EXPLANATORY NOTES

Symbols used in the Final Acts

The symbols given in the margin indicate changes adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), and have the following meaning:

ADD =      addition of a new decision, resolution

MOD =      modification of an existing decision, resolution

SUP =      abrogation of an existing resolution

Numbering of decisions and resolutions

Decisions and resolutions newly adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) have been numbered to start from the next number following the last number used at the Plenipotentiary Conference (Dubai, 2018). Decisions and resolutions revised by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) retain the same number as before, followed by "(Rev. Bucharest, 2022)".

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List of countries in French alphabetical order giving the number(s) of their
declarations:

Albania (Republic of) (20)

Algeria (People's Democratic Republic of) (50, 61, 86)

Germany (Federal Republic of) (13, 20, 28, 65, 77)

Saudi Arabia (Kingdom of) (49, 50, 61)

Argentine Republic (41)

Australia (20, 24, 28, 77, 88)

Austria (13, 20, 28, 77)

Azerbaijan (Republic of) (36, 77)

Bahrain (Kingdom of) (61, 67)

Belarus (Republic of) (26, 80)

Belgium (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Botswana (Republic of) (84)

Brunei Darussalam (23)

Bulgaria (Republic of) (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Burkina Faso (14)

Cameroon (Republic of) (45)

Canada (11, 20, 28, 30, 72, 88)

China (People's Republic of) (44)

Cyprus (Republic of) (7, 13, 20, 28, 77)

Vatican City State (2)

Colombia (Republic of) (19)

Korea (Republic of) (63)

Côte d'Ivoire (Republic of) (82)

Croatia (Republic of) (13, 20, 28, 77)

Cuba (70)

Denmark (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Dominican (Republic of) (76)

Egypt (Arab Republic of) (32, 61)

El Salvador (Republic of) (12)

United Arab Emirates (61, 68)

Ecuador (20)

Spain (13, 20, 28, 37, 77)

Estonia (Republic of) (13, 20, 28, 77)

United States of America (20, 28, 47, 77, 83, 88)

Russian Federation (26, 38, 81)

Finland (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

France (13, 20, 28, 77)

Georgia (1, 20)

Greece (13, 20, 28, 77)

Guatemala (Republic of) (88)

Hungary (8, 13, 20, 28, 77)

India (Republic of) (42)

Indonesia (Republic of) (5)

Iran (Islamic Republic of) (51, 52, 56)

Iraq (Republic of) (43, 50, 61)

Ireland (13, 20, 28, 88)

Iceland (18, 20, 28, 77)

Israel (State of) (20, 55, 75)

Italy (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Jamaica (16)

Japan (20, 28, 40, 77)

Jordan (Hashemite Kingdom of) (9, 61)

Kazakhstan (Republic of) (26)

Kenya (Republic of) (60)

Kuwait (State of) (29, 50, 61)

Latvia (Republic of) (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Lebanon (39, 50, 61)

Liechtenstein (Principality of) (18, 20, 77)

Lithuania (Republic of) (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Luxembourg (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Malaysia (10, 50)

Malta (13, 20, 22, 28, 77, 88)

Morocco (Kingdom of) (15, 61)

Mexico (3)

Monaco (Principality of) (20, 28, 77)

Nigeria (Federal Republic of the) (78)

Norway (18, 20, 28, 74, 77, 88)

New Zealand (6, 20, 77, 87)

Oman (Sultanate of) (50, 57, 58, 59, 61)

Uzbekistan (Republic of) (26)

Papua New Guinea (66)

Paraguay (Republic of) (4)

Netherlands (Kingdom of the) (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Peru (20)

Philippines (Republic of the) (64)

Poland (Republic of) (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Portugal (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Qatar (state of) (50, 61)

Republic of Türkiye (69, 77)

Slovak Republic (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Czech Republic (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Romania (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (20, 25, 28, 73, 77, 88, 89)

Singapore (Republic of) (17)

Slovenia (Republic of) (13, 20, 28, 77, 79, 88)

Sudan (Republic of the) (31, 61)

South Sudan (Republic of) (53)

South Africa (Republic of) (62)

Sweden (13, 20, 28, 77, 88)

Switzerland (Confederation of) (20, 77)

Tajikistan (Republic of) (26)

Tanzania (United Republic of) (33)

Thailand (71)

Togolese Republic (85)

Trinidad and Tobago (27)

Tunisia (48, 50, 61)

Ukraine (20, 35, 88)

Uruguay (Eastern Republic of) (34)

Vanuatu (Republic of) (46)

Viet Nam (Socialist Republic of) (21)

Yemen (Republic of) (50, 61)

Zimbabwe (Republic of) (54)

PART I – DECISIONS

DECISION 5 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Revenue and expenses for the Union for the period 2024-2027

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027, including the strategic goals, thematic priorities and product and service offerings of the Union, pursuant to Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference;

b) Resolution 91 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on general principles for cost recovery;

c) Resolution 191 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on strategy for the coordination of efforts among the three Sectors of the Union and enhancing coordination and collaboration among the three Bureaux and the General Secretariat, with a view to avoiding internal duplication of effort and optimizing the use of resources,

considering further

a) that, in the consideration of the draft financial plan for the Union for 2024-2027, the challenge to use the Union's resources efficiently in order to achieve the strategic goals and thematic priorities in the strategic plan and increase revenues in support of programme demands is substantial;

b) the need to link strategic, financial and operational planning in ITU,

noting

Resolution 151 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on improvement of results-based management in ITU, an important component of which relates to planning, programming, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, and the implementation of which should facilitate further strengthening of the management system of the Union, including financial management,

noting further

that Resolution 48 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference stresses the importance of management and development of the human resources of the Union for the fulfilment of its strategic goals, thematic priorities and product and service offerings,

decides

1 that the ITU Council is authorized to draw up the two biennial budgets of the Union in such a way that the total expenses of the General Secretariat and the three Sectors of the Union are balanced by the anticipated revenue, on the basis of Annex 1 to this decision, taking into account the following:

1.1 that the amount of the contributory unit of Member States for the years 2024-2027 shall remain unchanged at CHF 318 000;

1.2 that expenses for interpretation, translation and text processing in respect of the official languages of the Union shall not exceed CHF 85 million for the years 2024-2027;

1.3 that, when adopting the biennial budgets of the Union, the Council may decide to give the Secretary-General the possibility, in order to meet unanticipated demand, to increase the budget for products or services which are subject to cost recovery, within the limit of the revenue from cost recovery for that activity;

1.4 that, in preparing the biennial budgets of the Union, the allocation of resources among the General Secretariat and the three Sectors should take into account the importance of funding activities carried out in accordance with the thematic priorities of the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027, especially those related to the use of the radio-frequency spectrum, and relevant rules for its implementation;

1.5 that the Council shall each year review the revenue and expenses in the budget, the different activities and the related expenses, as well as key financial indicators relevant for the Union;

1.6 that the Council shall take measures to maintain at the appropriate level all types of reserve funds of ITU intended to ensure the Union's business continuity;

2 that, if no plenipotentiary conference is held in 2026, the Council shall establish the biennial budgets of the Union for 2028-2029 and 2030-2031 and thereafter, having first obtained approval for the budgeted annual values of the contributory unit from a majority of the Member States of the Union;

3 that the Council may authorize expenses exceeding the budget for conferences, meetings and seminars if such expenses can be compensated by savings from previous years or charged to the following year, subject to compliance with the provisions of the ITU Financial Regulations and Financial Rules;

4 that the Council shall, during each budgetary period and with the support of the secretariat, assess the changes that have taken place and the changes likely to take place in the current and coming budgetary periods under the following items:

4.1 salary scales, pension contributions and allowances, including post adjustments, established by the United Nations common system and applicable to the staff employed by the Union;

4.2 the exchange rate between the Swiss franc and the United States dollar insofar as this affects the staff costs for those staff members on United Nations salary scales;

4.3 the purchasing power of the Swiss franc in respect of non-staff items of expenses;

4.4 the interest rate applicable to ITU accounts;

5 that the Council shall have the task of effecting every possible economy, in particular taking into account the measures for enhancing efficiency in the use of available financial resources and reducing expenses contained in Annex 2 to this decision, and considering the possible funding gaps, and that it shall establish the lowest possible detailed balanced budget commensurate with the needs of the Union, taking into account the requirements established by decides 1 above;

6 that the following minimum guidelines should be applied in relation to any reductions in expenses with a view to ensuring the Union's business continuity and performance:

6.1 the financial control functions of the Union should continue to be maintained at a strong and effective level;

6.2 there should be no reductions in expenses which would affect cost-recovery revenue and in funding activities directly linked to the implementation of the Radio Regulations and associated studies;

6.3 fixed costs related to the reimbursement of loans shall not be reduced;

6.4 fixed costs related to after-service health insurance (ASHI) should be maintained at a level consistent with decisions taken by other organizations in the United Nations common system of salaries and benefits;

6.5 expenses in regular maintenance costs for ITU buildings which would be required to ensure the security and health of staff should be optimized;

6.6 the information services function in the Union should be maintained at an effective level, including by ensuring that the ITU website is properly maintained in view of the provisions of Resolution 154 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on use of the six official languages of the Union on an equal footing;

7 that the Council shall aim in all circumstances to keep the Reserve Account at a level above 6 per cent of total annual expenses,

instructs the Secretary-General, with the assistance of the Coordination Committee

1 to prepare draft balanced biennial budgets for the years 2024-2025 and 2026-2027, on the basis of the associated guidelines in decides above, the annexes to this decision and all relevant documents submitted to the Plenipotentiary Conference;

2 to draw up and implement a programme of appropriate revenue increases, cost efficiencies and reductions across all ITU operations so as to ensure a balanced budget;

3 to implement the aforementioned programme as soon as possible,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to provide to the Council, no less than seven weeks before its 2023 and 2025 ordinary sessions, complete and accurate data as needed for the development, consideration and establishment of a balanced biennial budget;

2 to implement, monitor and propose improvements to the risk-management policy, comprising all elements of the systematic and comprehensive risk-management and accountability frameworks, and to report annually to the Council;

3 to make every effort to achieve balanced biennial budgets, and to bring to the attention of the membership, through the Council Working Group on financial and human resources (CWG-FHR), any of its decisions that may have a financial impact likely to affect the achievement of such a balance, and to report annually to the Council;

4 to ensure coherence between the financial plan, the strategic plan, the operational plans and the biennial budgets in the pursuit of the Union's statutory activities;

5 to develop an ITU-wide financial resource mobilization strategy to address the need for additional funding to meet organizational priorities and present it to the Council for review and guidance on its implementation,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to provide to the Council, on an annual basis, a report on ITU budget implementation for the previous year and anticipated implementation of the ITU budget for the current year and outlining savings achieved through the implementation of each item in Annex 2 to this decision;

2 to make the necessary efforts to achieve reductions through a culture of efficiency and economy and to include the savings actually achieved within the overall approved budgets in the above report to the Council;

3 to include in the above report to the Council a report on extrabudgetary activities and related expenses,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to review and approve the balanced biennial budgets for 2024-2025 and 2026-2027, giving due consideration to the associated guidelines in decides above, the annexes to this decision and all relevant documents submitted to the Plenipotentiary Conference;

2 to authorize the Secretary-General, in accordance with Article 27 of the current Financial Regulations and Financial Rules, in the event that a surplus is achieved during budget implementation, to prioritize allocating an appropriate amount to the ASHI Fund, with a view to keeping the ASHI Fund at a sustainable level;

3 to authorize the Secretary-General, in the event that a surplus is achieved during budget implementation, to allocate an appropriate amount to the New Building Project Fund and/or the Risk Register Fund for the new building, subject to approval by the Council, to finance costs that cannot be financed through the loan agreement concluded with the host country;

4 to consider further appropriations in the event that additional sources of revenue are identified or savings achieved;

5 to examine programmes aimed at increasing revenues, enhancing efficiency in the use of financial resources and reducing the costs of ITU drawn up by the Secretary-General with the assistance of the Coordination Committee;

6 to take account of the impact of any cost-reduction programme on the staff of the Union, and to implement without delay, and preferably as of early 2023 at the latest, a voluntary separation and early retirement scheme, funded to the extent possible by budgetary surplus, but also through a withdrawal from the Reserve Account, for an amount up to but not exceeding CHF 6 million;

7 in considering measures that could be adopted to strengthen control of the finances of the Union, to take into account the financial impact of such issues as ASHI funding and the medium- to long-term maintenance and/or replacement of buildings at the premises of the Union;

8 to invite the external auditor, the Independent Management Advisory Committee and CWG-FHR to continue to develop recommendations to ensure greater financial control of the finances of the Union, taking into account, inter alia, the issues identified in instructs the ITU Council 7 above;

9 to consider the reports relating to the matter, and report to the next plenipotentiary conference, as appropriate,

invites the ITU Council

to fix, to the extent practicable, the preliminary amount of the contributory unit for the period 2028-2031 at its 2025 ordinary session,

invites Member States

to announce their provisional class of contribution for the period 2028-2031 before the end of the calendar year 2025.

ANNEX 1 TO DECISION 5 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Table 1

Financial plan for the Union for 2024-2027 – Revenue and expenses

Table 2

CHF (000)

ANNEX 2 TO DECISION 5 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Measures for improving ITU's efficiency and reducing its expenses

1) Regular assessment of the level of achievement of the strategic goals and thematic priorities with a view to increasing efficiency through budget reallocation, when necessary.

2) Member States, Sector Members and other ITU members taking all possible measures to settle/eliminate arrears to the Union.

3) Identification and elimination of all forms and instances of duplication of functions and activities between all ITU structural bodies and measures. Coordination, harmonization and closer cooperation among the Sectors, including optimization of management methods, logistics, coordination and support by the secretariat as well as centralization of finance and administrative tasks.

4) Coordination and harmonization of all seminars, workshops and cross-Sector activities by the secretariat's Inter-Sectoral Coordination Task Force (ISC-TF) in order to avoid duplication of topics, to optimize management, logistics, coordination and secretariat support and to benefit from synergy between the Sectors and a holistic approach to the subjects covered.

5) Enhanced efficiency in respect of the regional presence, including regional and area offices, in implementing the strategic goals and thematic priorities of ITU as a whole, including in the use of local experts and local networks of contacts and resources. Maximum coordination of activities with regional organizations in the rational use of existing financial and human resources, including savings on travel costs and costs associated with the planning and organization of events held outside Geneva.

6) Rational use of staff and savings from attrition, redeployment of staff and review and possible reduction of grades of vacant posts, in particular in non-sensitive parts of the General Secretariat and the three Bureaux and where there is no increased risk of a drop in performance, in order to reach optimal levels of productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

7) Prioritizing staff redeployment for the implementation of new or additional activities. New hiring should be the last option, while taking into account gender balance, geographical distribution and new skill requirements.

8) The use of consultants should only occur when the relevant skills or experience cannot be found among existing staff and after confirmation of this requirement in writing by senior management.

9) Upgrading the capacity-building policy to qualify staff, including staff in regional and area offices, for multi-Sector proficiency, in order to improve staff mobility and their flexibility for redeployment to new or additional activities.

10) Reduction by the General Secretariat and the three Sectors of the Union of the cost of documentation by, among other measures, conducting paperless conferences and meetings of all kinds and at all levels; encouraging staff to avoid printing of e-mails and documents; reducing the archiving of additional paper documentation; pursuing initiatives aimed at making ITU a fully paperless organization; and fostering the adoption of innovative information and communication technology (ICT) solutions as viable and sustainable substitutes for paper, without any significant decrease in the quality of the information provided to event participants or to ITU staff in the course of their day-to-day work.

11) Reducing to the absolute minimum necessary the printing and distribution of ITU promotional/non-revenue-generating publications, including by using the ITU website to its fullest potential, in line with the provisions of Resolution 154 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of the Plenipotentiary Conference.

12) Implementation of practicable measures for making savings in the provision of interpretation and the translation of ITU documents, including minimizing the length of documents, and in the preparation of publications for events of all kinds and at all levels, without prejudice to the goals of Resolution 154 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022), as well as through optimization of resource use in the language services, including the use of alternative translation procedures, while maintaining translation quality and the accuracy of telecommunication/ICT terminology.

13) Increasing the efficiency of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) programme activities and activities aimed at achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, consistent with the financial plan and the biennial budget and, as appropriate, through cost recovery and voluntary contributions, in accordance with the ITU Financial Regulations and Financial Rules. Participation by the regional and area offices, in collaboration with other United Nations agencies, in WSIS activities being carried out at the regional level.

14) Optimization of the number and duration of meetings, and holding such meetings with the aid of telecommunication/ICT capabilities. Reduction of the number of groups to the minimum necessary through their restructuring and/or termination of their work in the absence of any outcomes and/or where there is duplication of activities, while avoiding any risk, in particular, of failure to fulfil the strategic and operational goals and objectives of the Union.

15) For new activities or those having additional financial resource implications, a "value-added" assessment shall be made and implemented in order to improve efficiency and to avoid overlap and duplication.

16) Sound consideration of the size of, location of and resources allocated to regional initiatives, outputs and assistance to members; the regional presence, both in the regions and at headquarters; as well as those actions resulting from the outcome of the World Telecommunication Development Conference and the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector action plan, and financed directly as activities from the Sector budget.

17) Reduction of the cost of travel on duty, by developing and implementing criteria in order to reduce travel costs. The criteria should consider and aim at minimizing business travel, as far as possible, by prioritizing the allocation of staff from the regional and area offices, by limiting time on mission, through joint representation in meetings, and by rationalizing the number of staff sent on mission from various departments/divisions of the General Secretariat and the three Bureaux.

18) Appeals to Member States to reduce to a reasonable number the issues raised in order to save on the amount of time devoted to their consideration at all conferences, assemblies and other meetings, and to make broader use of interregional discussions during the preparatory process with a view to a greater alignment of positions.

19) Continued implementation by the Union of the comprehensive plan to improve the stability and predictability of the financial base of the Union, mobilizing the necessary resources and, inter alia, improving the management of internal corporate projects requiring significant long-term investments.

20) Optimization of expenses related to maintenance, routine repair and renovation/reconstruction of the ITU buildings and facilities and to the provision of safety in accordance with applicable United Nations system standards.

21) Increased use of virtual meetings and remote participation in physical meetings in order to reduce and/or eliminate travel to meetings being held interactively online and, preferably, captioned, with interpretation where necessary, including remote presentation of documents and contributions.

22) Use of innovative cross-cutting means and working methods for improving the effectiveness of the Union's activities.

23) Discontinuing to the greatest extent possible communications by fax and traditional postal mail between the Union and Member States, and replacing them with modern electronic communication methods.

24) Continuing the efforts to simplify, harmonize or eliminate, as appropriate, internal administrative processes, for subsequent digitalization and automation.

25) Consideration of further sharing of some common services with other United Nations organizations, and implementation of such sharing where beneficial to the Union.

26) Appeals to Member States, to the extent possible, with the support of the secretariat, to include in their proposals to ITU conferences an annex with relevant information in order to allow the Secretary-General/Directors of the Bureaux to identify the probable financial implications of such proposals in order to comply with Article 34 of the ITU Convention, on financial responsibilities of conferences.

27) Any additional measures adopted by the Council and the ITU management, including measures to increase the efficiency of the internal audit function, institutionalize evaluation functions, assess and minimize the risk of fraud and other risks, implement external auditor, internal auditor, Independent Management Advisory Committee and United Nations Joint Inspection Unit recommendations within the required time-frame for implementation of the strategic and financial plans of the Union.

DECISION 11 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Creation and management of Council working groups

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) that the purposes of the Union are set out in Article 1 of the ITU Constitution;

b) that Article 7 of the Constitution states that the ITU Council acts on behalf of the Plenipotentiary Conference;

c) that Article 10 of the Constitution states that, in the interval between plenipotentiary conferences, the Council shall act, as governing body of the Union, on behalf of the Plenipotentiary Conference within the limits of the powers delegated to it by the latter;

d) that Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027, identifies key issues, goals, strategies and priorities for the Union;

e) that the Council creates Council working groups (CWGs) in order to prepare recommendations regarding its activities;

f) that Annex 2 to Decision 5 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on options for reducing expenses, includes, inter alia, reduction of the number of CWGs to the absolute minimum necessary and reduction, to the extent possible, of the number and duration of physical meetings of CWGs;

g) Resolution 70 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on mainstreaming a gender perspective in ITU and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through telecommunications/information and communication technologies,

considering further

a) that the current Council and CWG schedule has caused considerable strain on Member State and Sector Member resources;

b) the growing demands placed on the activities of the Union and the limited resources available from Member States and Sector Members;

c) that there is an urgent need to seek innovative ways to rationalize internal costs, optimize resources and improve efficiency,

recognizing

that the Council has consistently appointed competent and qualified candidates for the leadership of CWGs, but that there remains a need to further promote and enhance equitable geographical distribution and gender balance,

decides

1 that the decision to create, continue or terminate CWGs is taken by the Plenipotentiary Conference or by the Council, as appropriate;

2 that the Council shall decide to create CWGs based on decisions of the Plenipotentiary Conference and/or for resolving key issues, achieving goals and implementing strategies and priorities identified in Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022)[1];

3 that the Council shall decide on the CWG mandates and working procedures consistent with the Rules of Procedure of the Council;

4 that the Council shall examine CWG activities, including progress on the implementation of their mandates, taking into account the decisions of the Plenipotentiary Conference;

5 that, based on the results of the review carried out in accordance with decides 4 above, the Council shall:

i) maintain, terminate or establish CWGs; and

ii) modify or establish the terms of reference (ToRs) of CWGs,

as appropriate, and in accordance with relevant decisions of the Plenipotentiary Conference, as applicable;

6 that the Council shall decide on the leadership of CWGs, taking into account recognizing above, with a view to promoting and enhancing, inter alia, equitable geographical distribution and gender balance;

7 that the Council, when creating a CWG and defining the ToRs in line with decides 3 above, shall avoid duplication of activities among CWGs, as well as between CWGs and study groups, advisory groups and other groups of the ITU Sectors;

8 that CWG chairmen and vice-chairmen can serve up to two successive terms of office where a term of office is the interval between two consecutive plenipotentiary conferences, that a period in office in one CWG does not count towards a period in office in another CWG, and that steps shall be taken to provide some continuity between CWG chairmen and vice-chairmen;

9 that if a CWG chairman is unable to remain in office, a new chairman shall, as a rule, be appointed from among the current vice-chairmen of that CWG, in which case the "partial" term of office shall not be taken into account in any appointment for the subsequent term;

10 that, to the extent possible, the Council shall merge existing CWGs with a view to reducing their number and the number and duration of their meetings, and with the aim of avoiding duplication of effort, and minimizing budgetary impacts;

11 that, to the extent possible, the Council shall integrate CWG meetings into the agenda and time allocation of the annual sessions of the Council;

12 that, if it is not possible to fulfil decides 11 above, the meetings of various CWGs shall be collocated in order to hold them in sequence or back to back in a cluster;

13 that meetings of CWGs shall not be held during major conferences and assemblies of the Union, or during meetings of the Sector advisory groups;

14 that the Council, at its ordinary session before the plenipotentiary conference, shall consider the four-year reports of CWGs and submit recommendations to the plenipotentiary conference on the need to maintain, modify, terminate or establish CWGs for the next period.

