Agreement on international co-operation with regard to the INTERNET
Draft French contribution to the preparatory work for the OECD ministerial conference
- 23 October 1996 -

PREAMBLE :

The States signatories to this Agreement, hereinafter referred to as the Signatories,

Having regard to the international nature of the INTERNET and of networks using modern communications technologies, hereinafter referred to as "networks",

Considering the necessity to lay down the principles governing co-operation between the Signatories in order to better apprehend the characteristics of these networks, to enhance their substantial potential, both at an economic and cultural level, and to combat illegal activities over them,

Anxious to set out for this purpose a number of principles of procedure to be approved by the Signatories,

Anxious to see the Signatories put in place, where appropriate, a regulatory framework to clarify and complete their national legal framework, and in accordance with the principle of transparency, exchange all information on this matter,

Desiring to establish a list of guiding principles to be used as the basis for drafting codes of conduct aimed in particular at guaranteeing the respect of human dignity, the protection of privacy and the improvement of consumer protection, as well as the security of financial transactions over the networks,

Resolved to develop their political and financial co-operation in order to prevent and suppress the use of networks for purposes contrary to the public order and public security of the States,

Have agreed as follows:

By signing this Agreement, the States shall set forth the principles of international co-operation aimed at taking into account the specificities and the inherently international nature of the Internet network.

This document comprises three parts.

First it lays down a number of principles approved by the Signatories: typology of the players, rules to be applied, principles concerning the liability of publishers and host service providers.

Secondly, it sets out a list of guidelines aimed in particular at guaranteeing the respect of basic ethical rules and improving consumer protection.

Finally, this document sets forth the principles of judicial and police co-operation between the Signatories.

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I. Principles

I.. Typology of the players

A. Operators

This means operators physically connected to the Internet, and which offer connection either to service providers or directly to users.

B. Access providers

These companies lease transmission capacity from operators connected to the Internet, and then resell it to users to enable them to have timely access to the Internet.

C. Content publishers

They create or produce content and provide value-added or information services to users.

D. Host Service Providers

They manage the server where data is stored, whether or not the data is produced by themselves.

I.. Rules to be applied

Each Signatory shall take the necessary provisions to ensure that the players under its jurisdiction comply with the provisions of national law when transmitting or disseminating content on the Internet.

I.. Accountability

When defining or calling into question the liability of the players present on the Internet, other than enforcing national legislation, the national authorities shall take into account the following factors:

• respect of freedom of expression as well as the secrecy of correspondence;
• preventive measures taken to enhance consumer protection and the respect of public order, by making available filtering software;
• the players' prior knowledge of illegal activities undertaken by third parties using their facilities and, where appropriate, the provisions adopted to suppress such activities;
• existence of injunctions or prior warnings issued by the national authorities;
• conformity with the international code of conduct mentioned below;
• technical and commercial capability to disconnect the services which do not conform to the regulation.

II. Co-operation and harmonisation

II.. National regulatory frameworks

The Signatories agree, where appropriate, to adopt regulatory provisions to clarify or complete their national legal frameworks applicable to the Internet.

Other than enforcing compliance with provisions concerning public security and public order, they shall endeavour in particular to ensure the effective application to the Internet of general provisions concerning:

1. Respect of human dignity;
2. Protection of privacy;
3. Consumer protection;
4. Protection of copyright.

II.. Principle of transparency

The Signatories agree to exchange all information on laws and regulations applicable to the Internet in the fields mentioned in II.. They shall in particular inform the other Signatories of any amendments to the aforementioned laws and regulations.

II.. Code of Conduct

Each Signatory shall agree to promote the establishment by economic players in the sector under their jurisdiction, on a voluntary basis, of a code of conduct, with the following guiding principles:

• Principle of respect of human dignity and of public order, in particular by making filtering software available to users, by designing classification systems or defining a corpus of key words;
• Principle of protection of privacy, by which the companies which sign the code of conduct agree in particular to process personal data in accordance with its declared purpose;
• Principle of truth and fairness, in particular with regard to the relations with users and competing companies;
• Principle of transparency, by which the companies which sign the code of conduct agree to report to the authorities designated by the States any illegal practice detected at national level;
• Principle of consumer protection, by virtue of which the companies which sign the code of conduct agree that the services they provide and advertise do not contain content which could be misleading to users by its ambiguous, elliptical, exaggerated or deceptive nature;
• Principle of protection of intellectual property rights, in particular for the allocation of NICs;
• Principle of the security of transactions.

II.. Approximation of national practices

The Signatories recognise that, due to the inherently international nature of the Internet network, its regulation poses problems which would benefit from a harmonised approach. They therefore agree to co-operate in order to approximate their national practices with regard to the Internet.

III. Judicial and police co-operation

The Signatories agree to co-operate in order to prevent and suppress any use of networks which contravenes public order and public security (in particular terrorism, drug trafficking, organised international crime) by:

• exchanging information and the experience gained in pursuing offenders, carrying out investigations and prosecuting them,
• developing international co-operation between law-enforcement authorities and with the competent international organisations,
• providing as broad-based judicial mutual assistance as possible.

© Secretary of State for industry - France