CSISAC Report: 70th OECD CDEP meetings

December 7, 2015

The CSISAC has participated in the meetings of the 70th OECD Committee for the Digital Economy (CDEP) and its working parties. The discussions at the meeting focused on the preparation of the 2016 Ministerial on the Digital Economy. In addition, the discussions included topics on privacy and security, communication infrastructure and services, and statistical exchange about measurement and indicators. This reports summarizes the contribution of CSISAC to this meeting.

CSISAC wants to thank Steering Committee members Marc Rotenberg from EPIC and Claire Milne for leading the task forces and attending the meetings, together with the CSISAC Liaison, and to all CSISAC members who have contributed to the preparation of the meeting. The Civil Society delegation benefited from the expertise of Dr. Deborah Peel, who attended the meetings of the OECD Health Committee, in the context of the Advisory Group for the OECD Health Data project.

2016 OECD Ministerial Meeting
The main outcome of the discussion was the decision to have a three day agenda, with a first day organized by the stakeholders, followed by two days of parallel panels. The proposed structure is consistent with the proposal of CSISAC to have parallel forums the first day, one for each one of the four stakeholders: business, labor, technical community and civil society.

As the formally recognised civil society advisory committee, CSISAC will organize the Civil Society Forum, introducing the opportunity for Civil Society participants to to evaluate the OECD implementation of the recommendations set in the Civil Society Seoul Declaration, to explore the implications of emerging ICT issues for human rights and social justice, and to set the civil society goals for the future OECD agenda. A Program Committee is being formed to help developing the program of the forum, to identify potential speakers and to coordinate the civil society papers. At the same time, the CSISAC Steering Committee is working to retrieve the necessary resources to ensure meaningful participation from civil society in the Forum with a focus on Latin America and the BRICs. All the information about the Civil Society Forum is kept updated in the 2016 CSISAC Forum site.

In addition to the Civil Society Forum, CSISAC is working to extend the civil society perspective to the Ministerial panels as well. This effort is being done in three concurrent streamlines of work:

• To foster a civil society perspective in the Ministerial Declaration. As it happened in the previous editions in 1998 and 2008, the 2016 edition of the OECD Ministerial is expected to summarize the conclusion of the discussions in the form of a declaration, chair statement, or similar outcome. Provided the deep and long lasting impact of the OECD recommendations, the work on the Ministerial declaration is among the highest priorities for CSISAC. As in the case of the other OECD recommendations, the Ministerial deliverable is the result of a consensus driven decision-making process developed together by the member states and the involved stakeholders. CSISAC is contributing to that process closely monitoring the discussion, submitting proposals and taking a part in the conversation about this topic.
• To foster a civil society perspective in the contents of the panels. As showed in the agenda, the OECD plans to structure the Ministerial discussions through a set of parallel panels about four main topics in the second and third day, with two panels per topic, and two topics per day. The first day will hold the panels on the Open Internet in parallel with those about Trust (security and privacy), having the panels on Global Connectivity running in parallel to those on Jobs and Skills in the last day. For each panel, the OECD will prepare a set of background documents and summaries to support the discussion in the panel. As the contents of those documents will drive the discussion, CSISAC is working to improve as much as possible the inclusion of the perspectives fostered by civil society participants in consistency with the Civil Society Seoul Declaration.
• To nominate Civil Society speakers for the panels. CSISAC thanks the opportunity to organize the Civil Society Forum the first day of the Ministerial, but CSISAC believes that the participation of Civil Society cannot be restrained to the Forum only. As 'the voice of Civil Society at the OECD', the CSISAC is fostering the inclusion of leaders of non-governmental organizations and experts from civil society as speakers in the ministerial panels. As a preparation for this meeting, CSISAC submitted a proposal of potential speakers to be considered by the OECD. During this meeting, the CSISAC was working to extend the presence of Civil Society focusing on women and a more activist profile, as well as in fostering a more balanced regional participation.

Organisational Issues
On the organisational side, the CDEP started the discussion about the 2017-2018 Program of Work and Budget. The contents of this proposals are expected to be coordinated with the outcomes of the Ministerial. The CSISAC offered remarks stressing the importance of having meaningful metrics and indicators, consistent with the discussion on trust at the MADE, and expressed interest in joining the efforts to propose research projects in that direction. In addition, the Committee approved the appointements for th CDEP Bureau.

About CSISAC and the OECD
The CSISAC is the voice of civil society at the OECD Committee on the Digital Economy Policy. We facilitate the exchange of information between the OECD and civil society participants, leading to better-informed and more widely accepted policy frameworks. The formal recognition of this Advisory Committee by the OECD was the result of an effort initiated in the 1990s decade to promote participation parity in the global policy-making. Today, the CSISAC is the main venue to channel the participation of civil society in the OECD work on the digital economy.

You can learn more about CSISAC visiting csisac.org, or sending your question to the CSISAC Liaison

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