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COMMISSION
OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES |
Brussels, XX.XX.2008
COM(2008) XXX final
2008/XXX
(COD)
Proposal for a
DIRECTIVE
OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
concerning the
EU Global Online Freedom Act
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Presented by: Jules Maaten (ALDE - Christofer Fjellner (EPP - Edward McMillan-Scott (EPP -
Paulo Casaca (PSE - Karin Riis Jorgensen (ALDE -
Henrik Lax (ALDE - Eva Lichtenberger (Verts - Frithjof Schmidt (Verts -
Germany) |
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
More and more authoritarian
states as Belarus, Burma, the People's Republic of China, Cuba, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Vietnam censor the internet by blocking websites and filtering
search results and intimidate internet users through 'cyber police' and obliged registration. As this constitutes a clear
violation of human rights under article 19 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, EU action needs to be undertaken, especially since European
companies are cooperating with authoritarian governments to restrict the access
of citizens to the provision of Internet and information society services.
Technology companies from
the
The European Union therefore
needs a directive on global online freedom and follow the American example
where legislators are working on a Global Online Freedom Act (GOFA). This European counterpart of the American
GOFA, the EU Global Online Freedom Act (EU - GOFA) must make sure that
The EU GOFA is a directive
which contains provisions on the promotion of global internet freedom, minimum
corporate standards for European companies who provide Internet and Information
society services and export controls and trade sanctions for
internet-restricting countries. The first 8 articles are on the promotion of
global internet freedom. Amongst others they state that it is EU policy to
promote global free speech on the internet and global free flow of information
and provide for the annual designation of Internet restricting countries
commissioned by the European Commission. They also provide for the
establishment of the Office of Global Internet Freedom (OGIF) as part of the
European External Action Service and designate 20 million euros for the
development and distribution of anti-censorship tools and services.
Articles 9 until 15 of this
directive are on minimum corporate standards for European Internet companies.
They contain provisions on the protection of EU and
The last four articles of
this directive (article 16, 17, 18 and 19) are on export controls, regulating
the export of products and services which could facilitate internet censorship and on the policy of
treating internet censorship as an international barrier to trade.
The European Union needs
legislation which will guarantee and promote the global freedom of the
internet. Human rights need also to be protected online.
2008/XXXX (COD)
Proposal
for a
DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
concerning the EU Global Online Freedom Act
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN
Having regard to the Treaty
establishing the European Community, and in particular
Article 95 thereof,
Having regard to the
proposal from the Commission 1,
Having regard to the
opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee 2,
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid
down in Article 251of the Treaty 3,
Whereas:
(1) Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are
fundamental human rights, and free use of the Internet is protected in Article
19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees freedom to
`receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of
frontiers'.
(2) The Internet has been a success because it quickly
provides information to approximately 1320 million users globally.
(3) The growth of the Internet and other information
technologies can be a force for democratic change if the information is not
subject to political censorship.
(4) The fight for freedom of expression has today largely shifted on-line
as the Internet has become a mean of expression of choice for political
dissidents, democracy activists, human rights defenders and independent
journalists worldwide.
(5) Access to the Internet can strengthen democracy and contribute to a
country's economic and social development and restricting such access is
incompatible with the right to freedom of expression.
(6) All actors in the Information Society should take appropriate actions
and preventive measures, as determined by law, against abusive uses of ICTs,
such as illegal and other acts motivated by racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia, and related intolerance, hatred, violence, all forms of child
abuse, including paedophilia and child pornography, and trafficking in, and
exploitation of, human beings.
(7) The annual Freedom House survey on 'Freedom in the World & Freedom
of the Press', findings from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and
the Open Net Initiative's findings brought together in the book 'Access Denied'
provide a detailed assessment of the extend of limitations to online freedom in
the world.
(8) According to Reporters Without Borders, authoritarian regimes and
governments have been working on ever more far-reaching methods of controlling
the Internet, chiefly using more and more sophisticated filtering technology
and surveillance of electronic communications and setting-up cyber-police.
