Monika Ermert

Monika Ermert

CETA: Ripe For Provisional Implementation In January 2018?

The European Commission on 8 July published the finalized Comprehensive Economic Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA) and formally proposed to Council to sign the agreement, pushing for provisional implementation amidst ongoing discussions over competency issues with EU member states. After finalising CETA in August 2014, the controversial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system was renegotiated last year.

National Parliaments Not Needed For CETA Approval, European Commission President Juncker Says

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said today that the European Union would not include national parliaments of EU member states in the final decision on the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA). Juncker's CETA statement was made during the post-Brexit meeting of EU heads of state in Brussels today (28 June), several German newspapers reported quoting the German News Agency (DPA).

OECD Ministerial On Internet Wraps Up: Openness A Concern

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) should not wait 8 or 10 years before its next Internet Ministerial, said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria at the closing session in Cancun Mexico yesterday. Gurria called for a faster pace for government and regulators to adapt to the digital markets. Better data on the data economy will help, as reflected in the new Cancun Declaration.

OECD Ministerial On Internet: Trust, But Whom?

Beware “digital protectionism.” That was one of the key messages of United States Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, speaking at the official opening of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial on the digital economy in Cancun, Mexico.

As OECD Gathers, Call For New Internet Social Compact – With Some Open Questions

On the eve of the third internet-related Ministerial Meeting of the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) starting on 22 June in Cancun, Mexico, the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG) published a think report on “One Internet.” Calling for a new “social compact” for the internet, the 140-page report that was fed by 50 research studies has a number of well-known recommendations, some surprisingly technical and some interesting ones.

NTIA, ICANN Tick Another Box On Way To IANA Transition

The United States Commerce Department National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today it found the proposal developed by the global internet multistakeholder community to fully privatise oversight over the central root zone of the internet domain name system (DNS) satisfactory.

EuroDIG 2016: Multi-Stakeholder Soul-Searching

Some 800 registered participants gathered for the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) in Brussels today to talk about internet privacy, security and access. Besides the topical issues, the opening sessions speakers came back time and again to the discrepancy of theory and practice of the much-belaboured “multi-stakeholder principle.”

Global Health In The Glare In G7 Final Resolutions; Trade Deals Promised For 2016

Reform of the WHO, support for the Contingency Fund for Emergency to enable swift initial responses by the WHO, and a special R&D and innovation chapter in the G7 Ise-Shima Vision for Global Health that does not include the word intellectual property are some of the notables after the G7 Summit closed today in Japan. Counting pages, Global Health and lessons from the recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks did receive the biggest attention. But the G7 would not be its old usual without considerable warnings and some concrete proposals how to fight global terrorism and violent extremism.

G7, In Japan, Put Their Heads Together Over Crises

Eight ministerial meetings have prepared a fat stack of paper, the “sherpas” have nearly concluded their work, and civil society once more has passed its own resolution on how they propose to tackle the most daunting global problems. Now it's time for the G7 leaders' roundtables – and the photo ops in Ise-Shima, Japan. For two days, the heads of state of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States will talk on trade, foreign policy, climate change and energy. And maybe some digital, R&D and intellectual property issues.