Statement of the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards on the Continuation
of the Internet Governance Forum

Open standards are crucial towards the realization of many of the WSIS
principles, including Articles 4, 5, 24, 44, and 49(e).  Article 44
specifically talks about standardization as essential building block of
the Information Society.  Open Standards are also instrumental in
guaranteeing some rights which are not explicitly stated in the WSIS
Declaration of Principles.   For these to be realized through a
multi-stakeholder process, we believe that it is advisable that the
Internet Governance Forum be continued beyond its present five-year mandate.

Standards, although not created by legislatures, states or courts,
create regulatory structures that transcend international boundaries,
affect numerous public policy issues and impact developing countries and
many stakeholders who do not have an equal voice in their creation,
management or adoption.  The IGF affords these stakeholders a voice
through bodies such as the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS).
The work that the DCOS was formed to do has benefited greatly from this
openness, and through our discussions at IGF,  we were able to generate
valuable outputs, which we believe form an important part of the
knowledge bank available to policymakers, businesses, academics  and
civil society organisations.  In 2006 we produced came a set of
principles around open standards, which overcome the definitional
debates around open standards, and focus instead on use and effects of
open standards.  In 2008 we managed to build agreement around
procurement guidelines.  This year, 2009, we have taken the opportunity
to highlight all the important rights for whose realisation open
standards are essential, and thereby connecting with the work being done
by many of the other Dynamic Coalitions.  While we take this to be a
good start, there is much that still remains to be done in the area of
standardization towards the realization of the WSIS principles mentioned
above.

We advocate that the Internet Governance Forum continue in order to
ensure that the WSIS Declaration of Principles, specifically in the
important area of open standards, be realised through a
multi-stakeholder process.

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society
W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283