International Telecommunication Union - World Conference On International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT-12)

World Conference On International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT-12)

The ITU will facilitate the The World Congress on International Telecommunications or WCIT, a treaty-level conference that addresses the international rules for telecommunications, including international tariffs. The previous conference to update the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) was held in Melbourne in 1988. The next conference will be held in Dubai in December 2012.

The treaty itself consists of ten articles and 73 reservations from various of the 111 initial signatory countries. It covers both inter-country communications as well as maritime communications, governing privileged and emergency communications, accounting for services, and exceptions for bilaterally agreed communications.

In August 2012, ITU called for a public consultation on a draft document ahead of the conference. The proposal would allow government restriction or blocking of information disseminated via the internet and create a global regime of monitoring internet communications - including the demand that those who send and receive information identify themselves.

It would also allow governments to shut down the internet if there is the belief that it may interfere in the internal affairs of other states or that information of a sensitive nature might be shared.

Telecommunications ministers from 193 countries will attend the conference.