[1] Taking into account the decisions of the Plenipotentiary Conference.

PART II – RESOLUTIONS

RESOLUTION 2 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

World telecommunication/information and communication technology policy forum

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) relevant resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA);

b) the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) outcomes and the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS beyond 2015, which were adopted at the ITU coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event (Geneva, 2014), based on the Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform process, together with other United Nations agencies and inclusive of all WSIS stakeholders, were endorsed by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) and were submitted to the UNGA overall review on the implementation of WSIS outcomes;

c) Resolution 77 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on scheduling and duration of conferences, forums, assemblies and Council sessions of the Union for the following period;

d) that the telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) environment has undergone considerable changes under the combined influence of advances in technology, the globalization of markets and growing user demand for integrated cross-border services increasingly adapted to their needs;

e) that restructuring of the telecommunication/ICT sector, especially the separation of regulatory and operating functions, the liberalization of services and the continuing appearance of new regulatory players, is possible in the majority of ITU Member States;

f) that new and rapidly developing and emerging telecommunications/ICTs and services hold incredible promise for the advancement of human welfare;

g) that there remains a pressing need for a global framework to exchange information and best practices on telecommunication and ICT strategies and policies;

h) that national telecommunication/ICT policies and regulations have to be recognized and understood, so as to allow the development of global markets which can support the harmonious development of telecommunication/ICT services and technologies;

i) the important contributions provided by Member States and Sector Members to previous world telecommunication/ICT policy forums (WTPFs), and their preparatory process, and the results achieved by those forums,

conscious

a) that the purposes of the Union are, inter alia, to promote, at international level, the adoption of a broader approach to the issues of telecommunications/ICTs in the global information economy and society, to promote the extension of the benefits of the new telecommunication technologies to all the world's inhabitants and to harmonize the actions of Member States and Sector Members in the attainment of those ends (see the WSIS outcomes);

b) of the importance of enhancing international cooperation to strengthen collaborative efforts among the ITU membership, other United Nations agencies and committees, and international and regional organizations to address challenges across the telecommunication/ICT sector in the implementation of the WSIS outcomes and with the objective of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals;

c) that ITU remains uniquely positioned and is the single forum for the coordination of, exchange of information on, discussion of and harmonization of national, regional and international telecommunication/ICT strategies and policies;

d) that WTPF, which was established by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994) and successfully convened in 1996, 1998, 2001, 2009, 2013 and 2021, has provided a venue for discussion of global and cross-sectoral issues by high-level participants, thus contributing to the advancement of world telecommunications/ICTs, as well as to the establishment of procedures for the conduct of the forum itself;

e) that WTPF-21 was held virtually, under the difficult circumstances caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, from 16 to 18 December 2021, and was a successful edition of these forums, attended by Member States, Sector Members and other stakeholders, including ministers and deputy ministers as well as several heads of regulatory agencies,

emphasizing

a) that Member States and Sector Members, realizing the need for constant review of their own telecommunication/ICT policies and legislation, and for coordination in the rapidly changing telecommunication/ICT environment, adopted WTPF as a mechanism for discussing strategies and telecommunication/ICT policies;

b) that it is necessary for the Union, as the United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications/ICTs with its leading and unique role in the field of telecommunications/ICTs, to continue organizing WTPF to facilitate the exchange of views and information by high-level participants on telecommunication/ICT policies;

c) that the purpose of WTPF is to provide a venue for exchanging views and information and thereby creating a shared vision among policy-makers worldwide on challenges and opportunities arising from the new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies, and to consider any other policy issue in telecommunications/ICTs which would benefit from a global exchange of views, in addition to the adoption of opinions reflecting common viewpoints;

d) that WTPF should continue to give special attention to the interests and needs of the developing countries[1], where new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies can contribute significantly to telecommunication/ICT infrastructure development;

e) the continuing need for allowing adequate preparation time for WTPF;

f) the importance of regional preparation and consultation prior to convening WTPF;

g) that the discussion of issues relating to emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies benefits from the participation of all interested stakeholders, in their respective roles,

resolves

1 to hold WTPF preferably back to back with the WSIS Forum, taking account of the need to ensure adequate preparation by Member States;

2 that WTPF, as established by Resolution 2 (Kyoto, 1994) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, shall be maintained, in order to continue discussing and exchanging views and information on telecommunication/ICT policy and regulatory matters, including those related to opportunities and pressing challenges arising from the new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies, especially on global and cross-sectoral issues;

3 that WTPF shall not produce prescriptive regulatory outcomes; however, it shall prepare reports and adopt opinions by consensus for consideration by Member States, Sector Members and relevant ITU meetings;

4 to share the reports and adopted opinions with relevant United Nations agencies and committees and international and regional organizations for their information;

5 that WTPF shall be open to all Member States and Sector Members; however, if appropriate, by decision of a majority of the representatives of Member States, a special session may be held for Member States only;

6 that WTPF shall be convened to respond quickly to policy issues arising from the telecommunication/ICT environment, taking into account the past practices followed and experience acquired by ITU in the holding of previous WTPFs;

7 that WTPF should be convened within existing budgetary resources and, as far as possible, in conjunction with one of the meetings or forums of the Union in order to minimize the impact on the budget of the Union;

8 that the ITU Council shall continue to decide on the duration and the date, allowing ample time for preparations, and on the venue, the agenda and the themes of WTPF;

9 that the agenda and themes shall continue to be based on a report by the Secretary-General, including input from any conference, assembly or meeting of the Union, and on contributions from Member States and Sector Members, taking into account the past practices followed and experience acquired by ITU, including in respect of the preparatory process, in the holding of previous WTPFs;

10 that, in order to ensure that they are well focused, discussions at WTPF shall be based solely on a single report by the Secretary-General, and contributions from participants based on that report, prepared in accordance with a procedure adopted by the Council and based on the proposals of Member States and Sector Members, and on the views of Associates, Academia and stakeholders, and WTPF shall not consider drafts of any new opinions that were not presented during the preparatory period foreseen for drawing up the Secretary-General's report prior to the forum;

11 that broad participation in WTPF and operational efficiency during the forum shall be facilitated,

instructs the Secretary-General

to make the necessary preparations for convening WTPF based on resolves above,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to continue to decide on the duration, date, venue, agenda and themes of any future WTPF;

2 to adopt a procedure for preparation of the report by the Secretary-General referred to in resolves 9 above;

3 that the procedure referred to in instructs the ITU Council 2 should include, as appropriate, participation open to all Member States and Sector Members, and online public consultations open to all interested stakeholders, taking into account the past practices followed and experience acquired by ITU, including in respect of the preparatory process, in the holding of previous WTPFs,

further instructs the ITU Council

to submit to the next plenipotentiary conference a report on WTPF for any necessary action.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 21 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Measures concerning alternative calling procedures
on international telecommunication networks

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recognizing

a) Resolution 20 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), on procedures for allocation and management of international telecommunication numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources;

b) Resolution 29 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on alternative calling procedures on international telecommunication networks;

c) Resolution 22 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, on alternative calling procedures on international telecommunication networks and identification of origin in providing international telecommunication services;

d) Resolution 61 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on countering and combating misappropriation and misuse of international telecommunication numbering resources;

e) Resolution 65 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on calling party number (CPN) delivery, calling line identification (CLI) and origin identification (OI) information;

f) that each Member State has the sovereign right to allow or prohibit certain forms of alternative calling procedures in order to address their impact on its national telecommunication networks;

g) the interests of developing countries[1];

h) the interests of consumers and users of telecommunication services;

i) the need of some Member States to identify the origin of calls, consistent with their national requirements, including protection of consumer rights, taking into account the relevant ITU recommendations;

j) that some forms of alternative calling procedures may have an impact on quality of service (QoS), quality of experience (QoE) and the performance of telecommunication networks;

k) the benefits of competition in delivering lower costs and choice to consumers;

l) that there is a myriad of different stakeholders impacted by alternative calling procedures;

m) that the understanding of what is an alternative calling procedure has evolved over time, and how alternative calling procedures can serve persons with specific needs;

n) that some forms of alternative calling procedures, which route voice traffic outside standard international calling and charging mechanisms, are highly used in telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) markets;

o) that alternative calling procedures have transformed the economies of both developed and developing countries, and need collaboration between multiple Member States and Sector Members, which should be strongly recommended;

p) ongoing studies and existing recommendations on call bypass within the relevant ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) study groups, particularly Study Groups 2 and 3,

considering

a) that the use of some alternative calling procedures may adversely affect the economies of developing countries and may seriously hamper the efforts made by those countries to ensure the sound development of their telecommunication/ICT networks and services;

b) that some forms of alternative calling procedures may have an impact on traffic management, network planning and the quality and performance of telecommunication networks;

c) that the use of certain alternative calling procedures that are not harmful to networks may contribute to competition in the interests of consumers;

d) that some alternative calling procedures may have an impact on consumers;

e) that national approaches could promote competition, consumer protection, consumer benefits, dynamic innovation, sustainable investment and infrastructure development, accessibility and affordability in relation to the global growth of alternative calling procedures;

f) that a number of relevant ITU-T recommendations, particularly those of ITU-T Study Groups 2 and 3, address, from several points of view, including technical and financial, the effects of alternative calling procedures on the performance and development of telecommunication networks,

aware

a) that ITU-T has concluded that certain alternative calling procedures such as constant calling (or bombardment or polling) and answer suppression seriously degrade the quality and the performance of the telecommunication networks;

b) that appropriate ITU-T study groups and ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) study groups are cooperating on issues related to alternative calling procedures and telecommunication origin identification,

resolves

1 to continue work to identify and describe all forms of alternative calling procedures and assess their impact on all parties, in order to review or develop as needed relevant ITU-T recommendations to address any negative effects that alternative calling procedures have on all parties;

2 to encourage administrations and operating agencies authorized by Member States to take the appropriate measures to provide an acceptable level of QoS and QoE, to ensure the delivery of international CPN, CLI and OI information, wherever possible, and consistent with national law, and to ensure the appropriate charging taking into account the relevant ITU recommendations;

3 to develop guidelines for administrations and operating agencies authorized by Member States on the measures that can be considered, within the constraints of their national laws, to address the impact of alternative calling procedures;

4 to request the appropriate ITU-T study groups, particularly Study Groups 2 and 3, and ITU-D Study Group 1, through contributions of Member States and Sector Members, to continue to study, within their respective mandates:

i) alternative calling procedures, based on resolves 1, in order to update or develop as needed relevant ITU-T recommendations regarding service definition, and their impact;

ii) issues related to CPN, OI, CLI and call bypass and their impact, in order to take into account the importance of these studies as they relate to next-generation networks and network degradation;

iii) countering, combating and addressing fraudulent activities due to number misappropriation and misuse of alternative calling procedures;

iv) operational aspects of interworking between traditional telecommunication networks and evolving and emerging telecommunication/ICT architectures, capabilities, technologies, applications and services;

5 to encourage ITU-T Study Group 12 to develop recommendations and guidelines regarding the minimum QoS and QoE requirements for alternative calling procedures in accordance with its mandate,

instructs the Directors of the Telecommunication Development Bureau and the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to collaborate on further studies, based on contributions from Member States, Sector Members and other members, in order to evaluate the effects of alternative calling procedures on consumers, the effect on countries with economies in transition, developing countries and especially least developed countries, for sound development of their local telecommunication networks and services in respect of originating and terminating calls using alternative calling procedures;

2 to develop guidelines for Member States and Sector Members with regard to all aspects of alternative calling procedures, based on resolves 1, 4 and 5 above;

3 to evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested guidelines for consultation on alternative calling procedures;

4 to collaborate so as to avoid overlap and duplication of effort in studying issues related to different forms of alternative calling procedures,

invites Member States

1 to encourage their administrations and operating agencies authorized by Member States to implement the ITU-T recommendations referred to in considering f) in order to limit the negative effects that, in some cases, certain types of alternative calling procedures have on developing countries, as well as the impact on consumers;

2 which permit the use of alternative calling procedures on their territory in accordance with their national regulations to pay due regard to the decisions of other administrations and operating agencies authorized by Member States whose regulations do not permit such alternative calling procedures;

3 to cooperate to resolve difficulties in order to ensure that national laws and regulations of ITU Member States are respected;

4 to consider national legal and regulatory frameworks that support alternative calling procedures which aim to maintain acceptable levels of QoS and QoE that consumers may choose, and to ensure the delivery of international CLI and OI information, at least to the destination operating agency, taking into account recognizing h) and k) and considering c) and d) above;

5 to contribute to this work,

invites Sector Members

1 in their international operations, to pay due regard to the decisions of other administrations whose regulations do not permit such alternative calling procedures;

2 to contribute to this work.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 25 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Strengthening the ITU regional presence

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) the benefits of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the need to promote their greater availability for all, in particular in developing countries[1];

b) that the development of national and regional telecommunication/ICT infrastructures assists in narrowing the national and global digital divides and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals;

c) the efforts of the ITU Member States to promote access to telecommunications/ICTs at affordable prices, with special attention to the most disadvantaged, including people in vulnerable situations and in remote and hard-to-reach areas,

considering further

a) the relevant provisions of Article 1 and Article 21 of the ITU Constitution and Article 5 of the ITU Convention;

b) the relevant resolutions and decisions of this conference on the strategic, financial and human resources plans for the Union for 2024-2027 and related matters, including, among others, Resolution 157 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on strengthening of the project execution and monitoring functions in ITU, and Resolution 135 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on ITU's role in the durable and sustainable development of telecommunications/ICTs, in providing technical assistance and advice to developing countries and in implementing relevant national, regional and interregional projects;

c) relevant resolutions and decisions of the main conferences and assemblies of the three Sectors of ITU on enhanced participation by developing countries in the activities of the Union, strengthening the regional presence in the work of the study groups, and bridging the standardization gap between developing and developed countries;

d) relevant ITU Council decisions on the regional presence regarding, inter alia, the report by an external company on review of ITU's regional presence (2020);

e) reports of the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), which made recommendations to improve the ITU regional presence and highlighted the need to mainstream regional presence in the strategic plan for the Union and to appropriately cascade it down into the operational plans of each Sector in order to achieve "One ITU",

noting with appreciation

a) the efforts of ITU to implement United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions, in support of United Nations operational activities to promote development and assist Member States in their activities to implement UNGA Resolutions 70/1, on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and 70/125, on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society;

b) relevant UNGA resolutions on reaffirming the role and functions of the United Nations development system at the regional level and the need to continue to make it fit for purpose in supporting, inter alia, the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action of the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the Quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, recognizing the specificities of each region;

c) that the Inter-Sectoral Coordination Task Force, led by the ITU Deputy Secretary-General, was established to enhance coordination and collaboration among the three Bureaux and the General Secretariat, with a view to avoiding internal duplication of effort and optimizing the use of resources;

d) the efforts of the Inter-Sector Coordination Group on issues of mutual interest, which is composed of representatives from the three advisory groups, in identifying subjects of common interest and mechanisms to enhance collaboration and cooperation;

e) the work being carried out by the Ad Hoc Group of the Council Working Group on financial and human resources (CWG-FHR) on the regional presence review, especially its recommendation to produce and publish a regional presence dashboard so as to allow the membership to access the status of the work plan;

f) the adoption of the ITU Accountability Framework, established to further strengthen accountability mechanisms within the Union,

noting with concern

a) the external auditor's special reports and documents of the Working Group on internal controls, presented to the Council in 2019-2022, recommending actions for more effective management to strengthen internal controls across ITU in order to avoid fraud in the future;

b) the need to improve the number and distribution of staff members at regional and area offices, by duty station and by category,

recognizing

a) the difficulty faced by many countries, particularly developing countries with stringent budgetary constraints, in participating in the activities of ITU;

b) that regional and area offices are an extension of ITU as a whole;

c) that ITU's capacity to hold fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation, as provided for by Resolution 167 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, contributes to reinforcing the effectiveness of the Union's activities, including project implementation as set forth in Resolution 157 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference,

convinced

a) that the regional presence enables ITU to work as closely as possible with its membership, serving as a channel for executing programmes, projects and activities, disseminating information on the Union's activities, developing closer ties with regional and subregional organizations and providing technical assistance to countries with specific needs;

b) the importance of collaboration between the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR), the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) and the General Secretariat in order to promote and improve the work of the regional and area offices and mainstream the "One ITU" concept, to serve the membership;

c) that the regional and area offices enable ITU to be more aware of and more responsive to the priorities and specific needs of the regions;

d) that activities within the framework of the regional presence system are based on principles derived from the criteria of coherence, relevance, control, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability;

e) that both the Plenipotentiary Conference and the Council have endorsed the principle that regional and area offices should be entrusted with clear and specific functions, and that, to be effective, the regional presence must have the necessary level of authority to meet the diverse requirements of the membership;

f) that resources are limited, and that efficiency and effectiveness are therefore key considerations for activities to be undertaken by ITU, as well as of the need to consolidate the technical expertise and knowledge of the human resources assigned to regional and area offices, to represent the three ITU Sectors;

g) that adequate online access between headquarters and the regional and area offices significantly enhances technical cooperation activities;

h) that all regional and area offices should have access to the same relevant electronic information available at headquarters, in order to be able to keep the countries of the region informed;

i) that full engagement and commitment from the regional and area offices is fundamental for the successful implementation of the strategic plan for the Union, the operational plans of the three Sectors and General Secretariat, and the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) action plan,

noting

a) that the role of the ITU regional and area offices is to assist countries in the regions in many areas, such as in execution of and follow-up to projects, including ones related to the regional initiatives, bridging the standardization gap, capacity building related to frequency management, updating the regions on ITU activities and strengthening collaboration with regional telecommunication organizations;

b) that there should be greater cooperation and coordination among the three Bureaux and the General Secretariat in order to encourage participation by the regional and area offices in their respective spheres;

c) that there is a need for ongoing evaluation of the resourcing requirement, including staff, for regional and area offices to deliver on their agreed mandates,

noting also

a) that regional and area offices represent the entire Union, that their activities should be linked to ITU headquarters and should reflect the coordinated objectives of all three Sectors and the General Secretariat, and that regional activities should enhance the effective participation of all members in ITU work;

b) the recruitment of United Nations coordination officers in the ITU regional offices, preparing strategies and deepening and expanding coordination with United Nations resident coordinator's offices, the United Nations Development Coordination Office and United Nations country teams, which lead ITU to better engage in the reform of the United Nations development system, and, in particular, contribute to development of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework at country level;

c) that regional and area offices, in performing their respective functions, should seek to avoid duplication of activities and efforts, and maximize efficiency and optimize human and financial resources,

resolves

1 to continue to strengthen the functions of the regional and area offices so that they can play an important role in implementation of the ITU strategic plan, programmes and projects, and the regional initiatives set out in the Kigali Action Plan, pursuant to Resolution 17 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), within available resources, including those allocated by the financial plan and from other relevant sources such as voluntary contributions and sponsorships;

2 that regional and area offices play a key role in facilitating discussions on regional matters and the dissemination of information and results of activities of all three Sectors of the Union and the General Secretariat, while avoiding the duplication of such functions with headquarters;

3 that the regional and area offices should continue to strengthen their relations with regional and subregional telecommunication organizations and with United Nations organizations, through ongoing cooperation, to stimulate the mutual exchange of experience and assistance with the implementation of the ITU regional initiatives and other activities;

4 that the regional and area offices shall be empowered to make decisions within their mandate, while the coordination functions and the balance between ITU headquarters and the regional and area offices should be facilitated and improved;

5 that the regional and area offices should contribute to the annual four-year rolling operational plans of the General Secretariat and of the three Sectors, with content specific to each regional and area office, linked to the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027 and the Kigali Action Plan, then set up and continue to publish the annual plan/events on the ITU website for implementation;

6 that regional and area offices shall actively engage in the implementation of the strategic plan for the Union;

7 that regional and area offices shall actively engage in the implementation of the Kigali Action Plan, in particular with respect to the thematic priorities and their respective outcomes, outputs and regional initiatives consistent with the overarching ITU strategic plan;

8 that the regional and area offices shall actively engage in the realization of the outcomes identified in the Kigali Action Plan and shall engage in development of the related key performance indicators by the Telecommunication Development Advisory Group;

9 to foster improved collaboration between the ITU regional and area offices, relevant regional organizations, United Nations agencies and other international organizations dealing with telecommunication development and financial matters, in the interests of optimizing the use of resources and avoiding duplication, and that Member States should be kept updated, through BDT, where necessary, in order to ensure that their needs are being met in a coordinated and consultative fashion;

10 that the regional and area offices shall be fully involved in the organization of all ITU events/meetings/conferences, in close collaboration with the General Secretariat, the relevant Bureau(x) and the regional organizations, taking into consideration the priorities identified by the membership in the regions, in order to increase efficiency in the coordination of such events, avoid duplication of events/topics and derive benefit from synergy between the Bureaux and regional and area offices;

11 that, for the effective performance of their duties, regional and area offices must have sufficient human and financial resources, within the resources allocated by the financial plan, including the technological platforms to hold fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation and utilize electronic working methods, and also to disseminate relevant information through the various existing electronic tools to their respective Member States;

12 that the strategic goals and thematic priorities identified in the strategic plan for the Union, along with the four-year rolling operational plans of the General Secretariat and the three Sectors, shall be used to review the regional presence, and, where regional and area offices do not meet the agreed review criteria, the Council should assess the reasons and take the necessary corrective actions that it considers appropriate, in consultation with the countries concerned;

13 that, to promote the participation of developing countries in ITU activities, delegates of any developing countries which have made input contributions to ITU events can be eligible for a fellowship if the related budget allows;

