAL PERSPECTIVE continued
(concurrent sessions)
Session 3a: Health Care
Helena Brus, Associate director, Economic and Health Care Policy, Merck & Co. Inc.; co-chair of the BIAC Working Group on Health Care (*)
Alain Sommer, Directeur administratif et financier, Groupe Clininvest; co-chair of the BIAC Working Group on Health Care (*)
Baxter (invited by BIAC)
Kodak (invited by BIAC)
Bill Poulos, Director, Security and Privacy EDS and US Chair, Committee on Electronic Commerce, Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (*)
Session 3b: Travel and Air Transportation
Alex Drobik, SITA Marketing Department (*)
Baumer, President and CEO, Amadeus Global Travel Distribution (*)
Terry Jones, CIO and Head of Sabre Interactive, Sabre/Travelocity (invited )
Session 3c: On-line and Retail Distribution
Ragnar Nilsson, Director and CIO, Karstadt AG (*)
Matti Honkala, Member of the Board, Kesko (invited by BIAC)
Alain Pierrot, E-comm director, Hachette Livre (Groupe Lagardere) (invited by BIAC)
Chris McCormick, Senior Vice-President, L.L. Bean (invited by BIAC)
Yves Bayart, Responsable Nouveaux Medias, 3 Suisses (invited by BIAC)
Alain Grange Cabane, Vice-President Directeur General, Union des Annonceurs; President, Commission Consommation, CNPF (invited by BIAC)
16:45-18:00: SESSION 4: SYNTHESIS: BUSINESS PRINCIPLES AND PRIORITIES FOR POLICY AND ACTION AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL (Plenary)
Chair, Etienne Gorog, Vice President, IT Solutions Consulting, Europe, Middle East and Africa, IBM Corporation (and Chair BIAC Committee on Information, Computer and Communications Policy)(*)
Reports from the Concurrent Sectoral Sessions
[what was decided about this, ask DE.]
Finance and Insurance
Manufacturing
Health Care
Travel and Air Transportation
On-line and Retail Distribution
Panel discussion on Principles
Vincenzo Damiani, CEO, Italy and Switzerland, European business development and strategic marketing director, Electronic Data Systems (EDS) (*)
Maria Livanos Cattaui, Secretary-General of International Chamber of Commerce (*)
Ira Magaziner, Special Advisor to the President, US (*)
Robert Verrue, Director General, DG XIII, European Commission (*)
The Chairman will introduce the BIAC paper “Declaration of Principles for Global Electronic Commerce”. On the basis of the discussion in preceding panels, which will identify barriers to electronic business in the context of various industry sectors and solutions recommended by business, the closing session is intended to develop a sense of how such principles might indicate areas where action is required in international public or private sector fora or, alternatively, whether governments might more appropriately refrain from action.
DOCUMENTATION
· BIAC “Declaration of Principles for Global Electronic Commerce”
(draft to be discussed by BIAC and OECD ICCP Committee 23 October)
· Report of the OECD ad hoc Group of High Level Private Sector Experts on Electronic Commerce (the “Sacher Group”) “Electronic Commerce: Opportunities and Challenges for Governments”, OECD, Paris, 1997.
PART II
Day 2. 20 November 1997
8:30: Registration
9:00: SESSION 5: INTRODUCTION: THE POTENTIAL OF
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
The promise of widespread electronic commerce is quickly becoming a reality. The exponential growth and diffusion of the Internet and other high-speed, interconnected global networks are providing new ways to conduct commercial transactions, generate new markets and revenue streams, lower transactional costs, and forge new relationships between businesses and consumers. Even the most pessimistic of analysts predict that the embryonic electronic commerce market of today will grow by a factor of 10 by the year 2000.
As global networks are developed, it is becoming apparent that an evaluation of the policy frameworks that support electronic transactions is required. Although in many cases, existing policies for traditional commerce remain appropriate in the electronic world, they may need updating. At a minimum, policy issues which are in need of attention may be grouped into four areas: ensuring access to the information infrastructure, building trust for service providers, users and consumers in electronic systems and transactions, establishing simple, predictable regulatory environments notably for taxes and tariffs, and easing logistical problems for payment and delivery, both for intangibles and physical goods.
Following the welcome by the President, and response by the Secretary General, two key note speakers will set the stage for the issue-oriented panel meetings; the chair will report on the findings of the Business-Government Forum of the preceding day in his opening remarks.
Conference Chair: Matti Vuoria, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Finland (*)
Speakers:
Welcome by Martti Ahtisaari, President of the Republic of Finland (*)
Response by Donald Johnston, Secretary-General of the OECD (*)
Report on the Business-Government Forum by the Chairman
Key note addresses by Hans-Olaf Henkel, President, Federation of German Industries (Invited)
and Katsusada Hirose, Director General, MITI, Japan (*).
