By Polly Raymond, 16 August 1999 00:30
NEWS The final agenda has been set for a global summit that will see businesses leading a path towards the development of sound global ecommerce policies and guidelines. The summit has been set up by a forum comprising leading IT companies and other industry multinationals called the Global Business Dialogue for Ecommerce (GBDe). Its members include top names from IT such as EDS, IBM and France Telecom, along with many leading lights from other industries including Deutsche Bank, Marks & Spencer and Time Warner. Bill Poulos, director of electronic commerce policy at EDS, who is also involved in steering the summit, said: "The main aim of the summit is to come together in a dialogue where industry leaders can communicate the business side of these issues." The discussion will centre around some of the key issues that have been plaguing the path of ecommerce in recent years, including tariffs and taxation, intellectual property rights and the protection of personal data. Business leaders are keen to point out their purpose is not to override legislation and policy development currently underway at the national level, although the group's Web site claims its origin lies in dissatisfaction over the "conflicting policies and patchwork regulations" offered by global administrations. Antoine Lefort, head of international communications at French utilities conglomerate, Vivendi, said: "The summit doesn't reflect a lack of confidence in governmental policy making in this area but shows how keen business is to contribute to the process." It's thought that the summit's conclusions will contribute towards global policy making, with the central message to be delivered on many of the policies likely to be less regulation rather than more. The full agenda can be seen early this week at the group's Web site http://www.gbd.org/conference/
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below