14 to strive to increase human and financial resources in regional and area offices for the implementation, inter alia, of regional initiatives, to the extent practicable, within the limits of budgetary resources,

further resolves

1 whenever requested by the Council, but at least once in the interval between two plenipotentiary conferences, to review the ITU regional presence;

2 that regional and area offices need to pay greater attention to LDCs, develop per-country assessments and action plans in terms of telecommunication/ICT development and report to the Council, as part of the overall regional presence report;

3 that regional and area offices shall regularly provide reports to the Sector advisory groups, as appropriate, and inform the Directors of BR, TSB and BDT on regional activities related to their respective Sectors,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to continue including an item on strengthening of the regional presence on the agenda of each ordinary session of the Council in order to examine its evolution and adopt decisions for its continuing structural adaptation and operation, with the aim of fully implementing the mandate and the objectives of the strategic and financial plans for the Union through the coordination and complementary aspects of activities between ITU and regional and subregional telecommunication organizations;

2 to take into account the requirements of the Union's membership and give effect to the decisions adopted at conferences and assemblies of the Union, bearing in mind instructs the ITU Council 4 below;

3 to allocate the appropriate human and financial resources within the financial limits established by the Plenipotentiary Conference to implement this resolution;

4 to report to the next plenipotentiary conference on the progress made in implementing this resolution, taking into account the implementation of relevant JIU reports and recommendations of CWG-FHR, the external and internal auditors, the Independent Management Advisory Committee and the Working Group on internal controls, and Ethics Office reports, among others, including the results of the review of the regional presence referred to in further resolves 1 with a view to strengthening the regional presence;

5 to ensure the effective performance of regional and area offices based on the annual report of the Secretary-General, the results of the satisfaction survey conducted by the Secretary-General, the regular review by the Council, the implementation of the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027 and the implementation of the four-year rolling operational plans of the General Secretariat and the three Sectors, and to take appropriate measures and establish guidelines and recommendations for improving and strengthening the ITU regional presence;

6 to consider the outcomes of the review conducted by the Secretary-General and take appropriate action;

7 to continue to oversee the regional presence dashboard, especially in regard to the relevant remaining actions, and provide accordingly any guidance as deemed appropriate;

8 to pay greater attention to the organizational culture and skills gap in the regional presence and provide the necessary up-to-date training accordingly;

9 to consider the possibility of increasing the budget allocated to the regional initiatives, taking into consideration the characteristics of the needs of each region;

10 to continue to oversee the implementation of the recommendations made by an external company on forensic audit for more effective management,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to facilitate the tasks of the Council by providing all necessary support for strengthening the regional presence as described in this resolution;

2 to adapt, where necessary, the prevailing terms and conditions of host-country agreement(s) to the changing environment in the respective host country, after prior consultations with countries concerned and the representatives of the regional intergovernmental organizations of the affected countries;

3 to submit each year to the Council a report on the regional presence containing, for each specific regional and area office, detailed information on how the goals and objectives identified in the strategic plan and the four-year rolling operational plans of the General Secretariat and the three Sectors are being delivered in the context of Resolution 151 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the improvement of results-based management (RBM) in ITU; the report should include detailed information on:

i) staffing of regional and area offices, including number of staff members, their category of employment and other factors in accordance with Resolution 48 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference;

ii) financial information, including budget allocated to the regional and area offices and expenses per thematic priority and planned output;

iii) activities related to the three Sectors, outcomes of projects, including regional initiatives, events/meetings/conferences and regional preparatory meetings, and attraction of new Sector Members, in coordination with regional intergovernmental organizations;

iv) fellowships awarded;

v) how RBM, results-based budgeting and the human resources strategic plan are being implemented in each regional and area office;

vi) how relevant recommendations from ITU's oversight bodies are being implemented in each regional and area office;

4 to conduct, once every four years, within the existing financial resources, a survey of the level of satisfaction of Member States, Sector Members and regional telecommunication organizations with ITU's regional presence, and to present the results in a report to the session of the Council prior to each plenipotentiary conference;

5 to continue to engage with the United Nations, other United Nations development system entities and Member States with a view to enhancing the system of the ITU regional presence and supporting implementation of relevant UNGA resolutions on this matter,

instructs the Secretary-General, in close consultation with the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to take measures to further strengthen the regional presence as an extension of ITU as a whole, as well as measures to ensure that the activities of BR, TSB and BDT are effectively incorporated in the regional and area offices, as described in this resolution;

2 to ensure that all planned activities of the three Sectors and the General Secretariat in the regions are consolidated into the parts of the operational plans relating to the regions and implemented under the coordination of the regional and area offices;

3 to ensure the availability of expertise from the three ITU Sectors in the regional and area offices;

4 to ensure that the annual operational plans of the regional and area offices are based on input from the respective regions prior to implementation;

5 to report annually to the Council on the implementation of all activities of the three Sectors and the General Secretariat in the regions under the coordination of the regional and area offices,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to implement the following measures for further strengthening the regional presence:

i) to identify functions which could be decentralized and implement them as soon as possible subject to the Council's approval;

ii) to strive to have in the regional and area offices staff who have expertise in each of the three Sectors;

iii) to review the internal administrative procedures pertaining to the work of the regional and area offices, with a view to their simplification and transparency and enhancing work efficiency;

iv) to assist countries in implementing the regional initiatives in accordance with resolutions of WTDC through transparent project funding mechanisms;

v) to establish clear procedures for consulting Member States, in order to prioritize the consolidated regional initiatives and keep Member States informed on project selection and funding;

vi) to solicit specialized input from the regional and area offices to better inform decision-making and address the crucial needs of the ITU membership in the region;

vii) to provide the regional and area offices with greater flexibility, including, but not limited to:

• functions relating to the dissemination of information, provision of expert advice and hosting of meetings, courses and seminars, as well as availability of all electronic tools required to carry out these activities;

• any functions and tasks that may be delegated to them relating to the preparation and implementation of their allocated budgets;

• ensuring their effective participation in discussions on the future of the Union and on strategic issues concerning the telecommunication/ICT sector;

• empowering them to further contribute to the implementation of key organizational decisions;

viii) to fully engage the regional and area offices in the activities of ITU-D, including those related to the Network of Women, Generation Connect and Partner2Connect initiatives;

ix) to engage the regional and area offices in the capacity-building and development activities in the framework of the ITU Academy training centres;

x) to make the utmost effort for the regional and area offices to support and facilitate the implementation of regional initiatives outlined in the Kigali Action Plan and requests for assistance made by Member States;

xi) to allocate the necessary human resources to regional and area offices, by leveraging staff mobility policy, taking into consideration the characteristics of the needs of each region,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in close consultation with the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Radiocommunication Bureau and the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to take the necessary measures to further strengthen the regional presence as an extension of ITU as a whole, as well as measures to ensure that the activities of BR and TSB are effectively incorporated in the regional and area offices, as described in this resolution;

2 to strongly encourage the participation of regional and area office staff in ITU conferences, assemblies and meetings, taking into consideration budget availability;

3 to support the review of the ITU's regional presence as defined under further resolves 1 above;

4 to review and determine the appropriate posts, including permanent posts, in regional and area offices, and strive to ensure that each region has at least one professional with relevant skills and knowledge to act as the focal point for each of the three Sectors, reporting to the regional director, including by training existing staff, while hiring specialized staff on an as-needed basis to meet particular needs;

5 to fill in a timely manner vacant posts in the regional and area offices, where appropriate, planning staff availability and giving due consideration to the regional distribution of staff positions and the knowledge and the expertise in the three Sectors of the Union to the extent possible;

6 to ensure that the regional and area offices are given the necessary priority among the activities and programmes of the Union as a whole, and that, to supervise the implementation of funds-in-trust projects and projects financed from the ICT Development Fund, they have the required autonomy, the decision-making authority and responsibility, and the appropriate means;

7 to take the necessary measures to improve the exchange of information, in a timely manner, between headquarters and regional and area offices;

8 to strengthen the human resource capabilities and provide the regional and area offices with a measure of flexibility in terms of the recruitment of professional staff as well as support staff;

9 to initiate internal consultations within the Sectors and with regional and area office staff to list expectations for the regional presence, and to define the type and appropriate level of contribution from each Sector;

10 to clearly communicate the linkage between the role played by an individual and the achievement of key objectives and priorities of the region concerned,

instructs the Directors of the Radiocommunication Bureau and the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to continue coordinating with the Director of BDT to provide information on their Sectors' activities, as well as the necessary expertise, and submit requests and/or proposals from regional and area offices, to strengthen cooperation and coordination with the relevant regional and United Nations organizations and to facilitate the participation of all Member States and Sector Members in the activities of the three Sectors of the Union in accordance with the "One ITU" concept;

2 to provide Sectoral regional activities through regional and area offices;

3 to identify focal points from BR and TSB to coordinate with regional and area offices.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 30 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Special measures for the least developed countries, small island
developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries
with economies in transition

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) United Nations resolutions on programmes of action for the least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and countries with economies in transition;

b) Resolution 72/200 of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development;

c) UNGA Resolution 72/228, on science, technology and innovation for development;

d) UNGA Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

e) Resolution 135 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on ITU's role in the durable and sustainable development of telecommunications/ICTs, in providing technical assistance and advice to developing countries[1] and in implementing relevant national, regional and interregional projects,

recognizing

a) the importance of telecommunications/ICTs as an enabler that harnesses the potential of and opportunities resulting from digital innovation which can benefit the socio-economic development of the countries concerned and help achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in UNGA Resolution 70/1;

b) that the vision of an information society and its economic benefits cannot be achieved without embracing the principle of inclusiveness,

having noted

a) Resolution 16 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on special actions and measures for LDCs, SIDS, LLDCs and countries with economies in transition;

b) Output 4.1 of Objective 4 of the Buenos Aires Action Plan for concentrated assistance to LDCs, SIDS and LLDCs and countries with economies in transition;

c) Resolution 1 (Dubai, 2012) of the World Conference on International Telecommunications, on special measures for LLDCs and SIDS for greater access to international optical fibre networks,

concerned

a) that the number of LDCs remains high despite the progress that has been made in recent years, and that it is necessary to address the situation;

b) that the challenges confronting LDCs, SIDS, LLDCs and countries with economies in transition continue to pose a threat to the development agenda of these countries;

c) that LDCs, SIDS and LLDCs are vulnerable to devastation caused by natural disasters and lack the resources needed to respond effectively to such disasters;

d) that there is very limited Sector Member and Academia representation from within the industry and academia of these countries, in particular in the ITU Telecommunication Standardization and Radiocommunication Sectors;

e) that the geographical location of SIDS and LLDCs is an obstacle to international connectivity of telecommunication networks with these countries,

aware

a) that improvement of telecommunication networks and their international interconnectivity in these countries will give an impetus towards social and economic integration across sectors and overall development, and provide the opportunity to create knowledge societies and participate in the digital economy, as well as achieving the 17 SDGs;

b) that enhanced and effective participation of industry and academia from these countries in ITU activities would facilitate development of ICT ecosystems in these countries,

recalling

a) abrogated Resolution 49 (Doha, 2006) of WTDC, on special actions for LDCs and SIDS;

b) that, given that the United Nations recognized LDCs as a category of State back in 1971, which is over 50 years ago, more focused efforts are required to bridge the digital divide in LDCs and other categories of country in order to spread the development of telecommunications/ICTs;

c) that the Doha Programme of Action of the fifth United Nations Conference on LDCs, held in 2022, identified a goal of leveraging the power of science, technology and innovation to fight against multidimensional vulnerabilities and to achieve the SDGs, emphasizing the urgent need to accelerate investment in the development and scaling of innovation and technology solutions for the most pressing problems that LDCs face across economic, social and environmental fields that support their digital transition and strengthen efforts to bridge digital divides,

resolves to instruct the Secretary-General and the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to continue to review the state of telecommunication/ICT services in LDCs, SIDS, LLDCs and countries with economies in transition, so identified by the United Nations and needing special measures for the development of telecommunications/ICTs that contribute to economic growth, and to identify areas of critical weakness requiring priority action;

2 to support LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS and countries with economies in transition in enhancing engagement by academia and industry in ITU, including by disseminating information on ITU activities and considering the creation of a network for industry and academia in LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS and countries with economies in transition;

3 to continue submitting to the ITU Council concrete measures intended to bring about genuine improvements and effective assistance to these countries, from the Special Voluntary Programme for Technical Cooperation, the Union's own resources and other sources of finance;

4 to work towards providing the necessary administrative and operational structure for identifying the needs of these countries and for proper administration of the resources appropriated for LDCs, SIDS, LLDCs and countries with economies in transition;

5 to propose new and innovative measures, as well as partnerships or alliances with other international and regional bodies, that may generate additional funds or joint projects to be used for telecommunication/ICT development in these countries, in order to benefit from the opportunities that financial mechanisms offer in using ICTs for development, as indicated in the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society;

6 to continue enhancing ITU's web-based tools, in an effort to make it easier to locate guidelines, recommendations, technical reports, best practices and use cases developed by the ITU Sectors, as well as identifying strategies and mechanisms to help and allow Member States to proactively use these tools to speed up the transfer of knowledge;

7 to report annually on this matter to the Council,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to consider the reports referred to in resolves to instruct the Secretary-General and the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau 7 above and take appropriate action so that the Union may continue to display its keen interest and cooperate actively in the development of telecommunication/ICT services in these countries;

2 to make appropriations for this purpose from the Special Voluntary Programme for Technical Cooperation, the Union's own resources and any other sources of finance, and promote partnerships among all stakeholders in this regard;

3 to keep the situation under constant review and to report on this matter to the next plenipotentiary conference,

encourages least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition

1 to continue according high priority to telecommunication/ICT activities and projects that promote overall socio-economic development, including those that make it possible to improve international connectivity conditions, by adopting cooperation activities funded from bilateral or multilateral sources, for the benefit of the wider population;

2 to complement ITU efforts for enhanced engagement from academia and industry in telecommunication/ICT activities,

invites Member States

to cooperate with LDCs, SIDS, LLDCs and countries with economies in transition in promoting and supporting regional, subregional, multilateral and bilateral projects and programmes for the development of telecommunications/ICTs and the integration of telecommunication infrastructure making it possible to improve international connectivity conditions.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 48 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Human resources management and development

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recognizing

No. 154 of the ITU Constitution[1], according to which ITU is required to recruit staff on the basis of the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity,

recalling

a) Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 217 A (III);

b) Decision 5 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which determines the resources of the Union for 2024-2027 and specifies goals and objectives in regard to improving the efficiency of ITU's activities;

c) Resolution 70 (Rev. Bucharest 2022) of this conference, which resolves to accord high priority to the incorporation of gender policies in the management, staffing and operation of ITU;

d) the strategic plan for the Union, as described in Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, and the need for highly skilled and motivated staff to attain the goals and related targets contained therein;

e) Resolution 151 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which resolves to instruct the Secretary-General and the Directors of the three Bureaux to continue to improve processes and methodologies associated with the full implementation of results-based management and results-based budgeting at the levels of processing and implementation,

noting

a) the various aspects and principles of ITU policy on planning, contracts, succession, human resources training and development, etc., including, inter alia, the Standards of Conduct for the International Civil Service established by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), the ITU Staff Regulations and Staff Rules and the ITU ethics policies, which have an impact on ITU staff;

b) the adoption of a number of resolutions since 1996 by UNGA, highlighting the need for strengthening transparency and gender balance throughout the United Nations system;

c) UNGA Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which affirmed a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets;

d) UNGA Resolution 71/263, on human resources management, which highlights many essential aspects of a human resources management system and the fact that the overarching objectives of a performance-management system are to measure performance, reward good performance and address underperformance in a credible and effective manner;

e) UNGA Resolution 72/235, on human resources development, which stresses among other things that technological changes and breakthroughs are expanding at a rapid pace and impacting the world of work and that, in this regard, the development of human resources needs to keep pace and be supported by proactive strategies, investments and normative frameworks to address emerging issues relating to the future of work, education and training;

f) Resolution 25 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on strengthening the regional presence, and specifically on the need for ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness and staffing requirements of regional and area offices within the concept of "One ITU";

g) ITU Council Resolution 1299 (last amended 2020), which approved a human resources strategic plan (HRSP);

h) Council Decision 517 (2004, last modified 2009), on strengthening the dialogue between the Secretary-General and the ITU Staff Council;

i) other Council decisions and resolutions relating to various aspects of human resources management;

j) the United Nations Secretary-General's report on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse and the zero-tolerance policy;

k) the recommendations relevant to human resources management in United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) Report 2016/1: Review of management and administration in ITU;

l) the recommendations in JIU Report 2019/4: Review of change management in United Nations system organizations;

m) that UNGA Resolution 71/243 urges the United Nations development system to align its staff capacities to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including by building transformative and empowered leadership, repositioning staff capacities to respond to the cross-sectoral requirements of the 2030 Agenda, promoting inter-agency mobility and facilitating a mobile and flexible global workforce;

n) the recommendations in JIU Report 2020/2: Policies and platforms in support of learning: towards more coherence, coordination and convergence;

o) the United Nations Secretary-General's reports on various issues related to human resources within the organizations of the United Nations system,

noting further

a) the findings of JIU Report 2018/4, on the review of whistle-blower policies and practices in United Nations system organizations, with respect to the Union;

b) the need to optimize distribution of staff members at the regional level, by duty station and by category, in line with the substance of this resolution, in order to represent the entire Union and closely assist its membership;

c) the recommendations contained in JIU reports relevant to human resources within the United Nations system,

welcoming

a) the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on shifting the management paradigm in the United Nations (Document A/72/492), in which, inter alia, it is proposed to "streamline and simplify human resources rules, processes and procedures to ensure timely recruitment, deployment and staff development, with clear delegation of authority to managers, together with clear rules of accountability";

b) the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on the review of progress in the implementation of management reform (Document A/75/201);

c) the secretariat's initiatives to gather input from ITU staff on revenue generation, reducing expenditures and balancing the draft financial plan;

d) the statements provided by the Staff Council, in providing and reflecting staff's views and concerns on matters related to the Union;

e) the adoption of the ITU Accountability Framework, set up to further strengthen the accountability mechanisms within the organization,

considering

a) the high value of the human resources of ITU and of the effective management of those resources for the fulfilment of its goals;

b) that ITU's human resources strategies should emphasize the importance of developing and maintaining a well-trained, diverse and geographically equitable staff, while recognizing budget constraints;

c) the value, both to the Union and to the staff, of developing those resources to the fullest extent possible through various human resources development activities, including in-service training and training activities in accordance with staffing levels;

d) the impact on the Union and its staff of the continuing evolution of activities in the field of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the need for the Union and its human resources to adapt to this evolution through training and staff development;

e) the importance of human resources management and development in support of ITU's strategic orientations and goals;

f) the need to follow a recruitment policy appropriate to the requirements of the Union, including the redeployment of posts and recruitment of specialists both at the start of their career and with experience in other organizations;

g) the importance of ongoing strengthening of transparency in recruitment policy and selection processes to mitigate risks of inefficiency;

h) the need to achieve equitable geographical distribution of appointed staff of the Union;

i) the need to facilitate the recruitment and retention of more women in the Professional and higher categories, especially at the senior levels, in particular from developing countries[2], and taking into consideration geographical representation;

j) the constant advances made in telecommunication and information and communication technology and operation and the corresponding need to recruit specialists of the highest standard of competence;

k) the importance of promoting gender mainstreaming and equal representation of women and men;

l) the report by the Secretary-General to the virtual consultation of councillors during the 2021 session of the Council on the digital transformation initiative (DT-I), in which it is stated that one of the goals of DT-I is to improve the efficiency of the internal business processes and management, streamline, and digitalize workflows and that DT-I should focus primarily on cultural and managerial changes during Phase 1;

m) that the implementation plan of the staff working conditions strategy for the interim period and beyond in the new ITU headquarters building is being prepared;

n) the United Nations System Leadership Framework approved by the High-Level Committee on Programmes and the High Level Committee on Management (HLCM), and endorsed by the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination in April 2017, reinforced by the five Senior Leadership Commitments for the Future of Work in the United Nations, approved by HLCM in March 2021 and developed to help prepare United Nations leaders to steer the transition of their organizations and workforce towards the future of work,

resolves

1 that the management and development of ITU's human resources should continue to be compatible with the mission, values, goals and activities of the Union and with the United Nations common system;

2 that ICSC recommendations approved by UNGA should continue to be implemented;

3 that within available financial resources, and to the extent practicable, vacancies should be filled through greater mobility of existing staff;

4 that internal mobility should, to the extent practicable, be coupled with training so that staff can be used where they are most needed;

5 that internal mobility should be applied, to the extent feasible, to cover needs when staff retire or leave ITU in order to reduce staffing levels without terminating contracts;

6 that, pursuant to recognizing above, staff in the Professional and higher categories shall continue to be recruited on an international basis and that posts identified for external recruitment shall be advertised as widely as possible and communicated to the administrations of all Member States of the Union and through the regional and area offices; however, reasonable promotion possibilities must continue to be offered to existing staff;

7 that, when filling vacant posts by international recruitment, in choosing between candidates who meet the qualification requirements for a post, preference shall be given to candidates from regions of the world which are under-represented in the staffing of the Union, taking into account the balance between female and male staff mandated by the United Nations common system;

8 that, when filling vacant posts by international recruitment and when no candidate fulfils all the qualification requirements, recruitment can take place at one grade below, on the understanding that the candidate will have to fulfil certain conditions before being given the full responsibilities of the post and promotion to the grade of the post;

9 that the recruitment policy and the selection processes should keep following the best practices of transparency, considering the importance of documentation, notifications, and feedback to candidates as practices to improve compliance and avoid bias and discrimination of any kind;

10 that, in accordance with the provisions of the Union's Gender Equality and Mainstreaming Policy, endorsed by the Council at its 2022 session, the various UNGA resolutions highlighting the need for gender balance throughout the United Nations system, as well as the United Nations System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity and the second generation of the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP 2.0), the Union must aim to become a model organization for gender equality and leverage the power of ICTs to empower both women and men;

11 that it is necessary to assess the impact of the decisions taken under this resolution to ensure that it is delivering the expected outputs, relevant to the implementation of the Union's mission, plans and programmes,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to implement best-practice human resources management policies and practices to ensure ITU achieves its management goals, taking into account the United Nations Secretary-General's system-wide parity strategy and equitable geographical representation;

2 to prepare and implement, with the assistance of the Coordination Committee, and in collaboration with the regional offices, a four-year HRSP aligned with the ITU strategic and financial plans, that includes benchmarks, to respond to the needs of the Union, its membership and its staff;

3 to improve and implement transparent recruitment policies and procedures designed to facilitate equitable geographical and gender representation among appointed staff;

4 to recruit, as appropriate within the available financial resources, and taking into account geographical distribution and balance between female and male staff, specialists who are starting their careers at the P.1/P.2 level;

5 with a view to further training in order to enhance professional competence in the Union, based on consultations with staff members, as appropriate, to examine and report to the Council how a programme of training for both managers and their staff could be implemented within available financial resources throughout the Union;

6 to continue to submit to the Council annual reports on the implementation of the HRSP, including issues relating to relations between management and staff, and to provide to the Council, electronically where possible, statistics related to the HRSP, and on other measures adopted in pursuance of this resolution;

7 as required under the United Nations Secretary-General's report on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, to report and provide updates to the Council on progress made with regard to sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment in the workplace, as appropriate;

8 to address the findings of JIU Report 2018/4, on the review of whistle-blower policies and practices in United Nations system organizations, with respect to the Union, and report to the Council on actions taken;

9 to provide mechanisms and measures that promote implementation within ITU of the United Nations System Leadership Framework, including the five Senior Leadership Commitments for the Future of Work in the United Nations;

10 to review human resources capacities in the regional and area offices with a view to strengthening their presence, taking into consideration staff mobility policy and the characteristics and needs of each ITU region;

11 to update internal recruitment guidelines and procedures to facilitate the recruitment of women at ITU, and align with United Nations system best practices, including, but not limited to, those stated in resolves 10 above,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to examine and approve the four-year HRSP drawn up in accordance with instructs the Secretary-General, and consider annual reports on the implementation of the HRSP and of this resolution, and decide on the measures needed, taking into account the recommendations of the ITU oversight bodies and the proposals of the Staff Council;

2 to ensure that the necessary staff and financial resources are made available for addressing issues related to human resources management and development in ITU as they emerge, within approved budget levels;

3 to allocate the appropriate resources for in-service training in accordance with an established programme, representing, to the extent practicable, a target of 3 per cent of the budget allocated to staff costs;

4 to follow with the greatest attention the question of recruitment and to adopt, within existing resources and consistent with the United Nations common system, the measures it deems necessary to secure an adequate number of qualified candidates for Union posts, particularly taking account of considering b), c), g) and i) above;

5 to develop a framework on matters for reporting to the Council on staff issues, including staff in regional and area offices, and recruitment issues.