10:30: Coffee
11:00: SESSION 6: ACCESS TO AND USE OF INFRASTRUCTURE
Ensuring unfettered access to electronic-commerce markets and services, both for buyers and sellers, is an essential element of realising the full potential of electronic commerce. This is especially important for small and medium sized firms and developing countries whose use of electronic commerce might reduce some of the disadvantages they currently experience. Barriers include regulatory restrictions that prevent non-discriminatory access to telecommunications markets and services, prohibitively high access prices that limit use and restrictions on the type of services and content that legally can be provided.
Session Chair: Richard C. Beaird, Head of the Bureau of International Communications and Information Policy, Department of State, U.S.; Chairman of the OECD ICCP Committee (*)
Speakers:
Esa Norhomaa, CEO, Aldata (*)
Masahito Tani, Director-General, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Japan (*)
Jan Kamminga, President, UEAPME (EC, invited)
Paul Jenkins, Senior Adviser, Electronic Commerce, BT (EC, invited)
Denis Tsu, Director of Internet and Electronic Commerce,Sun Microsystems (invited)
Jim Tobin, President, CEO, Bell Emergis (*)
13:00: Lunch: speaker: Commissioner Christos Papoutsis, European Commission (Energy and Euratom Supply Agency, Small Business, Tourism) (EC)
1430: SESSION 7: BUILDING USER AND CONSUMER TRUST
Electronic commerce provides users with considerable benefits in the form of increased choice, access to goods and services and a new medium for interaction with users and suppliers. However, businesses and consumers will not embrace electronic commerce until they have trust that their use of services on open networks are secure and reliable; that their transactions will be safe and private; that they will be able to prove the origin, receipt and integrity of the information they receive; that they can identify who they are dealing with; and that there are appropriate mechanisms available to them if something goes wrong. Among the issues to be treated are: security of the electronic environment and the use of cryptography; certification mechanisms; fraudulent and misleading conduct; user and consumer privacy and the use of personal data; consumer redress and international co-operation.
Session Chair: Eivind Jahren, Deputy Director General, Ministry of National Planning and Coordination, Norway(*)
Speakers:
Prof Thomas Falk, Vice President, Industriesförbundet (Federation of Swedish Industries) (*)
... speaker from W3C (* name to be confirmed)
William Fagan, Director, Office of Consumer Affairs Ireland (*)
Julian Edwards, Consumers International (invited)
Prof. Masao Horibe, Chuo University, Japan (*)
Renaud Sorieul, Administrator, UNCITRAL (*)
16:00 Coffee
16:20: SESSION 8: ESTABLISHING A SIMPLE, PREDICTABLE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT
A primary focus should be to develop an acceptable legal and regulatory environment by addressing the problem of disparate regulations by national governments in the global electronic environment; by updating or eliminating existing laws so that they are consistent with and conducive to the realities of electronic commerce; and by forging new mechanisms that clarify or eliminate laws that have been challenged by the new possibilities which electronic commerce presents. This session will deal with: income and consumption taxes, tariffs, liability, jurisdiction and settlement of disputes.
Session Chair: Jan Francke, Chair of the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (*)
Speakers:
Michael Carmody, Tax Commissioner, Australia (*)
Judith Scarabello, Assistant Director, External Tax, AT&T (*)
Renah Persofsky, President, CEO, Cebra Corp. (*)
Johan Helsingius, CEO, EUNet (*)
Donald Abelson, United States Trade Representative (to be confirmed)
Stewart Baker, Steptoe & Johnston (*)
17:45: Closing Remarks by the Conference Chairman
19:00 Evening Function, Turku Castle, participants welcomed by Martti Maenpää, Director General of TEKES
Dinner Speaker: Pasi Rutanen, Ambassador of Finland to the People’s Republic of China
Day 3. 21 November 1997
9:00: SESSION 9: ESTABLISHING PAYMENT SYSTEMS AND EASING LOGISTICAL PROBLEMS
The growth of electronic commerce, the efficiency of the markets it creates and its potential economic impact could be limited by a number of problems relating to two necessary elements of any commercial transaction: payment and delivery.
· Secure and simple electronic payment systems which function globally must be in place in order for electronic commerce to thrive.
· A different set of issues are posed by the need for efficient distribution channels, both where physical delivery of goods ordered electronically is required and where digital goods and services must be delivered in a timely way over crowded information networks. Among the subjects to be treated are: parcel delivery and customs procedures.
· Obstacles associated with standards, testing and certification should be identified and removed.
Session Chair: Stefano Micossi, Director General, DG III, European Commission
Speakers:
Dr. Jaap Kamp ABN AMRO (invited)
Andrew Konstantaras, Vice President, Counsel, VISA Intl. (invited)