(9) According to human rights organisations, a large number of
cyber-dissidents are detained in prison - most of them in China - including Hao
Wu, Chinese blogger and documentary filmmaker, Yang Zili, Chinese
cyber-dissident, Shi Tao, Chinese journalist at the daily Dangdai Shangbao,
Motjaba Saminejad, Iranian blogger, Mohammed Abbou, Tunisian lawyer, Pham Hong
Son, Vietnamese doctor and Habib Saleh,
Syrian online journalist; whereas the most recent cases concern the Egyptian
bloggers Mohamed Sharkawy and Karim Lel-shaer.
(10) The rapid provision of full and uncensored
information through the Internet has become a major industry of the European
Union, and an important part of its exports.
(11) Political censorship of the Internet degrades the
quality of that service and ultimately threatens the integrity and viability of
the industry itself, both in the European Union and abroad.
(12) Authoritarian foreign governments such as the
Governments of Belarus,
(13) Web sites that provide uncensored news and information,
such as the Web sites of the BBC, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty or Global
Voices, are routinely blocked in such countries.
(14) In June 2003, the Government of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam arrested, convicted of `spying', and sentenced to 13 years'
imprisonment and 3 years' house arrest (later reduced on appeal to 5 years'
imprisonment and 6 years' house arrest) Dr. Pham Hong Son after he translated
an Internet article titled `What is Democracy' from the Web site of the United
States Embassy in Vietnam.
(15) According to the US Department of State's Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices, the Government of Vietnam in 2004 tightened
control of the Internet, requiring Internet agents, such as cyber cafes, to
register the personal information of their customers and store records of
Internet sites visited by customers. The Vietnamese Government also monitored
electronic mail, searched for sensitive key words, and regulated Internet
content.
(16) Technology companies from Member States that operate
in countries controlled by authoritarian foreign governments have a
responsibility to uphold the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
(17) Technology companies from the
(18) Due to the current lack of self-regulation in the
European internet industry the possibility exists that European technology
companies will also succumb to the pressure by authoritarian foreign
governments to provide such governments with information about Internet users.
(19) Technology
companies from Member States have provided the technology and training to
authoritarian foreign governments to assist such governments in filtering and
blocking information that promotes democracy and freedom.
(20) Technology companies from Member States have
failed to develop standards by which they can conduct business with
authoritarian foreign governments while protecting human rights to freedom of
speech and freedom of expression.
(21) The European Union supports the universal right
to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
Definitions
In this Directive:
(1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF THE COUNCIL AND THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT- Except as otherwise provided in this Directive:, the term
`appropriate committees of the Council and the European Parliament' means--
(A) the General Affairs and External Relations Council
(GAERC) of the Council; and
(B) the Committees on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and the
sub-Committee on Human Rights (DROI) of the European Parliament.
(2) FOREIGN OFFICIAL-
(A) IN GENERAL- The term `foreign official' means--
(i) any officer or employee of a foreign government or
any department, agency, state-owned enterprise, or instrumentality thereof; or
(ii) any person acting in an official capacity for or
on behalf of any such government or department, agency, state-owned enterprise,
or instrumentality.
(B) STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISE- For purposes of
subparagraph (A), the term `state-owned enterprise' means a commercial entity
in which a foreign government owns, directly or indirectly, more than 50
percent of the outstanding capital stock or other beneficial interest in such
commercial entity.
(3) INTERNET- The term `Internet' means the
combination of computer facilities, telecommunications facilities,
electromagnetic transmission media, and related equipment and software,
comprising the interconnected worldwide network of computer networks that
employ the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol or any successor
protocol to transmit information.
(4) INTERNET CONTENT HOSTING SERVICE- The terms
`Internet content hosting service' and `content hosting service' means a
service that--
(A) stores, through electromagnetic or other means,
electronic data, including the content of web pages, electronic mail,
documents, images, audio and video files, online discussion boards, and
weblogs; and
(B) makes such data available via the Internet.
