Overview
The 2019 session of Council instructed the Secretary-General, in parallel, to submit to the next Council session (1) a report explaining how the ITU is currently utilizing the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) framework and (2) with the involvement of Member States, appropriate guidelines developed for utilization of the GCA by the ITU for Council's consideration and approval (C19/117, C19/58).
Pursuant to these instructions, the Draft Guidelines were formulated with the support of Chief Judge (Ret.) Stein Schjolberg (former HLEG Chair) and with the involvement of Member States, for consideration and approval by Council, following the procedure set out in the table below. It is important to note that this effort was not meant to and did not address matters related to the revision of the GCA.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of Council meetings, two Virtual Consultations of Councillors (VCC) were held at ITU in 2020,
from 9-12 June 2020 and 16-20 November 2020 respectively. However, since the Draft Guidelines and ITU
Secretariat Report were not on the agendas of these VCCs, the presentation of these documents
was postponed to VCC 2021 which took place from 8-18
June 2021.
Following VCC 2021, Council Member States noted the ITU Secretariat Report and, with respect to the Draft Guidelines, made a decision by correspondence "
to instruct the secretariat to conduct further consultations with Council Member States, taking into account the inputs received and the comments made at this meeting. The secretariat should bring back a revised document 71 for consideration and approval at the next session of the Council".
Accordingly, after conducting further consultations with Council Member States and taking into account the inputs received, the revised Draft Guidelines were posted as
Document 32, supported by Information Document
C22/INF 8, for consideration and approval at the March 2022 session of Council. Council approved the Guidelines for transmission to the 2022 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP 2022). PP 2022 noted the Guidelines and invited Council to consider proposals from Member States regarding the GCA, its current use and possible future elaboration.
Guidelines for utilization of the GCA: 
Guidelines for utilization of the GCA.pdf
Schedule for Preparation of the Draft Guidelines presented to Council 2021:
Pursuant to Circular Letter (CL-20/55), the revised schedule for preparation of the Guidelines is as follows:
9 April 2020
| A draft of the guidelines, prepared by ITU Secretary-General and based on the inputs received from Member States was posted online.
|
23 April 2020
| The First Online Open Consultation was held to discuss the draft of the guidelines and inputs received.
|
5 May 2020
| A revised version of the Draft Guidelines, taking into account the inputs received, was posted online.
|
15 February 2021
| Deadline for all interested WSIS stakeholders to provide written inputs on the revised version of the Draft Guidelines.
|
1 March 2021
| Second Online Open Consultation to be held to discuss the Draft Guidelines and inputs received.
|
10 March 2021
| Deadline for all Open Consultation participants to provide final written inputs and comments on the Draft Guidelines.
|
7 May 2021
| The final revised Draft Guidelines for utilization of the GCA by ITU, that takes into account the inputs received, to be posted online.
|
8-18 June 2021
| Draft Guidelines for utilization of the GCA to be presented to the 2021 physical session of the ITU Council for Council's consideration and approval, along with the ITU Secretariat report on how the ITU is currently utilizing the GCA.
|
Consultation Details for preparation of the Draft Guidelines presented to Council 2021:
Second Online Open Consultation on the Draft Guidelines for utilization of the GCA (1 March 2021, 13h00 - 14h30 CET):
In advance of the Second Online Open Consultation on the Draft Guidelines, all interested stakeholders were invited to submit their inputs on the latest version of the Draft Guidelines (5 May 2020) in writing to contributions@itu.int by 15 February 2021.
- Circular letter: The Circular Letter on the Second Online Open Consultation on the Draft Guidelines for utilization of the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) is available on the ITU Council website as Document CL-20/55.
- Meeting details: A second Online Open Consultation on the GCA Guidelines for all WSIS stakeholders was held on 1 March 2021 from 13h00 to 14h30 CET.
- Draft Guidelines: The revised version of the Draft Guidelines following the First Open Consultation and published on 5 May 2020 is available on the ITU Council website as Document C20/65.
- Inputs received: For all the inputs received for the development of the Draft Guidelines prior to and after the Consultation, please click here.
- Registered participants: For the list of registered participants, please click here: GCA Second Open Consultation Registration List.pdf
First Online Open Consultation on the draft Guidelines for utilization of the GCA (23 April 2020):
- Meeting details: The First Online Open Consultation was held for all WSIS stakeholders on 23 April 2020 from 13:00-14:30 CET to provide comments on the draft Guidelines.
- Inputs received: For all the inputs received from Member States for the development of the Draft Guidelines, please click here.
- Draft Guidelines: Taking into account the stakeholder feedback received, the revised version of the Draft Guidelines has been posted on the ITU Council website as Document C20/65.
- Registered participants: For the list of registered participants, please click here: GCA Open Consultation Registration List.pdf
- Summary: For the Brief Summary of the First Online Open Consultation prepared by the ITU Secretariat, please visit the ITU Council website for Document C20/INF/11
- Feedback received after the consultation: Feedback received from some stakeholder participants after the First Online Open Consultation is available here.
