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Dear all,<br>
<br>
I am pleased to announce that I was informed today of the formal
approval of the Dynamic Coalition on Trade and the Internet. Based
on your feedback, the mission description and action plan of the
Dynamic Coalition were modified slightly. The current versions
(though they remain open to amendment based on our experiences) are
as follows:<br>
<br>
Many Internet governance issues that are discussed at the IGF are
also the subject of rulemaking through bilateral, plurilateral and
multilateral trade agreements. The purpose of this Dynamic Coalition
is to provide an interface for the exchange of information and best
practices between the negotiators of these trade agreements and the
bodies in which they work, and the Internet Governance Forum and its
multi-stakeholder community. This information exchange will be both
substantive (that is, concerning particular Internet public policy
issues) and also procedural (that is, about how Internet public
policy can be developed in a transparent and inclusive way).<br>
<br>
Our provisional 2017 action plan is:<br>
<ol>
<li>To publish a background paper describing the major trade
agreements that are in place or under negotiation, as well as
the venues where this takes place, and identifying the key
Internet governance issues that are the subject of such
agreements and negotiations.</li>
<li>To develop a multi-stakeholder approach to facilitating the
transparency and inclusiveness in international trade
negotiations and the domestic consultation processes.</li>
<li>To build a network of representatives from trade institutions
and delegations for liaison with our Dynamic Coalition and the
broader IGF community.</li>
<li>To hold our inaugural meeting at the 2017 IGF in Geneva to
present our outputs to the IGF community.</li>
</ol>
This action plan has been transferred into the platform at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://opendigital.trade/projects/dc-trade">https://opendigital.trade/projects/dc-trade</a> where there is an
activity tracker. Information on how this works will follow in a
later message.<br>
<br>
<b>A note on the relationship between this and other
projects/networks on Internet and trade</b><br>
<br>
For those who are not aware, opendigital.trade also hosts a private
group called the Open Digital Trade Network that is dealing with the
same topics as this Dynamic Coalition. The projects of the Open
Digital Trade Network will not be visible to you unless you are a
member. The main difference between the two is that the Dynamic
Coalition is fully multi-stakeholder and its mailing list is open
and public.<br>
<br>
If you are not a member of the Open Digital Trade Network, you
should not be worried about missing out as we will be sharing public
information between its projects and the Dynamic Coalition, and
endeavouring to avoid any duplication. Participants from the
Dynamic Coalition who wish to join the Open Digital Trade Network
can do so on application, with a reference from one of the existing
participants.<br>
<br>
More soon!<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Jeremy Malcolm
Senior Global Policy Analyst
Electronic Frontier Foundation
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://eff.org">https://eff.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jmalcolm@eff.org">jmalcolm@eff.org</a>
Tel: 415.436.9333 ext 161
:: Defending Your Rights in the Digital World ::
Public key: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.eff.org/files/2016/11/27/key_jmalcolm.txt">https://www.eff.org/files/2016/11/27/key_jmalcolm.txt</a>
PGP fingerprint: 75D2 4C0D 35EA EA2F 8CA8 8F79 4911 EC4A EDDF 1122</pre>
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