(5) INTERNET JAMMING- The term `Internet jamming'
means jamming, censoring, blocking, monitoring, or restricting access to the
Internet, or to content made available via the Internet, by using technologies
such as firewalls, filters, and `black boxes'.
(6) INTERNET-RESTRICTING COUNTRY- The term
`Internet-restricting country' means a country designated by the Council and
the European Parliament pursuant to article 7 of this Directive.
(7) INTERNET SEARCH ENGINE- The term `Internet search
engine' or `search engine' means a service made available via the Internet
that, on the basis of query consisting of terms, concepts, questions, or other
data input by a user, searches information available on the Internet and
returns to the user a means, such as a hyperlinked list of Uniform Resource
Identifiers, of locating, viewing, or downloading information or data available
on the Internet relating to that query.
(8) LEGITIMATE FOREIGN LAW ENFORCEMENT PURPOSES-
(A) IN GENERAL- The term `legitimate foreign law
enforcement purposes' means for purposes of enforcement, investigation, or
prosecution by a foreign official based on a publicly promulgated law of
reasonable specificity that proximately relates to the protection or promotion
of the health, safety, or morals of the citizens of that jurisdiction.
(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION- For purposes of this
Directive, the control, suppression, or punishment of peaceful expression of
political or religious opinion, which is protected by Article 19 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, does not constitute a
legitimate foreign law enforcement purpose.
(9) PROTECTED FILTER TERMS- The term `protected filter
terms' means the words, terms, and phrases identified by the Office of Global
Internet Freedom pursuant to article 6 of this Directive.
(10) SUBSTANTIAL RESTRICTIONS ON INTERNET FREEDOM- The
term `substantial restrictions on Internet freedom' means actions that restrict
or punish the free availability of information via the Internet for reasons
other than legitimate foreign law enforcement purposes, including--
(A) deliberately blocking, filtering, or censoring
information available via the Internet based on its peaceful political or religious
content; or
(B) persecuting, prosecuting, or otherwise punishing
an individual or group for posting or transmitting peaceful political or
religious opinions via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
(11) EUROPEAN BUSINESS- The term `European business'
means--
(A) any corporation, partnership, association,
joint-stock company, business trust, unincorporated organization, or sole
proprietorship that--
(i) has its principal place of business in a
(ii) is organized under the laws of a
(B) any foreign subsidiary of an entity described in
subparagraph (A) to the extent such entity--
(i) controls the voting shares or other equities of
the foreign subsidiary; or
(ii) authorizes, directs, controls, or participates in
acts carried out by the foreign subsidiary that are prohibited by this
Directive.
(12) MEMBER STATE-SUPPORTED CONTENT- The term `Member
State-supported content' means content that is created or developed, in whole
or in part, by a Member State-supported information entity.
(13) MEMBER STATE-SUPPORTED INFORMATION ENTITY- The
term `Member States-supported information entity' means--
(A) any authority of the Government of a
(B) any entity that--
(i) receives grants from the EU or
(ii) receives
grants or other similar funding from the EU or governments from Member States
to carry out any information dissemination activities.
(14) MEMBER STATE-SUPPORTED WEBSITE- The term `Member
State-supported website' means a location on the World Wide Web that is owned
or managed by, or is registered to, any Member State -supported information
entity.
Article 2
Severability
If any provision of this Directive, or the application
of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder
of this Directive, and the application of such provision to other persons not
similarly situated or to other circumstances, shall not be affected by such
invalidation.
Article 3
Statement of policy
It shall be the policy of the European Union--
(1) to promote the ability of all to access and
contribute information, ideas, and knowledge via the Internet and to advance
the right to receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers as a fundamental component of EU foreign policy;
(2) to use all instruments of EU influence, including
diplomacy, trade policy, and export controls, to support, promote, and
strengthen principles, practices, and values that promote the free flow of
information; and
(3) to prohibit any European businesses from
cooperating with officials of Internet-restricting countries in effecting the
political censorship of online content.