RESOLUTION 64 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Non-discriminatory access to telecommunication/information and communication technology facilities, services and applications, including applied research and transfer of technology, and e-meetings, on mutually agreed terms

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) the outcomes of the Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005) phases of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), especially §§ 15, 18 and 19 of the Tunis Commitment, and §§ 90 and 107 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society;

b) the outcomes of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, especially Resolution 15 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), on applied research and transfer of technology, Resolution 20 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017), on non-discriminatory access to modern telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) facilities, services and related applications and Resolution 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), on bridging the digital divide;

c) the outcomes of the WSIS+10 High-Level Event (Geneva, 2014), especially those related to transfer of know-how and technology and non-discriminatory access by conducting the needed activities in that regard;

d) Resolution 167 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on strengthening and developing ITU capabilities for fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation, and the electronic means to advance the work of the Union, which emphasizes that there is a need for procedures to ensure fair and equitable participation by all;

e) Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference,

taking into account

a) the importance of telecommunications/ICTs for political, economic, social and cultural progress, including in the fight against pandemics;

b) the preamble and challenges chapters of the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of the WSIS outcomes, adopted by the WSIS+10 High-Level Event, especially §§ 4 and 8 thereof,

taking into account also

a) that ITU plays an essential role in the promotion of global development of telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications, within the mandate of ITU, specifically with respect to Action Lines C2, C5 and C6 of the Tunis Agenda, in addition to participating in the implementation of other action lines, particularly Action Lines C7 and C8 of the Tunis Agenda;

b) that, to this end the Union coordinates efforts aimed at securing harmonious development of telecommunication/ICT facilities, permitting non-discriminatory access to these facilities and to modern telecommunication services and applications;

c) that this access will help to bridge the digital divide,

taking into account further

the need to draw up proposals on issues determining a worldwide strategy for the development of telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications, within the mandate of ITU, and to facilitate mobilization of the necessary resources to that end,

emphasizing

that fair and equitable e-participation of Member States in ITU meetings will bring considerable benefits by facilitating and widening the scope for participation in ITU work and meetings,

noting

a) that modern telecommunication/ICT facilities, services and applications are established, in the main, on the basis of recommendations of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R);

b) that ITU-T and ITU-R recommendations are the result of the collective efforts of all those taking part in the standardization process within ITU and are adopted by consensus by the members of the Union;

c) that limitations on the access to telecommunication/ICT facilities, services and applications on which national telecommunication development depends and which are established on the basis of ITU-T and ITU-R recommendations constitute an obstacle to the harmonious development and compatibility of telecommunications worldwide;

d) Resolution 15 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), on applied research and transfer of technology;

e) Resolution 20 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017), on non-discriminatory access to modern telecommunication/ICT facilities, services and related applications;

f) the strategic plan for the Union set out in Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022),

recognizing

a) that full harmonization of telecommunication networks is impossible unless all countries participating in the work of the Union, without exception, have non-discriminatory access to new telecommunication technologies and modern telecommunication/ICT facilities, services and related applications, including applied research and transfer of technology, on mutually agreed terms, without prejudice to national regulations and international commitments within the competence of other international organizations;

b) that the need to ensure the access of Member States to international telecommunication services should be reaffirmed;

c) Resolution 69 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on non-discriminatory access and use of Internet resources and telecommunications/ICTs,

resolves

1 to continue, within the mandate of ITU, fulfilling the need to endeavour to ensure non-discriminatory access to telecommunication and information technologies, facilities, services and related applications, including applied research and transfer of technology, on mutually agreed terms, established on the basis of ITU-T and ITU-R recommendations;

2 that ITU should facilitate non-discriminatory access to telecommunication and information technologies, facilities, services and applications established on the basis of ITU-T and ITU-R recommendations;

3 that ITU should encourage to the greatest extent possible cooperation among the members of the Union on the question of non-discriminatory access to telecommunication and information technologies, facilities, services and applications established on the basis of ITU-T and ITU-R recommendations with a view to satisfying user demand for modern telecommunication/ICT services and applications,

instructs the Directors of the three Bureaux

within their respective spheres of competence, to implement this resolution and achieve its goals,

invites Member States

1 to refrain from taking any unilateral and/or discriminatory actions that could impede technically another Member State from having full access to the Internet, within the spirit of Article 1 of the ITU Constitution and the WSIS principles;

2 to help telecommunication/ICT equipment manufacturers and providers of services and applications in ensuring that telecommunication/ICT facilities, services and applications established on the basis of ITU-T and ITU-R recommendations may be generally available to the public without any discrimination, and in facilitating applied research and technology transfer, considering, where relevant, the WSIS+10 High-Level Event outcomes;

3 to explore ways and means for greater collaboration and coordination with one another in the implementation of this resolution,

instructs the Secretary-General, in close cooperation with the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to compile and distribute a list of available online services and applications relevant to ITU activities and identify those that cannot be accessed, based on information received from ITU Member States;

2 to take appropriate measures and steps to promote broad participation, as far as practical, to ensure the fair and equitable participation of all members in ITU online services and applications;

3 to cooperate and coordinate with the relevant organizations to take the appropriate measures to promote access to ITU online services and materials for all ITU members;

4 to dedicate attention to the activities described in instructs the Secretary-General, in close cooperation with the Directors of the three Bureaux 1-3 above during pandemics;

5 to report to the ITU Council on the implementation of this resolution,

further instructs the Secretary-General

to transmit the text of this resolution, including its recommendations, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations with a view to bringing to the attention of the world community the viewpoint of ITU, as a specialized agency of the United Nations, on the issue of non-discriminatory access to new telecommunication and information technologies and modern telecommunication/ICT services and related applications, within the mandate of ITU, as an important factor for world technological progress, and on applied research and technology transfer between Member States, on mutually agreed terms, as a factor that may help to bridge the digital divide.

[1] No. 154 of the Constitution: "2. The paramount consideration in the recruitment of staff and in the determination of the conditions of service shall be the necessity of securing for the Union the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity. Due regard shall be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible."

[2] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 66 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Documents and publications of the Union

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) No. 484 of the ITU Convention;

b) the need for efficient marketing and distribution of documentation and publications of the Union in order to promote increased use of ITU recommendations and other publications;

c) the evolution of electronic handling and transmission of information;

d) the continued development of new publishing technologies and methods of distribution;

e) the desirability of cooperation with bodies engaged in relevant standards development;

f) the continued importance of the Union's copyright in its publications;

g) the need to derive revenue from publications;

h) the need to provide a timely and efficient global standardization process;

i) the pricing policies of other relevant standardization bodies;

j) the importance of adopting open-standard document formats to facilitate access to information,

considering further

a) that a primary purpose of the Union is to extend the benefits of new telecommunication technologies to all the world's inhabitants;

b) the need to maintain a coherent financing and pricing policy which reflects the costs of production, marketing and distribution, while ensuring the continuity of publications, including the development of new products and the use of modern channels/methods of distribution;

c) the activity carried out by the Internet Governance Forum Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DCAD) sponsored by the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), and the partnership between the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector and DCAD for the purposes of maximizing the benefits for all sectors of the global community of electronic communications and online information through the Internet,

resolves

1 that documents intended to facilitate the timely development of recommendations of the Union shall be made available also in electronic and open format and be accessible to any Member State, Sector Member and Associate;

2 that documents should be published in various open formats, i.e. data file formats that are based on an underlying open standard, developed by an open community, affirmed and maintained by a standards body, fully documented and publicly available;

3 that, notwithstanding the objectives of free online access, publications of the Union, including all recommendations of the Sectors, shall, where appropriate, also be made available to the Member States, Sector Members and Associates, and to the public in electronic format and through electronic sale or distribution, with appropriate provision for payment to the Union for a particular publication or set of publications requested;

4 that a request for any publication of the Union, regardless of its format, obliges those who obtain or purchase the publication to respect the copyright of the Union set forth in that publication;

5 that a publication containing a recommendation of an ITU Sector obtained from ITU, regardless of its format, may be utilized by the receiving entity or purchaser for uses including furthering the work of the Union or any relevant standards body or forum developing related standards, providing guidance for product or service development and implementation and serving as support for documentation associated with a product or service;

6 that none of the above is intended to breach the copyright held by the Union, so that any person or entity wishing to reproduce or duplicate all or parts of ITU publications for resale must obtain a specific agreement for such purpose;

7 that a two-tier pricing policy be established whereby Member States, Sector Members and Associates pay a price based on cost recovery, whereas all others, i.e. non-members, should pay a market price[1];

8 that pursuant to Resolution 169 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which encourages the participation of academia in the development of technical work in the Union, ITU Academia should be given free access to all ITU publications available in digital format,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to take the necessary steps to facilitate the implementation of this resolution;

2 to implement, within the financial constraints of the Union, strategies and mechanisms to enable all Member States, Sector Members and Associates to acquire and use the facilities required to access documents and publications of the Union in electronic format;

3 to ensure that prices for all forms of publications of the Union are reasonable in order to promote their wide distribution;

4 to seek consultation with the advisory groups of the three ITU Sectors to assist in developing and updating policies on documents and publications;

5 to report annually to the ITU Council,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

to implement, as a priority, in close coordination with the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau and the Director of TSB, strategies and mechanisms to encourage and facilitate the efficient use of web-based documents and publications by developing countries, and in particular least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[1] The term "market price" is defined as the price determined by the Sales and Marketing Division, which is established to maximize revenues without being so high as to discourage sales.

RESOLUTION 70 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Mainstreaming a gender perspective in ITU and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through telecommunications/information and communication technologies

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 70/1 of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls);

b) the endorsement of Resolution 7 (Valletta, 1998) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) by the Plenipotentiary Conference in its Resolution 70 (Minneapolis, 1998), in which the conference resolved, inter alia, to incorporate a gender perspective[1] in the implementation of all programmes and plans of ITU;

c) Resolution 55 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, which encourages mainstreaming a gender perspective in the activities of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T);

d) Resolution 55 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, resolving that the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) should maintain close links and collaborate, as appropriate, with the ITU Gender Task Force, set up by the Secretary-General to support gender mainstreaming in the Union's activities, with the aim of eliminating inequalities in access to and use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs);

e) Resolution 1327 adopted by the ITU Council at its 2011 session, on ITU's role in ICTs and the empowerment of women and girls;

f) the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Agreed Conclusions 1997-2, and ECOSOC Resolution 2012/24, on incorporating and mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system, which welcomed the development of the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP)[2];

g) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), as well as the preamble to the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of WSIS outcomes, which reaffirmed the importance of promoting and maintaining gender equality and women's empowerment and guaranteeing the inclusion of women in the emerging global ICT society, taking into account the mandate of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women);

h) the Declaration on Promoting Gender Equality, Equity and Parity in the ITU Radiocommunication Sector, approved at the World Radiocommunication Conference (Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019),

noting

a) the United Nations Secretary-General's commitment to achieving full gender parity across the United Nations system through the launch of a strategy in 2017 as the start of a system-wide campaign to advance this priority, referenced in UNGA Resolution 72/234;

b) UNGA Resolution 64/289, on system-wide coherence, adopted on 21 July 2010, establishing UN Women, with a triple mandate for normative support, coordination and operational functions to provide an effective platform for delivering results on gender equality and women's empowerment;

c) that the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, in April 2013, advocated UN-SWAP, under which ITU will participate in the dissemination, coordination and communication and networking activities that are part of the strategy;

d) the conclusions agreed at the 55th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), held in March 2011, regarding the access and participation of women and girls in education, training and science and technology;

e) that the Agreed Conclusions of the 61st and 62nd sessions of CSW promote digital change for the empowerment of women, including rural women, and support women's access to skills development by expanding the scope of education and training opportunities, including communications technology and digital fluency;

f) the United Nations Guidelines for gender-inclusive language[3],

noting also

a) the decision of the Council at its 2013 session endorsing the ITU Gender Equality and Mainstreaming Policy (GEM), with the aim of integrating a gender perspective throughout the Union and leveraging the power of telecommunications/ICTs to empower both women and men;

b) that ITU, in its strategic plan, includes issues related to gender equality, empowerment and inclusion with a view to debating and exchanging ideas to define, throughout the organization, a concrete action plan to address issues and barriers, with clear deadlines and goals,

recognizing

a) that equal access to ICTs for women and men and equal participation at all levels and in all fields, especially in policy- and decision-making, are beneficial to society as a whole, particularly in the context of the information and knowledge society;

b) that women's and girls' unequal access to ICTs harms everyone, including in terms of, inter alia, reduced economic activity, innovation and entrepreneurship;

c) that failure to ensure that women have equal access to the Internet particularly harms low-income countries;

d) the importance of fully engaging men and boys, as agents and beneficiaries of change, in the achievement of gender equality;

e) that ICTs are tools through which gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls can be advanced, and are recognized as being integral to societies in which both women and men can substantively contribute and participate;

f) that SDG 5 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development strives to achieve gender equality and to empower all women and girls and foster gender mainstreaming as a cross-cutting issue over all goals and targets of the agenda;

g) that the outcomes of WSIS, namely the Geneva Declaration of Principles, the Geneva Plan of Action, the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, outlined the concept of the information society, and that continued efforts must be undertaken in this context to bridge the gender digital divide;

h) that the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of WSIS outcomes states the need to ensure that the information society enables women's empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society and in all decision-making processes;

i) that it is fundamental for the ITU membership and partners to encourage women and girls to choose a career in the field of telecommunications/ICTs and to foster the use of ICTs for the social and economic empowerment of women and girls and the achievement of gender equality;

j) that women and girls experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and that there is a need to address this discrimination and to bridge the gender digital divide, with special attention to women in rural and marginalized urban areas;

k) that affordability and lack of digital skills remain some of the key barriers to the uptake and effective use of telecommunications/ICTs, especially in the world's least developed countries (LDCs) and in particular among women and girls;

l) that bridging the gender digital divide requires fostering digital skills, education and mentorship for women and girls, so as to advance their participation and leadership in the creation, development and deployment of telecommunications/ICTs, and also requires connectivity to be affordable and accessible;

m) that there is a gap between women and men in the use of Internet, especially in LDCs[4];

n) that the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau has established the ITU Women in Standardization Expert Group (WISE), launched at the meeting of the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group in February 2016, dedicated to promoting women in standardization, telecommunications/ICTs and related fields;

o) that, at the 2016 World Radiocommunication Seminar, the Radiocommunication Bureau launched a Network of Women initiative dedicated to promoting women in radiocommunications, telecommunications/ICTs and related fields;

p) that a Network of Women initiative was launched in the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) in January 2021 as a way to improve the number of women taking up leadership roles in the structures that make up ITU-D, such as chairmanships of committees and working groups and other key management roles related to the preparation of the next WTDC and beyond,

recognizing further

a) the progress achieved in raising awareness, both within ITU and among Member States, of the importance of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all ITU work programmes and of increasing the number of women professionals in ITU, especially at the senior management level, while at the same time working towards the equal access of women and men to posts in the General Service category;

b) the success of the international Girls in ICT Day organized by ITU, which is held every year on the fourth Thursday of April;

c) the EQUALS global partnership[5], of which ITU is a founder member and which is made up of other United Nations agencies, governments, the private sector, academia and civil-society organizations, and which aims to reduce the gender digital divide in the world;

d) that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in its General Recommendation No. 37, on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction within the context of climate change, recommends that States make sure women have access to technologies to prevent and mitigate the adverse effects of natural disasters and climate change, and that they be able to use and take advantage of technologies for climate-change adaptation and mitigation, including those related to renewable energy and sustainable agriculture;

e) that the Buenos Aires Declaration adopted by WTDC-17 states that elaborating proper and comparable indicators/statistics, in sex-disaggregated form, as well as analysing ICT trends, is important for both Member States and the private sector,

considering

a) the progress made by ITU, and in particular BDT, in the development and implementation of actions and projects that use ICTs for the economic and social empowerment of women and girls, as well as in increasing awareness of the links between gender issues and ICTs within the Union and among Member States and Sector Members;

b) the progress made by ITU in gathering and publishing data and analyses that help communicate the differences in access to and involvement with telecommunications/ICTs and their effects on gender equality;

c) the results achieved by ITU's internal Gender Task Force in promoting gender equality;

d) the study conducted by ITU-T on women in telecommunication standardization, exploring perspectives and activities related to mainstreaming a gender perspective in ITU-T and determining the degree to which women are active participants in all ITU-T activities;

e) the importance of carrying out an impact assessment based on data collected by ITU, as well as on programmes and projects, to determine the effects of, and promote a better understanding of, the impact of telecommunications/ICTs on the achievement of gender equality and women's empowerment,

noting further

a) that there is a need for ITU to continue to study, gather data disaggregated by social and economic factors and in particular sex and age, analyse, generate statistics on, assess and evaluate the effects of and promote a better understanding of the impact of telecommunications/ICTs on the achievement of gender equality and women's empowerment;

b) that ITU should have a role in establishing and reporting on gender-relevant indicators for the telecommunication/ICT sector that would contribute to reducing disparities in terms of access to and appropriation of ICTs and to mainstreaming gender equality at the national, regional and international levels;

c) that more work needs to be done to ensure the mainstreaming of gender equality in all work of the Union;

d) that there is a need to continue fostering the participation of women and girls in the telecommunication/ICT domain at an early age and to provide input for further policy developments in the required areas, so as to ensure that the information and knowledge society contributes to their empowerment;

e) the need for ICT tools and applications to empower women and girls and to facilitate their access to the job market, especially in fields related to ICTs and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers,

taking into account

the amendments made in Resolution 48 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on human resources management and development, outlining procedures to facilitate the recruitment of women at ITU,

encourages Member States and Sector Members

1 to undertake actions to mainstream gender equality across government, the public and private sectors and academia, for the purpose of promoting innovation in telecommunication/ICT learning so as to foster the empowerment of women and girls, including those in rural and remote areas;

2 to review and revise, as appropriate, their respective policies and practices to ensure that recruitment, employment, training and advancement of women and men in the ICT sector are undertaken on a fair and equitable basis;

3 to facilitate the capacity building, skills development and employment of women and men equally in the telecommunication/ICT field, including at senior levels of responsibility in telecommunication/ICT administrations, government and regulatory bodies and intergovernmental organizations and in the private sector;

4 to review their policies and strategies related to the information society so as to ensure the inclusion of a gender perspective in all activities and the fostering of gender balance to secure equal opportunities through the use and appropriation of telecommunications/ICTs;

5 to strengthen educational policies and study plans in science and technology and to promote and increase the interest of, and opportunities for, women and girls in STEM and telecommunication/ICT careers, including women and girls in rural and remote areas, during elementary, secondary and higher education and lifelong education;

6 to attract more women and girls to study for and to pursue STEM careers, and acknowledge the achievements of leading women in these fields, particularly in innovation;

7 to encourage and support more women to take advantage of the opportunities offered by ICTs to establish and develop businesses and to foster potential contributions to economic growth;

8 to engage men in tackling gender inequality and encourage them to support women and girls in taking advantage of the opportunities offered by telecommunications/ICTs;

9 to make efforts to ensure gender-balanced representation in delegations to ITU conferences, assemblies and other meetings, as well as in candidatures for leadership roles, and encourage participation in Network of Women initiatives;

10 to actively participate in and promote EQUALS, the global partnership to bridge the gender digital divide;

11 to collect and provide to ITU data that are disaggregated by sex so as to support its activities in compiling and processing statistical data from countries to draw up indicators that take into account gender-equality issues, highlight trends in the sector and set benchmarks towards achieving equality,

resolves

1 to continue the work being done at ITU, and particularly in BDT, to promote gender equality in telecommunications/ICTs by recommending measures at the international, regional and national level on policies and programmes that improve socio-economic conditions for women and girls, particularly in developing countries[6];

2 to accord high priority to the incorporation of gender policies in the management, staffing and operation of ITU, so that ITU can become a leading organization in the implementation and achievement of gender equality so as to take advantage of the possibilities offered by ICTs to empower both men and women;

3 to incorporate the gender perspective in the implementation and evaluation of the ITU strategic and financial plans, as well as in the operational plans of the Sectors and the General Secretariat;

