The European Commission last week set out its plans to avoid Europe becoming enmeshed in conflicting Internet regulations. It also moved to relax European Community data processing procurement rules that have so far hindered use of de facto Internet standards. The Commission’s proposed transparency mechanism requires national governments to notify the Commission whenever they plan new legislation regulating the Internet. They would be required to freeze any plans for three months, to give the Commission and other members time to comment. If objections arise, they could be asked to postpone the laws’ implementation. The Commission proposal, which needs to be agreed by ministers, comes at a time when separate European countries are start ing to introduce a smorgasbord of regulatory controls on Internet service and content providers. But rather than trying to impose some over-arching structure, the Commission has decided on this more pragmatic, co-ordinating role. European Community Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti told Reuters, It would simply be too early to regulate the Internet across the Community, however, it would create an obstacle to the internal market if member states were to do this in an unco-ordinated m anner. Of more immediate importance to equipment manufacturers going after lucrative government contracts will be the Commission’s determination to embrace the de facto world. Existing procurement rules have been wedded to formal Open Systems Inter connection standards, though numerous derogations mean that the requirements are often circumvented. The latest green paper says de facto standards are becoming increasingly important, opening the way to a refocusing of the regulations, as proposed by Industry Commissioner Martin Bangemann. The consultative green paper is at www.computerwire.com/mf/ref. htm. The Commission says that it will publish an action plan before the end of the year, based on comments from the relevant European Council of Ministers.