Article 4
Sense of the Council and the
European Parliament
It is the sense of the Council and the European
Parliament that--
(1) the European Commission should commence
negotiations in appropriate international fora, including the Organization of
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Council of Europe, the World
Trade Organization (WTO), the United Nations World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS), and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), to obtain the agreement
of other countries to enact legislation similar to this Directive and to pursue
the development of international agreements protecting Internet freedom; and
(2) to the extent that a European business empowers or
assists an authoritarian foreign government in its efforts to restrict online
access to the Web sites of Radio Free Europe or Radio Liberty, or other Member
State-supported Web sites and online access to Member State and EU Governmental
reports such as the EU Annual Report on Human Rights, that business is working
contrary to the foreign policy interests of the Member States and the European
Union, and is undercutting Member States and the European Union taxpayer-funded
efforts to promote freedom of information for all people, including those in
undemocratic and repressive societies.
Article 5
Annual country reports on
human rights practices
(a) EU Annual
Report on Human Rights shall contain the following new subsection:
(1) The report shall include an assessment of the
freedom of electronic information in each foreign country. Such assessment
shall include the following:
(A) An assessment of the general extent to which
Internet access is available to and used by citizens in that country.
(B) An assessment of the extent to which government
authorities in that country attempt to filter, censor, or otherwise block
Internet content, as well as a description of the means by which they attempt
to block such content.
(C) A description of known instances in which
government authorities in that country have persecuted, prosecuted, or
otherwise punished a person or group for the peaceful expression of political,
religious, or dissenting views via the Internet, including electronic mail.
(2) In compiling data and making assessments for the
purposes of paragraph (1), European diplomatic mission personnel shall consult
with human rights organizations as Freedom House and the Open Net Initiative
and other appropriate nongovernmental organizations and provide them with
necessary EU funding to research limitations to online freedom in the world.
(3) The report shall include an assessment of the
freedom of electronic information in each foreign country. Such assessment
shall include the following:
(A) An assessment of the general extent to which
Internet access is available to and used by citizens in that country.
(B) An assessment of the extent to which government
authorities in that country attempt to filter, censor, or otherwise block
Internet content, as well as a description of the means by which they attempt
to block such content.
(C) A description of known instances in which
government authorities in that country have persecuted, prosecuted, or
otherwise punished a person or group for the peaceful expression of political,
religious, or dissenting views via the Internet, including electronic mail.
(4) In compiling data and making assessments for the
purposes of paragraph (1), EU diplomatic mission personnel shall consult with
human rights organizations and other appropriate nongovernmental organizations.'.
Article 6
Office of global internet
freedom
(a)
Establishment- There is established as part of the European External Action
Service the Office of Global Internet Freedom (in this section referred to as
the `Office').
(b) Duties- In addition to such other responsibilities
as the Council and the European Parliament may assign, the Office shall--
(1) serve as the focal point for interagency efforts
to protect and promote freedom of electronic information abroad;
(2) develop and implement a global strategy to combat
state-sponsored and state-directed Internet jamming by authoritarian foreign
governments, and the intimidation and persecution by such governments of their
citizens who use the Internet;
(3) provide assistance to the Council and the European
Parliament in connection with the annual designation of Internet-restricting
countries required by article 7 of this Directive;
(4) beginning not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Directive--
(A) identify key words, terms, and phrases relating to
human rights, democracy, religious free exercise, and peaceful political
dissent, both in general and as specifically related to the particular context
and circumstances of each Internet-restricting country, for purposes of compliance
by European businesses with the requirements of article 10 of this Directive;
and
(B) maintain, update, and make publicly available on a
regular basis the key words, terms, and phrases identified pursuant to
subparagraph (A);
(5) establish mechanisms by which European businesses
can transmit to the Office the information required to be reported by article
11 and 13 of this Directive;
(6) work with appropriate technology companies
involved in providing, maintaining, or servicing the Internet, human rights
organizations, academic experts, and others to develop a voluntary code of
minimum corporate standards related to Internet freedom; and
(7) advise the appropriate committees of the Council
and the European Parliament of legislative action that may be necessary to keep
the provisions of this Directive and the amendments made by this Directive
relevant to changing technologies.