4 to have ITU compile and process statistical data from countries and draw up indicators that take into account gender-equality issues and highlight trends in the sector, disaggregated by social and economic factors, in particular sex and age;

5 to encourage, to the extent practicable, the adoption of gender-inclusive language in the work of the Union,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to accord high priority to monitoring the implementation of GEM, so that ITU can integrate a gender perspective throughout the organization and leverage the power of telecommunications/ICTs to empower women, girls, men and boys;

2 to continue and expand existing initiatives, and to accelerate the gender mainstreaming process, including through affirmative measures when necessary, in ITU as a whole, within existing budgetary resources, so as to ensure capacity building, skills development and the appointment of women to senior-level positions, including ITU elected positions, and also in recruitment for internships;

3 to allocate resources within ITU's budget to facilitate the implementation of this resolution to the fullest extent possible;

4 to examine the possibility for ITU, in close collaboration with relevant regional organizations, to take appropriate measures to establish a regional platform for women, devoted to using ICTs in order to promote gender equality and empowerment of women and girls,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to continue to ensure that the gender perspective is incorporated in the work programmes, management approaches and human resources development activities of ITU, and to submit an annual written report to the Council on progress made in the implementation of the GEM policy and action plan reflecting, with statistics broken down by sex and age, the gender balance by category within ITU, as well as the gender balance in ITU conferences and meetings, to be disseminated among the Member States;

2 to ensure the inclusion of a gender perspective in all ITU contributions with respect to the priority areas that must be tackled for the implementation of WSIS action lines;

3 to give priority to gender parity for posts in the Professional and higher categories in ITU, particularly in senior positions, in line with the United Nations Secretary-General's gender parity strategy;

4 to give appropriate priority to gender parity when choosing candidates who have equal qualifications for a post, taking into account geographical distribution (No. 154 of the ITU Constitution) and gender balance;

5 to amend ITU recruitment procedures to ensure that, under the requirements of these procedures, as a target at least 50 per cent of the candidates who move up to the next recruitment stage are women;

6 to continue to collect statistics on gender equality in recruitment and promotion, within ITU, and report these annually to the Council and publish them on the ITU website;

7 to report to the next plenipotentiary conference on the results and progress made on the inclusion of a gender perspective in the work of ITU, and on the implementation of this resolution;

8 to make sure that each shortlist submitted to the Secretary-General for appointment includes at least one woman among the candidates;

9 to ensure gender parity in the composition of ITU statutory committees;

10 to continue to provide training in gender equality for all staff, including training for staff in senior and leadership positions;

11 to continue to support gender equality mainstreaming in cooperation with other relevant organizations, including through initiatives such as EQUALS;

12 to make efforts to mobilize voluntary contributions from Member States, Sector Members and others for the purpose of supporting gender-equality mainstreaming and outcomes in cooperation with other relevant organizations;

13 to encourage administrations to give equal opportunities to women and men candidates for elected official posts and for membership of the Radio Regulations Board;

14 to encourage the launch of a Global Network of Women ICT Decision-makers;

15 to bring this resolution to the attention of the United Nations Secretary-General in an effort to promote greater cooperation and coordination in the policies, programmes and projects being implemented by ITU and interlinking access, use and appropriation of telecommunications/ICT and broadband among women and girls, and to promote gender equality and empowerment of women and girls;

16 to fulfil the obligations of submitting reports as required by UN-SWAP and ensure compliance with performance indicators;

17 to facilitate the creation of a mechanism that supports the alignment, cooperation and coordination of activities in ITU that empower women across the Sectors, including Network of Women initiatives and WISE activities, in close consultation with these networks and groups, and to encourage alignment of shared activities;

18 to continue to support cross-cutting and cross-sectoral training and upskilling of women delegates to ITU meetings, within the available resources of the Union;

19 to consider the creation of a sponsorship programme that supports women delegates who have completed training and upskilling initiatives to attend ITU meetings in order to facilitate a pipeline of women delegates to ITU conferences and assemblies,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to explore options for delivering a mentoring programme open to participation of the ITU membership under which young women and girls beginning their schooling in ICTs and STEM curricula may have mentors to accompany them and to transfer to them their expertise and knowledge throughout their careers;

2 to continue and expand existing initiatives ensuring gender balance in granting ITU fellowships to participate in ITU meetings and activities,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to continue promoting, among the other United Nations agencies, ITU Member States and Sector Members, the international Girls in ICT Day, which, since 2011, takes place every fourth Thursday of April, and during which telecommunication/ICT companies, other enterprises with telecommunication/ICT departments, telecommunication/ICT training institutions, universities, research centres and all telecommunication/ICT-related institutions are invited to organize activities for girls and young women, as well as online training and/or workshops, day camps and summer camps, in order to promote and increase the interest of, and opportunities for, women and girls in telecommunication/ICT careers during elementary, secondary and higher education;

2 to call upon women's organizations and non-governmental and civil-society organizations throughout the world to join in the celebration of the international Girls in ICT Day, as well as to provide, inter alia, online training and/or workshops and day camps;

3 to maintain the ITU website in the six official languages of the Union in order to ensure broad dissemination of the actions and activities developed by the membership around the world on the occasion of the celebration of the international Girls in ICT Day, as well as the achievements of these actions;

4 to continue the work of BDT in promoting the use of telecommunications/ICTs for the economic and social empowerment of women and girls, working with them to tackle disparities and facilitating the acquisition of skills for life;

5 to continue to assist developing countries in order to expedite bridging the digital gender divide;

6 to ensure significant contributions to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including SDG 5,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to make voluntary contributions to ITU to support the implementation of this resolution to the fullest extent possible;

2 to collect data disaggregated by social and economic factors and in particular by sex and age in order to facilitate better understanding of the impact of telecommunications/ICTs on the achievement of gender equality and women's empowerment;

3 to observe and promote annually the international Girls in ICT Day, held on the fourth Thursday of April, to share with BDT lessons learned from the Girls in ICT Day activities whenever necessary, and to invite ICT companies, other companies with ICT departments, ICT training institutions, universities, research centres and all ICT-related institutions to organize an open day for girls;

4 to actively support and participate in the work of BDT in promoting the use of telecommunications/ICTs for the economic and social empowerment of women and girls;

5 to actively encourage the participation of women in activities of ITU that empower women, including Network of Women initiatives and WISE activities;

6 to actively participate in the launch of a Global Network of Women ICT Decision-makers aimed at promoting the work of ITU in using ICTs for the social and economic empowerment of women and girls, including by building partnerships and synergies between existing networks at national, regional and international levels;

7 to foster successful strategies to strengthen gender equality in senior-level positions in telecommunication/ICT administrations, government, regulatory bodies and intergovernmental organizations, including ITU, and in the private sector;

8 to highlight a gender perspective in the questions under study in the ITU-D study groups and the programmes of the Kigali Action Plan;

9 to further develop internal tools and programming guidelines in the area of promotion of gender equality in the use of ICTs;

10 to collaborate with relevant stakeholders that have significant experience in mainstreaming gender equality in projects and programmes, in order to provide specialized training for women and girls on ICT use;

11 to provide support so that women and girls can have equal access to studies and careers in telecommunications/ICTs, by creating opportunities, fostering their incorporation into teaching and learning processes, and/or encouraging their professional training;

12 to support and/or promote the funding of studies, projects and proposals that contribute to overcoming gender inequalities and discrimination in the field of telecommunications/ICTs and to fostering and promoting telecommunications/ICTs to empower women and girls, including those who live in rural and remote areas and are in vulnerable situations;

13 to nominate on an annual basis deserving organizations and individuals for the EQUALS in Tech Awards;

14 to achieve SDG 5 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

15 to encourage greater participation of women within their delegations to ITU events.

[1] "Gender perspective": Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. (Source: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/GMS.PDF)

[2] http://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/un-system-coordination/promoting-un-accountability

[3] These Guidelines include a number of strategies to help United Nations staff use gender-inclusive language. They may be applied to any type of communication, whether it is oral or written, formal or informal, or addressed to an internal or external audience. The guidelines can be found online: https://www.un.org/en/gender-inclusive-language/guidelines.shtml.

[4] https://itu.foleon.com/itu/measuring-digital-development/gender-gap/

[5] https://www.equalsintech.org/

[6] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 71 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) the articles and provisions of the ITU Constitution and ITU Convention relating to strategic policies and plans and the participation of Sector Members in the Union's activities;

b) Resolution 25 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which resolves, among other things, to strengthen the functions of the regional and area offices so that they can play an important role in implementation of the ITU strategic plan, programmes and projects, and regional initiatives;

c) Resolution 48 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which resolves, among other things, that the management and development of ITU's human resources should continue to be compatible with the mission, values, goals and activities of the Union and the United Nations common system;

d) Resolution 70 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which resolves to incorporate the gender perspective in the implementation and evaluation of the ITU strategic and financial plans, as well as in the operational plans of the Sectors and the General Secretariat;

e) Resolution 140 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference on ITU's role in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as in their follow-up and review processes;

f) Resolution 151 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the three Bureaux to continue to develop a comprehensive ITU results framework to support implementation of the strategic, financial and operational plans and budget and increase the capability of the Union's membership to assess progress in the achievement of ITU's goals, and to prepare their coordinated and consolidated operational plans reflecting the linkages with the strategic and financial plans of the Union;

g) Resolution 191 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which instructs the Secretary-General to continue enhancing a coordination and cooperation strategy for effective and efficient efforts in areas of mutual interest to the three ITU Sectors and the General Secretariat, in order to avoid duplication of effort and optimize the use of resources of the Union;

h) Resolution 200 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the implementation of the Connect 2030 Agenda and the contribution towards the worldwide efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,

considering further

a) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolutions 75/233 of 21 December 2020, on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, 72/279 of 31 May 2018, on the repositioning of the United Nations development system in the context of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, and 74/297 of 11 August 2020, on progress in the implementation of UNGA Resolution 71/243;

b) that, in the declaration adopted on 21 September 2020 in UNGA Resolution 75/1, on the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, United Nations Member States acknowledged the importance of technology as a major global issue and undertook to improve digital cooperation in order to maximize the benefits of digital technologies while reducing their risks,

noting

a) the challenges faced by the Union in achieving its purposes in the constantly changing telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) environment as well as the context for the development and implementation of the strategic plan, as outlined in Annex 2 to this resolution;

b) the glossary of terms presented in Annex 3 to this resolution,

recognizing

a) the experience gained in implementing the previous strategic plans for the Union;

b) the recommendations of United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) Report 2012/12: Strategic planning in the United Nations system;

c) the persistent digital divide and ITU's role in expanding connectivity worldwide and in the use of telecommunications/ICTs for social, economic and environmentally sustainable development, particularly in the context of the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19);

d) the recommendations relevant to strategic planning and risk management in the JIU report on review of management and administration in ITU;

e) that the effective linkage between the strategic plan and the financial plan is detailed in Annex 1 to Decision 5 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, as presented in Appendix А to Annex 1 to this resolution;

f) the new ITU Accountability Framework, endorsed by the ITU Council at its 2022 session, aiming to further strengthen the Union's accountability mechanisms and internal controls,

resolves

to adopt the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027 contained in Annex 1 to this resolution,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to continue improving the ITU results framework for monitoring the implementation of the strategic plan for the Union, following the principles of results-based management and results-based budgeting;

2 to coordinate the implementation of the strategic plan, ensuring coherence between the strategic plan, the financial plan, the operational plans and the biennial budgets;

3 to recommend to the Council making adjustments to the strategic and financial plans in line with its mandate and in the light of changes in the telecommunication/ICT environment and/or as a result of the performance evaluation and the risk-management framework, in particular by:

i) making all necessary modifications to ensure that the strategic plan facilitates the accomplishment of ITU's goals and priorities, taking account of proposals by the Sector advisory groups, decisions by conferences and by assemblies of the Sectors and changes in the strategic focus of the Union's activities, within the financial limits established by the Plenipotentiary Conference;

ii) ensuring the linkage between the strategic, financial and operational plans in ITU, and the corresponding human resources strategic plan;

4 to report annually to the Council on the implementation of the strategic plan and on the performance of the Union towards the achievement of its goals;

5 to distribute these reports to all Member States, after consideration by the Council, urging them to circulate the reports to Sector Members, as well as to those entities and organizations referred to in No. 235 of the Convention which have participated in the implementation of the plans;

6 to continue to engage with the United Nations with a view to supporting full implementation of UNGA resolutions related to telecommunications/ICTs,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to oversee the development and implementation of the ITU results framework, including the adoption of the related indicators to better measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation of the strategic plan for the Union;

2 to oversee the development and implementation of the strategic plan, and when necessary adjust the strategic plan, on the basis of the Secretary-General's reports;

3 to present an assessment of the results of the strategic plan to the next plenipotentiary conference, along with a proposed draft strategic plan for the next quadrennial period for adoption;

4 to take appropriate action to support the implementation of the relevant UNGA resolutions;

5 to ensure that the rolling operational plans from the General Secretariat and the three Sectors approved annually by the Council are fully aligned and compliant with this resolution and its annexes and with the financial plan for the Union approved in Decision 5 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference,

invites Member States

to contribute national and regional insights on policy, regulatory and operational matters in the domain of telecommunications/ICTs to the strategic planning process undertaken by the Union in the period before the next plenipotentiary conference, in order to:

− strengthen the effectiveness of the Union in fulfilling its purposes as set out in the instruments of the Union, by cooperating in the implementation of the strategic plan, keeping in mind the values and principles of "One ITU";

− assist the Union in meeting the changing expectations of all its constituents as national structures for the provision of telecommunication/ICT services continue to evolve,

invites Sector Members

to communicate their views on the strategic plan for the Union through their relevant Sectors and the corresponding advisory groups.

ANNEX 1 TO RESOLUTION 71 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

ITU strategic plan for 2024-2027

1 Overview of ITU's structure

1 Pursuant to the ITU Constitution and ITU Convention, the Union comprises: a) the Plenipotentiary Conference, which is the supreme organ of the Union; b) the ITU Council, which acts on behalf of the Plenipotentiary Conference in the interval between plenipotentiary conferences; c) world conferences on international telecommunications; d) the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), including world and regional radiocommunication conferences, radiocommunication assemblies, the Radio Regulations Board, the radiocommunication study groups and advisory group, and the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR); e) the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), including world telecommunication standardization assemblies, the telecommunication standardization study groups and advisory group, and the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB); f) the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D), including world and regional telecommunication development conferences, the telecommunication development study groups and advisory group and the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT); and g) the General Secretariat. The three Bureaux serve as the secretariat to each respective Sector.

2 As outlined in ITU's basic instruments, ITU-R is responsible for ensuring the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum by all radiocommunication services, including those using the geostationary-satellite or other satellite orbits, and for carrying out studies without limit of frequency range and adopting recommendations on radiocommunication matters.

3 The functions of ITU-T are to fulfil the purposes of the Union relating to telecommunication standardization, bearing in mind the particular concerns of developing countries[1], by studying technical, operating and tariff questions and adopting recommendations on them with a view to standardizing telecommunications on a worldwide basis.

4 The functions of ITU-D include discharging the Union's dual responsibility as a United Nations specialized agency and executing agency for implementing projects under the United Nations development system or other funding arrangements so as to facilitate and enhance telecommunication development by offering, organizing and coordinating technical cooperation and assistance activities, to close the digital divide.

5 The ITU Sectors have complementary mandates and cooperate under the implementation of this strategic plan to fulfil the purposes of the Union.

6 The functions of the General Secretariat include coordinating and reporting on the implementation of the strategic plan and being responsible for the overall management of the Union's resources. The General Secretariat aims to provide high-quality and efficient services to the membership of the Union.

2 ITU strategic framework for 2024-2027

2.1 Overall framework

7 The figure below outlines the key components of the strategic framework. These include vision, mission, strategic goals and targets, thematic priorities and outcomes, product and service offerings, and enablers.

Components of strategic plan

Definition

Vision

The better world ITU wants to see.

Mission

Main overall purposes of the Union, as per the basic instruments of ITU.

Strategic goals

The Union's high-level goals which enable the realization of its mission.

Targets

The desired results the Union aims to achieve in order to deliver on its strategic goals, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the World Summit on the Information Society action lines.

Thematic priorities

Areas of work that the Union focuses on and in which outcomes will be achieved to meet the strategic goals.

Outcomes

Key results the Union aims to achieve under its thematic priorities.

Product and service offerings

The range of ITU's products and services that are deployed to support the Union's work under its thematic priorities.

Enablers

Ways of working that allow the Union to deliver on its goals and priorities more effectively and efficiently.

Operational plan and Sectors' priorities

The operational plan is prepared on a yearly basis by each Bureau, in consultation with the relevant advisory group, and by the General Secretariat, in accordance with the strategic and financial plans. It contains the detailed plan for the subsequent year and a forecast for the following three-year period for each Sector and the General Secretariat. The Council reviews and approves the four-year rolling operational plans.

2.2 Vision

8 "An information society, empowered by the interconnected world, where telecommunications/information and communication technologies enable and accelerate social, economic and environmentally sustainable growth and development for everyone."

2.3 Mission

9 "ITU's mission is to promote, facilitate and foster affordable and universal access to telecommunication/information and communication technology networks, services and applications and their use for social, economic and environmentally sustainable growth and development."

2.4 Strategic goals

10 The strategic goals of the Union are listed hereafter and support ITU's realization of its mission and role in facilitating progress towards the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) action lines and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

11 Goal 1 – Universal Connectivity: Enable and foster universal access to affordable, high-quality and secure telecommunications/ICTs. To advance universal connectivity, ITU will make efforts to achieve universally accessible, affordable, high-quality, interoperable and secure telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, services and applications. ITU will coordinate efforts to prevent and eliminate harmful interference to radiocommunication services, facilitate the worldwide standardization of telecommunications, and leverage existing and emerging technologies, connectivity solutions and business models to close the digital divide in access in all countries, regions and for all humanity.

12 Goal 2 – Sustainable Digital Transformation: Foster equitable and inclusive use of telecommunications/ICTs to empower people and societies for sustainable development. By leveraging telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs), ITU will strive to facilitate digital transformation to help build an inclusive society and economy for sustainable development. ITU will thereby work to close the digital divide in the use of telecommunications/ICTs in all countries and for all peoples, including women and girls, youth, indigenous peoples, older persons, persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs. ITU will work to promote and enable digital transformation across spheres of life and activity, to address the dual climate and environmental crisis, and to foster the advancement of science, sustainable exploration of Earth and space, and the use of their resources for the benefit of all.

2.5 Targets for the Union's Connect 2030 Agenda

13 The targets represent the effect and long-term impact of ITU's work, providing an indication of progress towards achievement of the strategic goals of the Union, and ITU's commitment to enabling the implementation of the WSIS action lines and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ITU will work collaboratively with the full range of other organizations and entities around the world committed to advancing the use of telecommunications/ICTs for a connected world by 2030.

Targets for Goal 1: Universal Connectivity – by 2030:

1.1: Universal broadband coverage

1.2: Broadband services to be affordable for all

1.3: Broadband access to every household

1.4: Ownership of and access to Internet-enabled devices

1.5: Access to the Internet for all schools

1.6: Improved cybersecurity preparedness of countries (with key capabilities: presence of strategy, national computer incident/emergency response teams and legislation)

1.7: Universal access to the Internet by all individuals

Targets for Goal 2: Sustainable Digital Transformation – by 2030:

2.1: All digital gaps to be bridged (in particular gender, age and urban/rural)

2.2: Majority of individuals to have digital skills

2.3: Universal usage of Internet services by businesses

2.4: Majority of individuals accessing government services online

2.5: Significant improvement of ICTs' contribution to climate and environment action

2.6 Thematic priorities

14 The Sectors and General Secretariat will work together under ITU's thematic priorities to deliver outcomes towards achieving the Union's strategic goals. These thematic priorities and associated outcomes are described below.

Spectrum use for space and terrestrial services

15 The radio-frequency spectrum and associated satellite-orbit resources are limited natural resources that must be used rationally, efficiently and economically, in conformity with the provisions of the Radio Regulations, so that countries or groups of countries may have equitable access to those orbits and frequencies, taking into account the special needs of developing countries and the geographical situation of particular countries.

16 ITU activities under this thematic priority are focused on improving the use of the radio-frequency spectrum for radiocommunication services and of the geostationary-satellite and other satellite orbits, while coordinating efforts to prevent and resolve harmful interference between radio stations of different countries and facilitating the efficient and effective operation of all radiocommunication services. ITU also carries out studies and develops recommendations on radiocommunication technologies and systems facilitating more efficient use of spectrum/orbit resources.

17 ITU's work under spectrum use for space and terrestrial services is expected to deliver the following outcomes:

1) Radio-frequency spectrum and orbit resources are used efficiently, economically, rationally and equitably.

2) Avoidance of causing harmful interference.

3) Enhanced application of ITU-R recommendations, including those dealing with propagation modelling, used for efficient spectrum management, as well as for sharing and compatibility.

International telecommunication numbering resources

18 International telecommunication numbering resources include numbering, naming, addressing and identification (NNAI), all of which are instrumental to the functioning of international telecommunication/ICT networks and services and applications. International telecommunication numbering resources are essential to fixed and mobile interpersonal communications services, as well as to non-interpersonal machine-to-machine communications and Internet of Things connectivity services.

19 Effective management of these limited resources on a global level is vital in order to respond to ever-growing demand from the telecommunication/ICT sector and other communities.

20 ITU has the unique responsibility to allocate and manage these resources and contributes to the optimum functioning of international telecommunication networks and services.

21 ITU's work under international telecommunication numbering resources is expected to deliver the following outcomes:

1) Effective allocation and management of international telecommunication numbering, naming, addressing and identification (NNAI) resources in accordance with ITU-T recommendations and procedures.

2) Enhanced availability of international telecommunication networks and services.

3) Reduced misappropriation and misuse of numbering, naming, addressing and identification (NNAI) resources.

Inclusive and secure telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services

22 Inclusive and secure telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services are the fundamental and integral components of digital transformation. An important aspect of this thematic priority is to focus on inclusive and worldwide connectivity by way of enabling interoperability, improving performance, quality and affordability and enhancing sustainability of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services. Another important element of this thematic priority is the promotion of inclusion, digital literacy and skills.

23 The work under this priority shall also provide for greater compatibility and coexistence of different radio services free from harmful interference.

24 Building confidence and security in telecommunications/ICTs is essential for their widespread adoption and use.

25 Another important aspect of this thematic priority is to assist Member States in technical and organizational aspects of building confidence and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs by way of, inter alia, enhancing the quality, reliability and resilience of networks and systems with minimal negative impacts.

26 To achieve this, the Union will work to foster the development of inclusive and secure telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services, including through the development of international standards and new technologies for radiocommunication services and for the operation and interworking of telecommunication networks, and by providing assistance to the membership on new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies.

27 ITU's work under inclusive and secure telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services is expected to deliver the following outcomes:

1) Enhanced connectivity and access for all to fixed and mobile broadband services.

2) Enhanced use of radiocommunication services.

3) Enhanced digital skills and literacy.

4) Enhanced knowledge of the ITU membership on interoperability and performance with respect to inclusive and secure telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, services and applications.

5) Enhanced capacity of the ITU membership to deploy inclusive, secure and resilient telecommunication/ICT infrastructures, to address cybersecurity-related incidents, to build confidence and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs, and to adopt risk-management practices.

6) Enhanced utilization of ITU's unique partnerships for capacity building and training on digital skills and public awareness of cybersecurity issues.

7) Assisting the ITU membership in developing their national cybersecurity strategies.

8) Assisting the ITU membership in implementing international standards that are relevant to this thematic priority.

Digital applications

28 Widespread availability of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services has acted as a catalyst for uptake and innovation in related digital applications, improving people's lives and empowering society for sustainable digital transformation. Telecommunication/ICT applications and fostering their development through ICT entrepreneurship and increased ICT innovation in the ICT ecosystem have shown great promise in areas including, but not limited to, health care, education, banking and the provision of public services to citizens.

29 ITU contributes to increasing the availability, interoperability, scalability and impact of telecommunication/ICT applications, including in underserved areas, by developing digital strategies and international standards, by strengthening ICT-centric innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship through development of strategies, initiatives and support for institutional and human capacity building, and by providing technical assistance to meet the needs and requirements of the ITU membership.

30 ITU's work under digital applications is expected to deliver the following outcomes:

1) Enhanced interoperability and performance of telecommunication/ICT applications.

2) Enhanced adoption and use of telecommunication/ICT applications, including for e-government.

3) Increased deployment of telecommunication/ICT networks and services needed for such applications.

4) Improved capacity to leverage telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainable development.

Enabling environment

31 An enabling environment consists of a policy and regulatory environment conducive to sustainable telecommunication/ICT development that encourages innovation and investment in infrastructure and ICTs and that increases adoption of telecommunications/ICTs to reduce the digital divide and promote a more inclusive and equal society.

32 To foster an enabling environment, the Union will work to provide assistance to Member States on technical and organizational aspects in developing an innovative and meaningful environment, by establishing new partnerships and utilizing existing, as well as new and emerging, telecommunication/ICT services and technologies, connectivity solutions and new business models, with a focus on digital inclusion and environmental sustainability.

33 ITU's role in creating an enabling environment also entails the promotion of active participation of the membership, in particular developing countries, including least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and countries with economies in transition; the definition and adoption of international telecommunication/ICT standards and regulations with a view to bridging the standardization gap; the fostering of equitable access to radio-frequency spectrum, satellite-orbit and other essential resources; and the development of best practices and capacity to close the digital divide.

34 ITU's work under enabling environment is expected to deliver the following outcomes:

1) Conducive policy and regulatory environment for innovation and investment to drive social and economic growth.

2) Digitally skilled users.

3) Enhanced digital inclusion[2].

4) Enhanced ability of all countries, in particular developing countries, to develop and implement strategies, policies and practices for digital inclusion, access and use telecommunications/ICTs, implement, and participate in the development of, ITU's international standards, recommendations, best practices and regulations.

5) Enhanced adoption of policies and strategies for the environmentally sustainable use of telecommunications/ICTs.

2.7 Product and service offerings

35 To achieve the outcomes under the thematic priorities, ITU deploys a range of products and services for its members, United Nations agencies and other stakeholders; this range of products and services is presented below. Each Sector and the General Secretariat will provide more detailed information on how they will deploy these products and services in their respective operational plans.

Development and application of the ITU Administrative Regulations

36 The ITU Administrative Regulations, which complement the Constitution and Convention, regulate the use of telecommunications/ICTs and are binding on all Member States.

37 The foundation of international frequency management is the Radio Regulations, the binding international treaty that contains regulatory provisions and procedures which describe how the administrations from all ITU Member States may exercise rights to use the radio-frequency spectrum in the various frequency bands for the purpose for which they are allocated, and the corresponding obligations.

38 The Radio Regulations have the following objectives: to facilitate equitable access to and rational use of the natural resources of the radio-frequency spectrum and the geostationary and other satellite orbits; to ensure the availability and protection from harmful interference of the frequencies provided for distress and safety purposes; to assist in the prevention and resolution of cases of harmful interference between the radio services of different administrations; to facilitate the efficient and effective operation of all radiocommunication services; to provide for and, where necessary, regulate new applications of radiocommunication technology.

39 The Radio Regulations and regional agreements are updated by world and regional radiocommunication conferences, preceded by a period of supporting technical and regulatory studies. Additionally, ITU continues to oversee the implementation and execution of these legal instruments, and to develop enabling processes and associated software tools that facilitate their application by ITU Member States.

40 The International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) and the Radio Regulations comprise the Administrative Regulations, and as such complement the Constitution and Convention. The ITRs establish general principles which relate to the provision and operation of international telecommunication services offered to the public. The World Conference on International Telecommunications may partially or in exceptional cases completely revise the ITRs.

Allocation and management of resources

41 ITU performs effective allocation of bands of the radio-frequency spectrum, the allotment of radio frequencies and the registration of radio-frequency assignments and, for space services, of any associated orbital position in the geostationary satellite orbit or of any associated characteristics of satellites in other orbits.

42 At the same time, ITU coordinates efforts to prevent and eliminate harmful interference between radio stations of different countries and to improve the use of spectrum and satellite orbits by radiocommunication services.

43 ITU also ensures the effective allocation and management of international telecommunication numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources in accordance with ITU recommendations and procedures.

Development of international standards

44 ITU assembles experts from around the world to develop international standards, known as ITU-R and ITU-T recommendations, which act as defining elements for global telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, services and applications.

45 ITU carries out studies and adopts recommendations and reports on radiocommunication matters that provide for greater sharing and compatibility of different radio services, more efficient and equitable use of the radio-frequency spectrum free from harmful interference, worldwide connectivity and interoperability, improved performance, quality, affordability, timeliness of service and overall system economy in telecommunications/ICTs.

46 ITU studies technical, operating and tariff questions and adopts recommendations on them with a view to standardizing telecommunications on a worldwide basis.

47 ITU's work includes the establishment of international technical standards for new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs, creating an enabling environment for their introduction and utilization.

Development of policy frameworks and knowledge products

48 ITU assists its Member States in promoting increased connectivity, closing digital divides, enabling digital transformation and building smart societies by developing and providing policy frameworks and best-practice guidelines.

49 ITU develops handbooks, technical reports and papers on telecommunication/ICT matters to assist the ITU membership, through its study group process.

50 Best practices from Member States, the private sector, research and academia are collected and shared back with Member States.

51 ITU provides knowledge-exchange products and tools to enable inclusive dialogue and enhanced cooperation to help countries achieve a more inclusive society, and supports its membership in understanding and navigating the challenges and opportunities that come with promoting connectivity and digital transformation.

Provision of data and statistics

52 ITU collects and disseminates vital data and carries out world-class research to track and make sense of connectivity and digital transformation globally. Through a range of tools and activities, ITU supports Member States and other stakeholders throughout the data lifecycle, from setting standards and methods for data collection to promoting the use of data in decision-making.

53 Being responsible for the international statistical standards for telecommunication/ICT indicators, ITU regularly publishes standards, definitions and collection methods for over 200 indicators, which represent a key reference for statisticians and economists seeking to measure digital development.

54 As the custodian agency for several SDG indicators on connectivity and digital skills (4.4.1, 5.b.1, 9.c.1, 17.6.1 and 17.8.1), ITU is responsible for monitoring these indicators and actively contributing to advancing the statistics agenda within the United Nations system.

Capacity development

55 ITU develops the capacity of telecommunication/ICT professionals and works towards boosting digital literacy and skills of citizens. Through its capacity-development programme, ITU aims to achieve a society where all people use knowledge and skills on digital technologies to improve their livelihoods.

56 ITU also develops capacity and provides tools for the membership to engage in and benefit from the activities of the Union. This enables them to exercise their rights and obligations under the Radio Regulations, ITRs and regional agreements, and to develop, access, implement and influence ITU's international standards with a view to bridging the standardization gap.

57 ITU also promotes, especially by means of partnership, the development, expansion and use of telecommunication/ICT networks, services and applications, particularly in developing countries, taking into account the activities of other relevant bodies, by reinforcing capacity development.

Provision of technical assistance

58 ITU promotes and offers technical assistance to Member States, in particular to developing countries, including LDCs, SIDS, LLDCs and countries with economies in transition, and regional telecommunication organizations, in the field of telecommunications.

59 ITU offers tailor-made projects and solutions for multistakeholder needs, with recognized long-standing technical expertise in the telecommunication/ICT field and comprehensive experience in project development, management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, with a focus on results-based management. This also provides opportunities for public-private partnerships and a trusted platform to address development needs through the use of telecommunications/ICTs.

60 ITU also provides assistance for the implementation of decisions of world and regional conferences, as well as support for radio-frequency spectrum coordination activities among ITU members, and software tools to assist the administrations of developing countries to undertake their spectrum-management responsibilities more effectively.

61 In addition, ITU collaborates and cooperates with other United Nations bodies/agencies within the framework of their respective mandates.

Convening platforms

62 ITU is uniquely positioned to bring together a wide range of stakeholders as a convening platform in telecommunications/ICTs, to share experiences and knowledge, collaborate and identify means to bring affordable, safe, secure and trusted connectivity and use to people everywhere.

63 Through its convening platforms, ITU encourages international cooperation and partnerships for the growth of telecommunications/ICTs, especially with regional telecommunication organizations and with global and regional development financing institutions.

2.8 Enablers

64 Enablers are ITU's ways of working that allow it to deliver on its goals and priorities more effectively and efficiently. They reflect the Union's values of efficiency, transparency and accountability, openness, universality and neutrality, and being people-centred, service-oriented and results-based, and leverage its key strengths and address its weaknesses so that it can support its membership.

Membership-driven

65 ITU will continue to work as a membership-driven organization, to effectively support and reflect the needs of its diverse members. ITU recognizes the needs of all countries, in particular those of developing countries, including LDCs, SIDS, LLDCs and countries with economies in transition, as well as underserved and vulnerable populations, which should be prioritized and given due attention. ITU will also work to deepen its engagement with representatives of the telecommunication/ICT and other industry sectors, to demonstrate ITU's value proposition in the context of the strategic goals.

Regional presence

66 As an extension of ITU as a whole, the regional presence plays a vital role in the achievement of ITU's mission, enhancing the Union's understanding of local contexts and its ability to respond to countries' needs effectively. The regional presence will consolidate strategic planning at the level of each regional/area office, implementing programmes and initiatives that are consistent with and based on the Union's strategic goals and priorities.

67 By applying the global targets and clarifying programme priorities at the regional level, ITU will also seek to enhance its overall global effectiveness and impact.

68 The regional presence will strengthen ITU's position as a shaper/doer and enhance United Nations cooperation, to build enhanced regional opportunities and thereby reach more countries and define clearer, more impactful priorities for country-level engagements.

69 Efforts will also be made to strengthen capacity at the regional level to ensure the ability of the regional and area offices to implement the programmes and engagements determined based on the Union's strategic goals and priorities.

Diversity and inclusion

70 ITU remains committed to mainstreaming diversity and inclusion practices across its work, to ensure equality and promote the rights of marginalized groups. In the pursuit of its goals, ITU will work to bridge the digital divide and build an inclusive society, by fostering telecommunication/ICT access, affordability and use in all countries and for all peoples, including women and girls, youth, indigenous peoples, older persons, persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs. Internally, ITU continues to cultivate an inclusive culture that promotes diversity among its workforce and members.

Commitment to environmental sustainability

71 ITU recognizes that telecommunications/ICTs come with risks, challenges and opportunities for the environment. ITU is committed to helping to use telecommunications/ICTs for monitoring, mitigating and adapting to climate change, facilitating digital solutions for energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions, and protecting human health and the environment from e-waste. ITU will apply an environmental lens across its work to promote sustainable digital transformation, while at the same time continuing to address climate change from within and systematically integrating environmental sustainability considerations across its operations in line with the Strategy for sustainability management in the United Nations system, 2020-2030.

Partnerships and international cooperation

72 To increase global collaboration towards its mission, ITU continues to strengthen partnerships among its members and other stakeholders. In doing so, ITU can leverage its diverse membership and multilateral convening power to foster cooperation among governments and regulators, the private sector and the academic community. ITU also recognizes the importance of cultivating strategic partnerships with United Nations agencies and other organizations, including standardization bodies, to enhance cooperation across the telecommunication/ICT sector towards the delivery of the WSIS action lines and the achievement of SDGs.

Resource mobilization

73 Accelerated resource-mobilization efforts and increased financing are critical to achieving the goals of the Union and enhancing ITU support for the membership. ITU, therefore, recognizes the need to identify the most effective ways to mobilize extrabudgetary resources, build its resource-mobilization capacity and enhance its current fundraising strategy while leveraging partner inputs to complement these efforts.

74 ITU will develop long-term financial commitment frameworks in order to effectively plan, programme and deliver on projects and enhance predictability of resource flows.

Excellence in human resources and organizational innovation

75 Enhancing operational efficiency and effectiveness enables ITU to respond to changes in the telecommunication/ICT landscape and evolving membership needs. ITU, therefore, aims to improve internal processes and accelerate internal decision-making by addressing operational inefficiencies, duplication and perceived bureaucracy, reflecting the values of transparency and accountability. ITU also recognizes the need to build operational effectiveness, by increasing cross-functional synergies, encouraging internal innovation, providing consistent guidance on the organization's scope and developing a stronger performance- and talent-management approach. The greatest resource of ITU is a skilled, motivated and dedicated workforce of the highest competence and integrity, geographically diverse and gender balanced, empowered to achieve ITU's mission and strategic priorities through a commitment to managing results. The main focus of the organization is on modernizing ITU's human capacity, processes, procedures and tools, as well as on integration and harmonization with the United Nations common system and the values of the international civil service. To this end, ITU will be implementing a culture and skills transformation plan that will strengthen organizational openness, agility and efficiency, to be based on four main tracks: strategic planning, digital transformation, innovation and human resources management.

2.9 Strategic risk management

76 Bearing in mind the prevailing challenges, evolutions and transformations that have the most potential to impact on ITU activities during the period of the strategic plan, a list of strategic risks with corresponding mitigation measures has been identified by the Council. ITU will further analyse, assess and evaluate these strategic risks as part of the ITU Risk-Management Framework, to be reviewed annually by the Council.

3 ITU results framework

A Strategic goals and targets

Goal

Targets

Target indicators

Universal Connectivity

1.1: Universal broadband coverage

– Percentage of the world population covered by broadband services (SDG indicator 9.c.1 – ITU is custodian agency)

1.2: Broadband services to be affordable for all

– Cost of entry-level broadband services in developing countries as percentage of monthly gross national income (GNI) per capita

1.3: Broadband access to every household

– Percentage of households with access to the Internet (by level of development; urban/rural)

1.4: Ownership of and access to Internet-enabled devices

– Percentage of individuals using a smart telephone

– Percentage of individuals who own a smart telephone

1.5: Access to the Internet for all schools

– Percentage of schools with entry-level Internet service (at least 500 MB per month)

1.6: Improved cybersecurity preparedness of countries (with key capabilities: presence of strategy, national computer incident/emergency response teams and legislation)

– Increased commitment measured through the pillars of the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI)

1.7: Universal access to the Internet by all individuals

– Percentage of individuals using the Internet (by urban/rural; aggregated by region, level of development) (SDG indicator 17.8.1 – ITU is custodian agency)

Sustainable Digital Transformation

2.1: All digital gaps to be bridged (in particular gender, age and urban/rural)

– Percentage of individuals using the Internet (by gender, age and urban/rural)

2.2: Majority of individuals to have digital skills

– Percentage of youth and adults with ICT skills (by type of skill) (SDG indicator 4.4.1 – ITU is custodian agency)

2.3: Universal usage of Internet services by businesses

– Percentage of businesses using the Internet (total and by size)

2.4: Majority of individuals accessing government services online

– Percentage of population interacting with government services online

2.5: Significant improvement of ICTs' contribution to climate and environment action

– Global e-waste recycling rate

– Contribution of telecommunications/ICTs to global greenhouse gas emissions

B Thematic priorities and outcomes

Thematic priorities

Outcome

Outcome indicators

Spectrum use for space and terrestrial services

1) Radio-frequency spectrum and orbit resources are used efficiently, economically, rationally and equitably

a) Space services

b) Terrestrial services

– Number of countries having notified frequency assignments for recording in the MIFR with completion of coordination

– Number of countries having notified frequency assignments for recording in the MIFR with completion of coordination in the last four-year period

– Number of countries having earth stations recorded in the MIFR

– Number of countries which notified earth stations in the MIFR in the last four-year period

– Number of countries having terrestrial assignments recorded in the MIFR with favourable findings

– Number of countries having terrestrial assignments recorded in the MIFR in the last four-year period

Thematic priorities

Outcome

Outcome indicators

2) Avoidance of causing harmful interference

a) To space services

b) To terrestrial services

– Percentage of spectrum assigned to satellite networks that is free from reported harmful interference

– Percentage of spectrum used for space services within the admissible interference criteria contained in the Radio Regulations

– Cases of harmful interference (space services) reported to the BR and resolved/to be resolved in the last four-year period (percentage)

– Cases of harmful interference (terrestrial services) reported to BR and resolved/to be resolved in the last four-year period (percentage)

– Percentage of spectrum use for terrestrial services within the admissible interference criteria, where applicable, contained in the Radio Regulations

3) Enhanced application of ITU-R recommendations, including those dealing with propagation modelling, used for efficient spectrum management, as well as for sharing and compatibility

– Number of downloads of ITU-R recommendations

International telecom- munication numbering resources

1) Effective allocation and management of international telecommunication numbering, naming, addressing and identification (NNAI) resources in accordance with ITU-T recommendations and procedures

– Number of notifications on changes to national numbering plans

2) Enhanced availability of international telecommunication networks and services

– Number and type of assignments

3) Reduced misappropriation and misuse of numbering, naming, addressing and identification (NNAI) resources

– Number of E.164 misuse notifications

Thematic priorities

Outcome

Outcome indicators

Inclusive and secure telecommu- nication/ICT infrastructure and services

1) Enhanced connectivity and access for all to fixed and mobile broadband services

– Number and percentage of fixed/mobile broadband subscriptions (SDG indicator 17.6.2 – ITU is custodian agency)

– Percentage of fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions (by throughput)

– Percentage of fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions (by technology: copper, fibre, 4G/5G, FWA, other)

– Percentage of population covered (by type of network)

– Number of countries with a national emergency telecommunication plan as part of their national and local disaster risk reduction strategies

2) Enhanced use of radiocommunication services

– Percentage of countries which have completed the transition to digital terrestrial television

– Number of operational GNSS constellations/satellites (the number of satellites may include the same operational satellite several times since more than one satellite network may support the operations of an actual satellite)

– Number of devices with GNSS embedded Rx (billions)

– Number of Earth exploration satellites (constellations/GSO systems/all satellites)

– Number of countries operating Earth exploration satellites/number of countries using data or products from Earth exploration satellites

3) Enhanced digital skills and literacy

– Percentage of digitally skilled users (by level: basic skills, standard skills and advanced skills)

Thematic priorities

Outcome

Outcome indicators

4) Enhanced knowledge of the ITU membership on interoperability and performance with respect to inclusive and secure telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, services and applications

– Total number of events/participants/countries in ITU seminars, workshops and capacity-building events related to this outcome

5) Enhanced capacity of the ITU membership to deploy inclusive, secure and resilient telecommunication/ICT infrastructures, to address cybersecurity-related incidents, to build confidence and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs, and to adopt risk-management practices

– Number of countries receiving technical assistance from ITU to build confidence and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs and to adopt risk-management practices

– Number of countries receiving technical assistance from ITU to address cybersecurity-related incidents

6) Enhanced utilization of ITU's unique partnerships for capacity building and training on digital skills and public awareness of cybersecurity issues

– Total number of events/participants/countries in ITU seminars, workshops and capacity-building events related to this outcome

7) Assisting the ITU membership in developing their national cybersecurity strategies

– Number of countries receiving technical assistance from ITU to develop their national cybersecurity strategies

8) Assisting the ITU membership in implementing international standards that are relevant to this thematic priority

– Number of countries receiving technical assistance from ITU to implement international standards related to this outcome

Thematic priorities

Outcome

Outcome indicators

Digital applications

1) Enhanced interoperability and performance of telecommunication/ICT applications

– Number of approved ITU-T recommendations, corrigenda, amendments and supplements pertaining to applications

– Number of downloads of ITU-T recommendations, corrigenda, amendments and supplements pertaining to applications

2) Enhanced adoption and use of telecommunication/ICT applications, including for e-government

– Adoption of digital strategies

– Percentage of individuals accessing e-government services online

3) Increased deployment of telecommunication/ICT networks and services needed for such applications

– Population covered by at least a 4G mobile network

– Fixed broadband (percentage of total): >10 Mbit/s

4) Improved capacity to leverage telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainable development

– Adoption of ICT-centric innovation and entrepreneurship strategies

Enabling environment

1) Conducive policy and regulatory environment for innovation and investment to drive social and economic growth

– Number of countries advancing to the next generation of regulation (G1-G4) and/or to a higher level of preparedness for the digital transformation (G5)

– Proportion of investment in ICT from total investment

2) Digitally skilled users

– Percentage of digitally skilled users (by level: basic skills, standard skills and advanced skills)

Thematic priorities

Outcome

Outcome indicators

3) Enhanced digital inclusion (including women and girls, youth, indigenous peoples, older persons, persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs)

– Mobile-telephone ownership (by gender) (SDG indicator 5.b.1 – ITU is custodian agency)

– Internet use gender gap

– Internet use generational gap – Youth (<15, 15-24) and older persons (>75)

– Number of countries with enabling environments ensuring accessible telecommunications/ICTs for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs

4) Enhanced ability of all countries, in particular developing countries, to develop and implement strategies, policies and practices for digital inclusion, access and use telecommunications/ICTs, implement, and participate in the development of, ITU's international standards, recommendations, best practices and regulations

a) Bridging the standardization gap – enhanced ability of all countries, in particular developing countries, to develop, access, implement and influence ITU-T recommendations

– Number of countries receiving technical assistance through BDT actions to enhance policy and regulatory frameworks for telecommunication/ICT connectivity, access, affordability and inclusion

– Percentage of individuals using the Internet and owning a mobile and digital device

– Percentage of persons with disabilities using the Internet and owning a mobile and digital device

– Percentage of females using the Internet and owning a mobile and digital device

– Percentage of youth using the Internet and owning a mobile and digital device

– Total number of ITU-T study group leadership positions held (by level of development)

Thematic priorities

Outcome

Outcome indicators

b) Increased knowledge and know-how on the Radio Regulations, Rules of Procedure, regional agreements, recommendations and best practices on spectrum use

c) Increased participation in ITU-R activities (including through remote participation), in particular by developing countries

– Total number of ITU-T study group meetings/participants

– Total number of countries represented in ITU-T study group meetings (by level of development)

– Total number of contributions submitted to ITU-T study group meetings (by level of development of the country of the contributing organization)

– Total number of ITU-T recommendation downloads

– Total number of workshops and other events in support of ITU-T study groups/participants

– Number of ITU-R free online publication downloads (millions)

– Total number of events/participants/countries in ITU seminars, workshops and capacity-building events (world and regional seminars, and symposia) organized by BR

– Number of technical assistance actions for terrestrial services provided/countries receiving/time spent (days)

– Total number of events/participants/countries/contributions in ITU-R conferences, assemblies and study group-related meetings

5) Enhanced adoption of policies and strategies for the environmentally sustainable use of telecommunications/ICTs

– Number of countries applying harmonized data-collection methodology

– Number of countries with a WEEE policy, legislation or regulation

Appendix A – Allocation of resources (linkage with the financial plan)

APPENDIX A

Allocation of resources – Linkage between the 2024-2027 strategic and financial plans

ANNEX 2 TO RESOLUTION 71 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Situational analysis

1 ITU as a part of the United Nations system

1 ITU is the United Nations (UN) specialized agency for telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs). ITU allocates global radio-frequency spectrum and associated satellite-orbit resources, develops technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strives to improve access to and use of telecommunications/ICTs for underserved communities worldwide. ITU is committed to connecting all the world's people – wherever they live and whatever their means, leaving no one behind. ITU's work aims to protect and support everyone's fundamental right to communicate.