(c) Cooperation of Other Institutions and Agencies-
Each department and agency of the European Union and
(1) cooperate fully with, and assist in the
implementation of, the duties of the Office described in subsection (b), including
the strategy developed by the Office pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection
(b); and
(2) make such resources and information available to
the Office as is necessary to achieve the purposes of this Directive and the
amendments made by this Directive.
(d) Definition- In this section, the term `appropriate
committees of the Council and European Parliament' means--
(1) the General Affairs and External Relations Council
(GAERC) and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) of the Council;
and
(2) the Committees on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and the
Committee on International Trade (INTA) of the European Parliament
(e) Authorization of Appropriations- There are
authorized to be appropriated to the External Action Service to carry out this
section such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2009 and each subsequent
fiscal year.
Article 7
Annual designation of
internet-restricting countries; report
(a)
Designation-
(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Directive, and annually thereafter, the Council and
the European Parliament shall through a broad consultative process designate
Internet-restricting countries for purposes of this Directive.
(2) STANDARD- A foreign country shall be designated as
an Internet-restricting country if the Council and the European Parliament
determine that the government of the country is directly or indirectly
responsible for a systematic pattern of substantial unnecessary restrictions on
Internet freedom during the preceding one-year period.
(3) INITIAL DESIGNEES-
(A) IN GENERAL- Each of the countries specified in
subparagraph (B) shall be deemed to be designated as an Internet-restricting
country pursuant to paragraph (1) beginning on the date of the enactment of
this Directive and ending on the date on which the Office of Global Internet
Freedom certifies to the appropriate
committees of the Council and the European Parliament that the country involved
is no longer directly or indirectly responsible for a systematic pattern of
substantial restrictions on Internet freedom.
(B) COUNTRIES- The countries referred to in
subparagraph (A) are Belarus, Burma, the People's Republic of China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
(b) Report-
(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Directive, and annually thereafter, the Office of Global Internet
Freedom shall transmit to the
appropriate Council and Parliamentary committees a report that contains the
following:
(A) The name of each foreign country that at the time
of the transmission of the report is designated as an Internet-restricting
country pursuant to subsection (a).
(B) An identification of each government agency and
quasi-government organization responsible for the substantial restrictions on
Internet freedom in each foreign country designated as an Internet-restricting
country pursuant to subsection (a).
(C) A description of efforts by the EU institutions
and Member States to counter the substantial restrictions on Internet freedom
referred to in subparagraph (B).
(2) FORM- The information required by paragraph (1)(C)
of the report may be provided in a classified form if necessary.
(3) INTERNET AVAILABILITY- All unclassified portions
of the report shall be made publicly available on the Internet Web site of the
European Commission.
Article 8
Development and distribution
of anti-censorship tools and services
The European Commission shall allocate 20 million euros annually for the
development and distribution, including the training of users, of
anti-censorship tools and services. The funds are to be awarded competitively
to software developers to produce user-friendly internet technology programs
and protocols that enable widespread and secure internet use and which to an
absolute minimum decrease the speed of internet connections from end users in
countries where the Internet is now heavily censored, specially focussing on
countries which are designated as 'Internet restricting countries' as laid down
in article 7 of this directive.
Article 9
Protection of search engines
and content services
Any European business that creates, provides, or hosts
any Internet search engine or maintains an Internet content hosting service may
not locate, within a designated Internet-restricting country, any computer
hardware used to house, store, serve, or maintain files or other data involved
in providing such search engine or content hosting service.
Article 10
Integrity of search engines
Any European business that creates, provides, or hosts
any Internet search engine may not alter the operation of such search engine
with respect to protected filter terms either--
(1) at the request of, or by reason of any other
direct or indirect communication by, of a foreign official of an
Internet-restricting country; or
(2) in a manner intended or likely to produce
different search engine results for users accessing the search engine from
within an Internet-restricting country as compared to users elsewhere.