2 ITU has been based on the partnership of diverse members since its inception in 1865. It is therefore unique in the UN system, as it brings together 193 Member States and over 900 private-sector companies, universities and civil-society organizations, that work together to harness the power of telecommunications/ICTs to promote universal and affordable connectivity for all.

2 Developments since the ITU 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference

2.1 Developments in the UN system

3 Digital transformation and cooperation have become one of the top priorities across the UN. The rapid advancement of digital technologies is transforming economic and social activities globally. In response, digital transformation has been considered as a top priority across the UN system, especially to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Notably, the UN Secretary-General's strategies and priorities are increasingly focused on digital and cybersecurity issues, the number of resolutions on digital technologies in the UN General Assembly and other UN entities has grown, while many UN entities have launched digital transformation strategies and initiatives for their programmes, funds and internal processes. Digital-themed UN conferences and international days are also becoming more frequent. In particular, the UN Secretary-General outlined his vision of an open, free and secure digital future for all in the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, released in June 2020.[3] This was reinforced through a set of recommendations, responding to the commitments made by Member States in the declaration on the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations[4], in his recent report "Our Common Agenda", released in September 2021.[5]

4 These evolutions in the UN system may create parallel workstreams and related inefficiencies across UN entities whose work overlaps with ITU's mandate in areas of telecommunications/ICTs, such as universal connectivity. They may also hinder ITU's value added in supporting digital transformation across its membership. However, these developments can also create opportunities to enhance ITU's unique role as a leading organization in the telecommunication/ICT landscape. In particular, ITU can collaborate and participate across UN agencies' workstreams, to increase synergies and knowledge-sharing and generate new and increased funding, as well as support for telecommunication/ICT initiatives at global, regional and local levels. For example, ITU has already been part of the UN workstreams to lead the implementation of the Secretary-General's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, as well as to support the UN-wide effort to put forward "Our Common Agenda". Overall, this will enable ITU to fulfil its programmatic, operational and management mandates in a more coherent and coordinated manner within the UN system and ensure that its priorities are strengthened and reflected in related UN system-wide work, outputs and agenda-setting.

5 The UN development system reform involves a set of far-reaching changes to support Member States in achieving the SDGs. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development resulted in bold changes to the UN development system (UNDS), including the development of a new generation of UN country teams (UNCTs), focused on common country analysis (CCA) and a strategic UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) led by independent and empowered UN Resident Coordinators (RC).[6] UNSDCF, in particular, underscores UNDS's collective commitment to help countries address SDG priorities and gaps; it also enhances the accountability of UNCTs and host governments, to collectively deliver development results. To do this, the UN system employs CCA further to conduct independent, impartial and collective analyses of countries' progress, opportunities and challenges in delivering their commitments to the 2030 Agenda, UN norms and standards, and the principles of the UN Charter, as reflected in the Cooperation Framework Guiding Principles. UNDS has also enhanced and promoted common business operations through the mutual recognition of policy and procedure best practices.[7] This allows UN entities to adopt each other's policies, procedures, system contracts and related operational mechanisms to deliver on their mandates, without further evaluation, checks or approvals.

6 To ensure the UN system works for ITU, the Union can continue to engage with the reformed UNDS, especially with the empowered RC system. In particular, the Union can work to raise awareness among RCs on ITU's mandate and functions, by involving them in meetings and consultations with the membership. It can also further leverage ITU's regional presence and support the regional and area offices on engagements with RCs, in CCAs and UNSDCF. Moreover, to enhance its involvement in the CCA and other UN periodic reviews, ITU can provide telecommunication/ICT-related guidelines or data for specific countries or regions. Meanwhile, ITU can continue to build on its existing role in the UN system. The organization is a signatory to UNSCDF and has worked closely with the UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) to provide an offer to RCs, and has participated in virtual briefings organized with DCO. The directors of the ITU regional offices are also regularly updated on new developments, including updated guidance on RC-UN agency engagement, such as the revised management and accountability framework that was recently published with national, regional and global chapters.

2.2 Developments in the telecommunication and ICT landscape

7 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) demonstrated the critical role of telecommunications and ICTs in connecting societies and accelerating digital transformation. The COVID-19 crisis created unprecedented demand for communication networks. As a result of global lockdowns and the rise of teleworking, distance learning, remote entertainment and telemedicine, Internet traffic has risen by 30 per cent.[8] Consumers have also become more reliant on digital tools, with 74 per cent of global users reporting significant increases in their Internet use during COVID-19 lockdowns.[9] To meet these evolving consumer needs, new technologies are scaling rapidly. 5G network rollouts have continued unabated and enabled faster connectivity across longer distances. From March 2020, an average of eight new 5G networks have launched monthly, up from six for the same period in 2019.[10] ICT infrastructure is also evolving and becoming more democratized. Cloud Internet traffic doubled its 2019 volume during the pandemic.[11] Meanwhile, the Internet of Things, quantum computing and artificial intelligence are becoming more sophisticated and widespread. These technologies have the potential to improve operational efficiency, accelerate automation and unlock new capabilities.[12] The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that emerging technologies are essential to the functioning of our society and economy and provide critical infrastructure. As digitalization advances, ensuring equitable and sustainable development is increasingly pressing.

8 However, the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have left vulnerable communities behind. The pandemic has widened differences in telecommunication/ICT investments and infrastructure development between countries. In developed countries, telecommunication/ICT capital investment has increased to accommodate rising Internet traffic and led to an expansion of 5G and optical fibre infrastructure. In developing countries, capital investment and expenditures per capita have fallen, while the deployment of 4G and 5G coverage is lagging. 5G currently reaches 3 per cent of the population in Latin America and 0 per cent in Africa. Thus, with the rapid pace of digitalization after the COVID-19 pandemic, those without affordable connectivity risk being left further behind. In 2021, some 2.9 billion people remain offline, 96 per cent of whom live in developing countries.[13] In the UN-designated least developed countries (LDCs)[14] in particular, affordability and lack of literacy and digital skills remain significant barriers to the adoption of digital tools. There are almost six times more people in the usage gap than the coverage gap, and while handset affordability has improved, over 50 per cent of LDCs fall short of international affordability targets.[15] As more services are delivered online, the most vulnerable in society will have increasingly limited access to education, medicine, government services, e-commerce and communication tools.

9 Meanwhile, as the climate crisis intensifies, it is increasingly urgent for the telecommunication/ICT sector to advance progress towards the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) action lines and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Human influence has warmed the climate at a rate unprecedented in the last 2000 years. Meanwhile, the rapid advancement and deployment of telecommunications/ICTs globally has led to an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy consumption and electronic waste. According to recent estimates, the telecommunication/ICT sector accounts for 3-4 per cent of global CO_2 emissions, about twice that of civil aviation. With global data traffic expected to grow around 60 per cent per year, the industry's share is expected to grow further.[16] However, while the sector requires energy resources, telecommunications/ICTs also offer new opportunities to mitigate and adapt to climate change. For example, telecommunications/ICTs play a crucial role in monitoring and analysing short- and long-term climate trends, enabling disaster risk reduction and management and raising awareness to help protect the environment and reduce GHG emissions. In this context, as 2030 approaches, it is increasingly pressing to leverage the power of telecommunications/ICTs to drive sustainable development and accelerate progress towards the WSIS action lines and the SDGs.

10 To respond to these challenges and unlock the potential of digitalization, ITU has the opportunity to play a vital role in bridging the digital divide and enabling sustainable digital transformation. ITU's diverse membership is uniquely positioned to address digital inequalities. In particular, governments and regulators in developing countries can launch initiatives targeted at reversing declining capital spending and stimulating investments to enable network roll-out. They can also collaborate to reduce demand-side barriers to connectivity, through efforts to enhance affordability, digital literacy, local content development and adoption of mobile broadband. As an organization, ITU can continue to serve as a platform to drive responsive technical and regulatory action and encourage collaboration between regulators and industry. ITU could also further harness data to enhance digital regulation, by building analytics capabilities, adopting data-driven tools in decision-making and providing regulators with regulatory solutions to respond to changes in the telecommunication/ICT landscape.[17] Finally, to support the achievement of the SDGs, ITU can continue to play a crucial role in helping members leverage the power of telecommunications/ICTs to promote sustainability, tackle the climate crisis and reduce the environmental footprint of the sector. In particular, ITU's work could contribute to addressing rising energy consumption, GHG emissions and e-waste generation through the application of an environmental lens across its work.

2.3 Progress on ITU's targets in the 2020-2023 strategic plan

11 The strategic plan for the Union for 2020-2023 contained five strategic goals (Growth, Inclusiveness, Sustainability, Innovation and Partnership) measured through 24 targets contributing to the achievement of the Connect 2030 Agenda.

12 Uptake of the Internet has accelerated during the pandemic. An estimated 4.9 billion people are using the Internet in 2021,[18] meaning that roughly 63 per cent of the world's population is online – an increase of 17 per cent – with almost 800 million people estimated to have come online since 2019. Internet penetration increased more than 20 per cent on average in Africa, in Asia and the Pacific, and in the UN-designated LDCs.

13 Growth has been necessarily much weaker in developed economies, given that Internet use is already almost universal, at more than 90 per cent. This growth differential has contributed to a modest narrowing of the divide between the world's most- and least-connected countries: for example, the divide between developed economies and LDCs went from 66 percentage points in 2017 to 63 percentage points in 2021.

14 Broadband subscriptions have picked up in 2021: Following a small decline in 2020, the penetration of mobile-cellular subscriptions worldwide rose again in 2021, reaching a record 110 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Mobile subscriptions with broadband capability (3G or better) followed the same trend, reaching 83 subscriptions per 100 people.

15 The urban-rural gap, though less severe in developed countries, remains a major challenge for digital connectivity in the rest of the world. Globally, people in urban areas are twice as likely to use the Internet than those in rural areas (76 per cent urban compared to 39 per cent rural). In developed economies, the urban-rural gap appears negligible in terms of Internet usage (with 89 per cent of people in urban areas having used the Internet in the last three months, compared to 85 per cent in rural areas), whereas in developing countries, people in urban areas are twice as likely to use the Internet as those in rural areas (72 per cent urban compared to 34 per cent rural). In LDCs, urban dwellers are almost four times as likely to use the Internet as people living in rural areas (47 per cent urban compared to 13 per cent rural).

16 The digital gender divide is also narrowing globally, but large gaps remain in poorer countries. In the developed world, the digital gender divide has been virtually eliminated (89 per cent of men and 88 per cent of women online) but wide gaps remain in LDCs (31 per cent of men compared to just 19 per cent of women) and in landlocked developing countries (38 per cent of men compared to 27 per cent of women).

17 A generational gap is evident across all world regions. On average, 71 per cent of the world's population aged 15-24 is using the Internet, compared with 57 per cent of all other age groups. This generational gap is reflected across all regions. It is most pronounced in LDCs, where 34 per cent of young people are connected, compared to only 22 per cent of the rest of the population. Greater uptake among young people bodes well for connectivity and development. In LDCs, for example, half of the population is less than 20 years old, suggesting that local labour markets will become progressively more connected and technology-savvy as the younger generation enters the workforce.

18 Monitoring the world's evolving digital divide. ITU figures also point to a glaring gap between digital network availability versus actual connection. While 95 per cent of people in the world could theoretically access a 3G or 4G mobile broadband network, billions of them do not connect.

19 Affordability of devices and services remains a major barrier. The widely accepted target for affordable broadband connectivity in developing countries sets the cost of an entry-level mobile broadband package at 2 per cent of gross national income (GNI) per capita. Yet in some of the world's poorest nations, getting online can cost a staggering 20 per cent or more of per capita GNI.

20 Lack of digital skills and an appreciation of the benefits of an online connection is another bottleneck, compounded by a lack of content in local languages, as well as by interfaces that demand literacy and numeracy skills that many people do not possess.

2.4 Assessing ITU's value proposition and its organizational effectiveness

21 Several projects and initiatives undertaken in the last strategic planning cycle reviewed ITU's capabilities and provided recommendations on how to further improve its value proposition to its membership and advice to ITU management on enhancing organizational effectiveness. These included the review of ITU's regional presence, the ITU Culture and Skills project and informal consultations with members during the strategic planning process.

22 In particular, feedback gathered from the membership underscored the need to establish clear areas of impact and leverage synergies across the ITU Sectors. To enhance ITU's membership offering, it was also suggested providing members with a catalogue of services. Finally, the feedback reinforced the need to improve internal management through results-based management and enhance transparency and accountability.

23 The ITU Culture and Skills project report emphasized the need for ITU to reform its organizational culture, by fostering cross-functional collaboration, bottom-up innovation, and responsiveness to changes in the telecommunication/ICT landscape. It also highlighted the need to tackle process inefficiencies, duplication and perceived bureaucracy that lead to reactive and slow decision-making. Other areas of improvement regarding culture included providing staff with clearer ownership and accountability through performance-driven talent management, while also reinforcing inspirational leadership by minimizing organizational hierarchy.

24 Finally, in terms of regional presence, the review of ITU's regional presence recommended that ITU further integrate its regional and global planning instruments to enhance the alignment and focus of regional programmes and initiatives. Specifically, it emphasized the need to clarify regional mandates and responsibilities and to ensure ITU's regional presence represents the ITU as a whole, aligns with the organization's vision and mission, and takes a leading role in coordinating specific activities.

2.5 Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis

25 To respond to the rapid changes in the digital landscape, it will be vital for ITU to leverage its existing strengths as the leading UN agency focused on telecommunications/ICTs and clearly demonstrate its critical role in enhancing access to and use of these technologies for sustainable development. ITU will also strive to leverage both internal and external opportunities to reinforce the added value of its services, products and initiatives. However, to build and maintain its vital role in the telecommunication and ICT sector, the Union must also focus on remedying its weaknesses as an organization and responding to emerging threats.

26 The SWOT analysis will be considered and reflected in the organization's overall risk-management framework, presented to and reviewed by the ITU Council annually.

ANNEX 3 TO RESOLUTION 71 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Glossary of terms

Term

Definition

Activities

Activities are various actions/services for transforming resources (inputs) into outputs[19].

Enablers

Ways of working that allow the Union to deliver on its goals and priorities more effectively and efficiently.

Financial plan

The financial plan covers a four-year period and sets the financial basis from which biennial budgets are elaborated.

The financial plan is elaborated within the context of Decision 5 (Revenue and expenses for the Union), which reflects, inter alia, the amount of the contributory unit approved by the Plenipotentiary Conference. It is linked to the strategic plan, in accordance with Resolution 71, by the allocation of financial resources to the strategic goals of the Union.

Indicators

Indicators are the criteria used to measure the achievement of outcomes and targets in the results framework.

Inputs

Inputs are resources, such as financial, human, material and technological resources, used by activities to produce outputs.

Mission

Mission refers to the main overall purposes of the Union, as per the basic instruments of ITU.

Operational plan

The operational plan is prepared on a yearly basis by each Bureau, in consultation with the relevant advisory group, and by the General Secretariat, in accordance with the strategic and financial plans. It contains the detailed plan for the subsequent year and a forecast for the following three-year period for each Sector and the General Secretariat. The Council reviews and approves the four-year rolling operational plans.

Outcomes

Outcomes provide an indication as to whether the key results under the thematic priorities are being achieved. Outcomes are usually partly, but not entirely, within the control of the organization.

Outputs

Outputs are the final tangible results, deliverables, products and services achieved by the Union in the implementation of the operational plans. Outputs are cost objects and are represented in the applicable cost-accounting system by internal orders. Outputs will be defined and measured in operational plans for each Sector and the General Secretariat.

Product and service offerings

The range of ITU's products and services that are deployed to support the Union's work under its thematic priorities.

Term

Definition

Results-based budgeting (RBB)

Results-based budgeting (RBB) is the programme budget process in which: (a) the programme is formulated in order to meet a set of predefined thematic priorities and outcomes; (b) the outcomes justify resource requirements, under the thematic priorities; and (c) actual performance in achieving outcomes is measured by outcome indicators.

Results-based management (RBM)

Results-based management (RBM) is a management approach that directs organizational processes, resources, products and services towards the achievement of measurable results. It provides the management frameworks and tools for strategic planning, risk management, performance monitoring and evaluation and financing activities based on targeted results.

Results framework

A results framework is the strategic management tool used to plan, monitor, evaluate and report within the RBM methodology. It provides the necessary sequence to achieve desired results (results chain) – beginning with inputs, moving through activities and outputs, grouped under product and service offerings, to outcomes – at the level of thematic priorities, and desired impact – at the level of the ITU strategic goals and targets. It explains how results are to be achieved, including causal relationships and underlying assumptions and risks. The results framework reflects strategic-level thinking across the entire organization.

Strategic goals

The Union's high-level goals which enable the realization of its mission.

Strategic plan

The strategic plan defines the strategy of the Union for a four-year period in order to fulfil its mission. It defines strategic goals, thematic priorities, outcomes, product and service offerings, and enablers, representing the plan of the Union within that period. It is the main instrument embodying the Union's vision. The strategic plan should be implemented within the context of the financial limits established by the Plenipotentiary Conference.

Strategic risks

Strategic risks refer to the uncertainties and untapped opportunities that affect an organization's strategy and strategy execution.

Strategic risk management (SRM)

Strategic risk management (SRM) is a management practice that identifies and focuses action on uncertainties and untapped opportunities that affect an organization's ability to deliver on its mission.

Term

Definition

Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis

A study done by an organization in order to find its strengths and weaknesses, and what problems or opportunities it should deal with. SWOT is formed from the initial letters of "strengths", "weaknesses", "opportunities" and "threats".

Internal factors:

− Strengths are capabilities that enable the organization to perform well – capabilities that need to be leveraged.

− Weaknesses are characteristics that affect the good performance of the organization and need to be addressed.

External factors:

− Opportunities are trends, forces, events and ideas that the organization can capitalize on.

− Threats are possible events or forces outside the control of the organization that the organization needs to mitigate.

Targets and target indicators

Targets are the desired results the Union aims to achieve to deliver on its strategic goals. The target indicators provide an indication as to whether the goal is being achieved during the period of the strategic plan. Targets may not always be achieved for reasons that may be beyond the control of the Union.

Thematic priorities

Areas of work that the Union focuses on and in which outcomes will be achieved to meet the strategic goals.

Values

ITU's shared and common beliefs that drive its priorities and guide all decision-making processes.

Vision

The better world ITU wants to see.