Article 11
Transparency regarding
search engine filtering
Any European business that creates, provides, or hosts
an Internet search engine shall provide the Office of Global Internet Freedom, in a format and with a frequency to be specified
by the Office, with all terms and parameters submitted, entered, or otherwise
provided by any foreign official of an Internet-restricting country, that are
used to filter, limit, or otherwise affect the results provided by the search
engine when used by other users.
Article 12
Protection of EU or Member
States-supported online content
A European business that maintains an Internet content
hosting service may not conduct Internet jamming of an EU or
Article 13
Transparency regarding
internet censorship
Any European business that maintains an Internet
content hosting service shall provide the Office of Global Internet Freedom, in a format and with a frequency to be
specified by the Office, with copies of all data and content that such business
has, at the request of, or by reason of any other direct or indirect
communication by, any foreign official of an Internet-restricting country--
(1) removed from the content hosting service of such
business;
(2) blocked from availability on the Internet; or
(3) blocked from transmission via the Internet into or
within an Internet-restricting country.
Article 14
Integrity of user
identifying information
(a) User
Protection- Any European business that maintains an Internet content hosting
service may not provide to any foreign official of an Internet-restricting
country information that personally identifies a particular user of such
content hosting service, except for legitimate foreign law enforcement
purposes.
(b) Private Right of Action- Any person aggrieved by a
violation of this section may bring an action for damages, including punitive
damages, or other appropriate relief in the appropriate courts of Member
States, without regard to the amount in controversy, and without regard to the
citizenship of the parties.
Article 15
Penalties
Member States are requested
to adopt a penalties scheme for all violations of provisions set by this
directive. Penalties should be divided in;
(a) Civil Penalties- (1) Any European business or
European person that violates article 14 subsection (a) should be subject to a
civil penalty.
(2) Any European business or European person that
violates article 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 should be subject to a civil penalty.
(b) Criminal Penalties-
(1) Any European business that willfully violates, or
willfully attempts to violate article 14 subsection (a) should be subject to a
penalty., or if a natural person who is an officer, director, employee, or
agent of a European business, or stockholder acting on behalf of such European
business, should be subject to a penalty.
(2) Any European business that willfully violates, or
willfully attempts to violate article 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 of this Act shall be
fined, or if a natural person who is an officer, director, employee, or agent
of a European business, or stockholder acting on behalf of such European business,
should be subject to a penalty
(3) Whenever a fine is imposed under paragraph (2)
upon any officer, director, employee, agent, or stockholder of a European
business, such fine should not be paid, directly or indirectly, by such
European business.
Article 16
Establishment of export
controls
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment
of this Directive, the Commissioner for Justice, Freedom, & Security, in
consultation with the Commissioner for External Trade, shall promulgate
regulations, including a human rights impact assessment, to ensure the
establishment of appropriate foreign policy control and export license
requirements before any person subject to the jurisdiction of the EU may
knowingly export any item to an end user in an Internet-restricting country for
the purpose, in whole or in part, of facilitating Internet censorship.
Article 17
Report
Not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Directive, the Commissioner for Justice, Freedom, &
Security, in consultation with the Commissioner for External Trade, shall
submit to the appropriate committees of the Council and the European Parliament
a report describing the actions taken to implement the requirements of article
16 of this Directive
Article 18
Internet censorship as an
international barrier to trade
Not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Directive the European Commission shall specifically deal with all
restrictions to the provision of Internet and information society services by
European companies in third countries as part of its external trade policy and
consider all unnecessary limitations to the provision of those services to be
trade barriers;
Article 19
International support
Not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Directive the European Commission shall commence negotiations
and gain support for this legislation in appropriate international fora,
including all bilateral trade negotiations, the Organization of Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), to
obtain the agreement of other countries to enact legislation similar to this
Directive and to pursue the development of international agreements on treating
all unnecessary limitations
to the provision of Internet and information society services in third
countries as barriers to trade;