List of terms in all six official languages

English

Arabic

Chinese

French

Russian

Spanish

Activities

الأنشطة

活动

Activités

Виды деятельности

Actividades

Enablers

العوامل التمكينية

推动因素

Catalyseurs

Средства достижения целей

Factores habilitadores

Financial plan

الخطة المالية

财务规划

Plan financier

Финансовый план

Plan Financiero

Indicators

المؤشرات

指标

Indicateurs

Индикаторы

Indicadores

Inputs

المدخلات

投入

Contributions

Исходные ресурсы

Insumos

Mission

الرسالة

使命

Mission

Миссия

Misión

Operational plan

الخطة التشغيلية

运作规划

Plan opérationnel

Оперативный план

Plan Operacional

Outcomes

النتائج

成果

Résultats

Конечные результаты

Resultados

Outputs

النواتج

输出成果

Produits

Намеченные результаты деятельности

Productos

Performance indicators

مؤشرات الأداء

绩效指标

Indicateurs de performance

Показатели деятельности

Indicadores de Rendimiento

Product and service offerings

عروض المنتجات والخدمات

所提供的产品和服务

Offres de produits et de services

Предлагаемые продукты и услуги

Ofertas de productos y servicios

Results-based budgeting

الميزنة على أساس النتائج

基于结果的预算制定

Budgétisation axée sur les résultats

Составление бюджета, ориентированного на результаты

Elaboración del Presupuesto basado en los resultados

Results-based management

الإدارة على أساس النتائج

基于结果的管理

Gestion axée sur les résultats

Управление, ориентированное на результаты

Gestión basada en los resultados

Results framework

إطار النتائج

结果框架

Cadre de présentation des résultats

Структура результатов

Marco de resultados

English

Arabic

Chinese

French

Russian

Spanish

Strategic goals

الغايات الاستراتيجية

总体战略目标

Buts stratégiques

Стратегические цели

Metas estratégicas

Strategic plan

الخطة الاستراتيجية

战略规划

Plan stratégique

Стратегический план

Plan Estratégico

Strategic risks

المخاطر الاستراتيجية

战略风险

Risques stratégiques

Стратегические риски

Riesgos estratégicos

Strategic risk management

إدارة المخاطر الاستراتيجية

战略风险管理

Gestion des risques stratégiques

Управление стратегическими рисками

Gestión de riesgos estratégicos

Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis

تحليل مواطن القوة والضَعْف والفرص والمخاطر (SWOT)

优势、劣势、
机会与威胁
（SWOT）
分析

Analyse des forces, faiblesses, possibilités et menaces (SWOT)

Анализ сильных и слабых сторон, возможностей и угроз (SWOT)

Análisis de fortalezas, debilidades, oportunidades y amenazas (SWOT)

Targets and target indicators

المقاصد ومؤشرات المقاصد

具体目标和具体目标指标

Cibles et indicateurs relatifs aux cibles

Целевые показатели и индикаторы целевых показателей

Finalidades e indicadores de finalidad

Thematic priorities

الأولويات المواضيعية

主题重点

Priorités thématiques

Тематические приоритеты

Prioridades temáticas

Values

القيم

价值/价值观

Valeurs

Ценности

Valores

Vision

الرؤية

愿景

Vision

Концепция

Visión

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] Including women and girls, youth, indigenous peoples, older persons, persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs.

[3] United Nations, May 2020.

[4] United Nations, September 2020.

[5] United Nations, September 2021.

[6] United Nations, June 2019.

[7] United Nations, 1 February 2017.

[8] ITU, June 2021.

[9] Ericsson, April 2020.

[10] GSMA, December 2020.

[11] Deloitte, December 2020.

[12] McKinsey, June 2021.

[13] ITU, June 2021.

[14] ITU, 2021.

[15] GSMA, December 2020.

[16] BCG, June 2021.

[17] ITU, June 2021.

[18] ITU, November 2021.

[19] The activities and outputs are defined in detail in the operational planning process, thereby ensuring a strong linkage between strategic and operational planning.

RESOLUTION 77 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Scheduling and duration of conferences, forums, assemblies and
Council sessions of the Union (2023-2027)

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) No. 47 in Article 8 of the ITU Constitution, which stipulates that the Plenipotentiary Conference shall be convened every four years;

b) Nos. 90 and 91 in Article 13 of the Constitution, which stipulate that world radiocommunication conferences (WRCs) and radiocommunication assemblies (RAs) shall normally be convened every three to four years, and shall be associated in place and time;

c) No. 114 in Article 18 of the Constitution, which stipulates that world telecommunication standardization assemblies (WTSAs) shall be convened every four years;

d) No. 141 in Article 22 of the Constitution, which stipulates that, between two plenipotentiary conferences, there shall be one world telecommunication development conference (WTDC);

e) No. 51 in Article 4 of the ITU Convention, which stipulates that the ITU Council shall hold an ordinary session annually at the seat of the Union;

f) Resolution 111 (Rev. Busan, 2014) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on considering major religious periods in the scheduling of ITU conferences, assemblies and Council sessions,

recognizing

a) Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027, and the thematic priorities identified therein;

b) that, in the consideration of the draft financial plan for the Union for 2024-2027, the challenge to increase revenues in order to meet increasing programme demands is substantial,

considering

a) the need to take into account the financial resources of the Union when scheduling conferences, assemblies and forums, particularly the necessity of ensuring efficient Union operations within limited resources;

b) the need to take into account the availability of sufficient meeting space to accommodate core ITU Sector activities;

c) that holding conferences, assemblies and forums in the same year as the plenipotentiary conference represents a burden for the Union's membership and staff;

d) that travel restrictions during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in a compressed and extraordinary schedule of conferences in 2022;

e) that, to the greatest extent possible, it is important to undertake an orderly transition to the regular scheduling of conferences in the coming years,

having considered

a) Document PP-22/37 submitted by the Secretary-General, on planned conferences and assemblies;

b) the proposals submitted by several Member States,

bearing in mind

a) the various provisions of the Constitution and Convention establishing the three Sectors of the Union and their constituent elements, including conferences, assemblies, study groups and advisory groups;

b) the increasing demands placed on and necessary preparatory work to be carried out by Member States, Sector Members, the General Secretariat and the Sectors of the Union before each conference, assembly and forum of the Union;

c) that scheduling the Council earlier in the calendar year improves the linkage between the strategic, financial and operational plans and the budget and other activities to be carried out by the Council;

d) that in the period 2023-2027, the dates and places of certain meetings may change due to possible disruptions caused by demolition works and the construction of the new ITU headquarters building,

noting

a) that Council Decision 623 set the dates for WRC-23 as 20 November to 15 December 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, preceded by RA-23 from 13 to 17 November 2023 and followed by the Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM27-1) from 18 to 19 December 2023;

b) that the external auditor's reports on the Union's finances should normally be available to the Council in due time prior to its sessions,

resolves

1 that ITU conferences and assemblies shall, in principle, be held in the last quarter of the year, and not in the same year, except as provided in recalling b) above;

2 that plenipotentiary conferences shall, unless there is a pressing need otherwise, be limited to a duration of three weeks;

3 that the Union and its Member States should make every effort, as far as practicable, in order that the planned period of any ITU conference, assembly or Council session not be scheduled during a period which coincides with other major ICT events;

4 that ITU exhibitions, forums, high-level events and symposia of a worldwide character shall be scheduled within the allocated resources in the financial plan and biennial budget approved by the Council, and subject to the schedule and meeting space requirements of core activities of ITU and other mandatory Union events, such as conferences, assemblies and Council sessions;

5 that the schedule of future conferences, forums, assemblies and Council sessions for the years 2023-2027 shall be as follows:

5.1 the Council shall, in principle, hold its ordinary session within or around June-July of the calendar year;

5.2 WRC-23 shall be held in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) from 20 November to 15 December 2023, preceded by RA-23 from 13 to 17 November 2023;

5.3 WTSA shall be held in the last quarter of 2024 in India;

5.4 WTDC shall be held in the last quarter of 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand;

5.5 the Plenipotentiary Conference shall be held in the last quarter of 2026 in Doha, Qatar;

5.6 an RA and a WRC, after 2023, shall be held in the last quarter of 2027;

6 that the agendas of world and regional conferences shall be established in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention and the agendas of assemblies shall be established, as appropriate, taking into account the resolutions and recommendations of the relevant conferences and assemblies;

7 that the conferences and assemblies mentioned in resolves 5 should be held within the periods indicated there, that the precise dates and places will be set by the Council after consultation of the Member States, leaving sufficient time between the various conferences, and that the precise duration shall be decided by the Council after their agendas have been established,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to take appropriate measures to facilitate the most efficient use of time and resources during such conferences;

2 to give scheduling priority to the study groups and advisory groups of the three ITU Sectors, the Council and the Council working groups when the meetings listed are held at ITU headquarters;

3 to report to the Council on the implementation of this resolution, proposing further improvements, as appropriate,

instructs the ITU Council

1 at each ordinary session, to schedule its next three ordinary sessions in June-July and to review the Council's schedule on a rolling basis;

2 to take appropriate measures to facilitate the implementation of this resolution, and report to future plenipotentiary conferences on possible improvements in the implementation of this resolution.

RESOLUTION 94 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Auditing of the accounts of the Union

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) that the External Auditor since 2012, the Italian Supreme Court of Audit, member of the United Nations Panel of External Auditors, audited the Union's accounts for the years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 in the most careful, competent and accurate manner;

b) that, following an open, fair and transparent selection and appointment process, the National Audit Office of the United Kingdom was appointed by the ITU Council at its 2020 session for a term of four years to audit the accounts of the Union from 2022,

recognizing

that only the Plenipotentiary Conference can make the decision regarding the appointment of the external auditor,

resolves to express

its warmest thanks and deepest gratitude to the Italian Supreme Court of Audit for the auditing of the Union's accounts,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to bring this resolution to the notice of the President of the Italian Supreme Court of Audit;

2 to publish on an annual basis, and after their consideration by the Council, the reports of the external auditor, on a publicly accessible page of the Union's website.

RESOLUTION 101 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Internet Protocol-based networks

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 101 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of the Plenipotentiary Conference;

b) Resolutions 102, 130, 133, 180 and 197 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference;

c) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

d) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS);

e) the outcomes of the Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005) phases of WSIS, especially §§ 27 c) and 50 d) of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, relating to international Internet connectivity;

f) the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of WSIS outcomes and the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS beyond 2015, which were adopted at the ITU-coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event (Geneva, 2014), based on the Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform (MPP) process, together with other United Nations agencies and inclusive of all WSIS stakeholders, were endorsed by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) and were submitted to the UNGA overall review;

g) No. 196 of the ITU Convention, which stipulates that telecommunication standardization study groups shall pay due attention to the study of questions and to the formulation of recommendations directly connected with the establishment, development and improvement of telecommunications in developing countries[1] at both the regional and international levels;

h) Resolution 23 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on Internet access and availability for developing countries and charging principles for international Internet connection;

i) Resolution 69 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), on non-discriminatory access and use of Internet resources and telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs);

j) Recommendation ITU-T D.50 of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), on general tariff principles – principles applicable to international Internet connection;

k) Resolution 64 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and facilitating the transition to and deployment of IP version 6 (IPv6);

l) UNGA Resolution 68/302, on the review of WSIS;

m) Opinion 1 (Geneva, 2013) of the World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum (WTPF), on promoting Internet exchange points (IXPs) as a long-term solution to advance connectivity;

n) Opinion 2 (Geneva, 2013) of WTPF, on fostering an enabling environment for the greater growth and development of broadband connectivity;

o) Opinion 3 (Geneva, 2013) of WTPF, on supporting capacity building for the deployment of IPv6;

p) Opinion 4 (Geneva, 2013) of WTPF, in support of IPv6 adoption and transition from IPv4;

q) Opinion 5 (Geneva, 2013) of WTPF, on supporting multistakeholderism in Internet governance;

r) Opinion 6 (Geneva, 2013) of WTPF, on supporting operationalizing the enhanced cooperation process;

s) the relevant opinions of WTPF-21,

aware

a) that one of the purposes of the Union is to promote the extension of new telecommunication technologies to all the world's inhabitants;

b) that one of the purposes of the Union is to promote and enhance participation of entities and organizations in the activities of the Union and foster fruitful cooperation and partnership between them and Member States;

c) that, in order to fulfil its purposes, the Union should, among other things, facilitate the worldwide standardization of telecommunications, with a satisfactory quality of service,

considering

a) that advances in the global information infrastructure, including the development of IP-based networks used for the Internet, and future protocol developments, continue to be an issue of crucial importance, as an important enabler of achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as social, economic, environmental and cultural development in the 21st century;

b) that emerging telecommunications/ICTs will continue to transform both the Internet and overall achievement of the SDGs;

c) the need for preserving and promoting multilingualism on the Internet for an integrating and inclusive information society;

d) that the Internet permits the introduction of new additional applications in telecommunication/ICT services based on its highly advanced technology, e.g. steady progress in adopting cloud computing, and that e-mail and text messaging, voice over IP, video and real-time TV (IPTV) over the Internet continue to record high levels of use, even though there are challenges regarding quality of service, uncertainty of origin and the high cost of international connectivity;

e) that current and future IP-based networks and future IP developments will continue to introduce dramatic changes in the way we acquire, produce, circulate and consume information;

f) that the broadband development and rising demand for Internet access being experienced particularly in developing countries lead to the need for affordable international Internet connectivity;

g) that Resolution 23 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) noted that the composition of costs for operators, whether regional or local, is, in part, significantly dependent on the type of connection (transit or peering) and the availability and cost of backhaul and long-haul infrastructure, as it relates to developing countries;

h) that Opinion 1 (Geneva, 2013) of WTPF deems that the establishment of IXPs is a priority to tackle connectivity problems, improve service quality and increase network connectivity and resilience, fostering competition and reducing interconnection costs;

i) that Resolution 77 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of WTDC recognizes the work of the Internet Society (ISOC), the Internet Exchange Federation and the regional IXP associations and other stakeholders to support the establishment of IXPs in developing countries in order to promote better connectivity;

j) that results of studies on international Internet connection costs, especially for developing countries, should continue to be examined in order to improve affordable Internet connectivity;

k) Resolution 1 (Dubai, 2012) of the World Conference on International Telecommunications, on special measures for landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS) for access to international optical fibre networks,

considering further

a) that the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector has made significant progress and carried out several studies on the promotion of infrastructure and the use of the Internet in developing countries under its 2010 Hyderabad Action Plan, its 2014 Dubai Action Plan and its 2017 Buenos Aires Action Plan, which endorsed the continuation of these studies, through human capacity-building efforts such as its Internet training centre initiative;

b) that studies are ongoing in ITU-T on IP-based network issues, including service interoperability with other telecommunication networks, numbering, signalling requirements and protocol aspects, security and infrastructure component costs, issues associated with migration from existing networks to next-generation networks and evolution to future networks, and implementation of the requirements of Recommendation ITU-T D.50;

c) that the general cooperation agreement between ITU-T and ISOC/Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), as referred to in Supplement 3 to the ITU-T Series A recommendations, continues to exist,

recognizing

a) that IP-based networks have evolved to a widely accessible medium used for global commerce and communication, and there is therefore a need to continue to identify the global and regional activities related to IP-based networks with respect to, for example:

i) infrastructure, interoperability and standardization;

ii) Internet naming and addressing;

iii) dissemination of information about IP-based networks and the implications of their development for ITU Member States, particularly the developing countries;

iv) support and advice available for ITU Member States, particularly the developing countries, from ITU and other entities and organizations;

b) that significant work on IP-related issues and the future Internet is being conducted within ITU and many other international bodies;

c) that the quality of service of IP-based networks should be consistent with ITU-T recommendations and other recognized international standards;

d) that it is in the public interest that IP-based networks and other telecommunication networks should be both interoperable and provide global reachability, bearing in mind recognizing c) above;

e) that the significance of interoperability and seamless transfer of data enabled by IP-based networks and other telecommunication networks is an important factor to enable growth of the economy, including the digital economy,

requests the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector

to continue its collaborative activities on IP-based networks with ISOC/IETF and other relevant recognized organizations, in respect of interconnectivity with existing telecommunication networks and migration to future networks,

requests the three Sectors

to continue to consider and update their work programmes on IP-based networks and on migration to future networks, including strengthening collaboration with other entities and organizations for the benefit of Member States and ITU members, taking into account the impact of new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies,

resolves

1 to explore ways and means, in accordance with the Tunis Agenda, for greater reciprocal collaboration and coordination between ITU and relevant organizations[2] involved in the development of IP-based networks and the future Internet in the context of emerging telecommunications/ICTs, through cooperation agreements, as appropriate, in order to increase the role of ITU in Internet governance, and to promote greater participation by Member States in Internet governance, so as to ensure maximum benefits to the global community and promote affordable international connectivity;

2 that ITU shall fully embrace and promote the opportunities for telecommunication/ICT development that arise from the growth of IP-based services, including services using new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs, in conformity with the Union's purposes and the outcomes of the Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005) phases of WSIS, taking into account the quality and security of services and the affordability of international connectivity for all, especially for developing countries, LLDCs and SIDS;

3 that ITU shall clearly identify, for its Member States and Sector Members and for the general public, the range of Internet-related issues that fall within the responsibilities incumbent on the Union under its basic texts and the activities in the WSIS outcome documents and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, where ITU has a role;

4 that ITU shall continue to collaborate with other relevant organizations and stakeholders to ensure that growth in IP-based networks, along with and taking into consideration traditional networks, delivers maximum benefits to the global community, and shall continue to participate, as appropriate, in any directly related new international initiatives, such as the initiative in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the joint ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development formed for this purpose;

5 to continue the study of international Internet connectivity as an urgent matter, as called for in § 50 d) of the Tunis Agenda (2005);

6 to take into account the provisions of Resolution 23 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017), in particular undertaking studies on the structure of international Internet connection costs for developing countries, with emphasis on the influence and effects of the connection mode (transit and peering), secure cross-border connectivity, the deployment of IXPs, and the availability and cost of backhaul and long-haul physical infrastructure,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to prepare a detailed annual report on the implementation of this resolution to the ITU Council with the appropriate input from Member States, Sector Members, the three Sectors and the General Secretariat, that provides a comprehensive summary of the activities that ITU is already undertaking in regard to IP-based networks and the related impact of new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs in these networks as well as any changes thereto, including the development and deployment of future networks, and of the roles and activities of other relevant international organizations, describing their involvement in IP-based network issues; the report shall indicate the degree of cooperation between ITU and these organizations, drawing the required information wherever possible from existing sources, and containing concrete proposals on improving ITU activities and such cooperation, and shall be distributed widely among the Member States and Sector Members, the advisory groups of the three Sectors and other groups involved one month before the Council session;

2 based on this report, to continue collaborative activities related to IP-based networks, especially those related to the implementation of the relevant outcomes of the two phases of WSIS (Geneva, 2003, and Tunis, 2005), and to consider the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of WSIS outcomes and the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS beyond 2015, which were adopted at the ITU-coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event, based on the MPP process, together with other United Nations agencies and inclusive of all WSIS Stakeholders, were endorsed by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) and were submitted to the UNGA overall review;

3 to continue to raise awareness of the critical importance for sustainable development of affordable connectivity for all, including in the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to provide capacity building to developing countries, including least developed countries, SIDS and LLDCs, in order to connect the unconnected, including through provision of the necessary assistance by the ITU regional offices to achieve this goal through collaboration and cooperation with relevant entities and organizations;

2 to promote awareness among ITU members about the support available from ITU and from other relevant organizations to promote the development and deployment of IP-based networks;

3 to provide the necessary information and best-practice guidance related to the implementation of this resolution;

4 to coordinate actions to provide training and technical assistance with regard to the implementation of this resolution,

invites the ITU Council

to study the report of the Secretary-General, take into account comments, if any, made by the advisory groups of the three Sectors through their respective Bureau Directors on implementation of this resolution, and take necessary action, including to continue supporting efforts related to this resolution, as appropriate,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to participate in, and follow the progress of, the current work of the Sectors of the Union related to this resolution;

2 to increase awareness at national, regional and international level among all interested stakeholders to facilitate their participation in relevant ITU activities, and in any other relevant activities emanating from the Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005) phases of WSIS.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] Including, but not limited to, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the regional Internet registries (RIRs), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), on the basis of reciprocity.

RESOLUTION 102 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

ITU's role with regard to international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet and the management of Internet resources, including domain names and addresses

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) relevant resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), including UNGA Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS);

b) the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of WSIS outcomes and the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS beyond 2015, which were adopted at the ITU-coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event (Geneva, 2014), based on the Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform process, together with other United Nations agencies and inclusive of all WSIS stakeholders, were endorsed by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) and were submitted to the UNGA overall review;

c) the results of the World Telecommunication/Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy Forum in regard to issues related to Resolutions 101, 102 and 133 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference;

d) Resolutions 47 (Rev. Dubai, 2012), 48 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), 49 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016), 50 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), 52 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016), 64 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), 69 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) and 75 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA),

recognizing

a) all relevant resolutions of the Plenipotentiary Conference;

b) all relevant WSIS outcomes;

c) Internet-related activities of ITU, undertaken within its mandate with respect to the implementation of this resolution and other relevant ITU resolutions;

d) that emerging telecommunications/ICTs will transform both the Internet and the digital economy and will have an impact on overall achievement of Sustainable Development Goals;

e) that the Internet promises social, economic, cultural and environmental development that can bring out the best in humanity;

f) that increased availability of online services will contribute to bringing sustainable social and economic development to all the world's inhabitants;

g) that the Council Working Group on international Internet-related public policy issues (CWG-Internet) has significantly contributed over the years to discourse on international Internet-related public policy issues,

considering

a) that the purposes of the Union are, inter alia:

i) to promote and enhance participation of entities and organizations in the activities of the Union and foster fruitful cooperation and partnership between them and Member States for the fulfilment of the overall objectives as embodied in the purposes of the Union;

ii) to promote, at the international level, the adoption of a broad approach to the issues of telecommunications/ICTs in the global information economy and society, by cooperating with other world and regional intergovernmental organizations and those non-governmental organizations concerned with telecommunications;

iii) to promote the extension of the benefits of new telecommunication technologies to all the world's inhabitants;

iv) to harmonize the actions of Member States and Sector Members and promote fruitful and constructive cooperation and partnership between Member States and Sector Members in the attainment of those ends;

v) to maintain and extend international cooperation among all its Member States for the improvement and rational use of telecommunications/ICTs of all kinds;

vi) to promote and offer technical assistance to developing countries[1] in the field of telecommunications and to promote the mobilization of the material, human and financial resources needed for its implementation, as well as access to information;

b) the need for preserving and promoting multilingualism on the Internet for an integrating and inclusive information society;

c) that advances in the global information infrastructure, including the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networks and the Internet, taking into account the requirements, features and interoperability of next-generation networks (NGN) and future networks, are of crucial importance as an important engine for growth in the world economy in the twenty-first century;

d) that the development of the Internet is essentially market-led and driven by private and government initiatives;

e) that the private sector continues to play a very important role in the expansion and development of the Internet, for example through investments in infrastructures and services;

f) that the public sector and public-private and regional initiatives continue to play a very important role in the expansion and development of the Internet, for example through investments in infrastructures and services;

g) that management of the registration and allocation of Internet domain names and addresses must fully reflect the geographical nature of the Internet, taking into account an equitable balance of interests of all stakeholders;

h) the role played by ITU in the successful organization of the two phases of WSIS, and that the Geneva Declaration of Principles and the Geneva Plan of Action, adopted in 2003, and the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, adopted in 2005, have been endorsed by UNGA;

i) that UNGA agreed, at its high-level meeting on 15-16 December 2015, that Internet governance should continue to follow the Tunis Agenda;

j) that the management of the Internet is a subject of valid international interest and must flow from full international and multistakeholder cooperation on the basis of the outcomes of the two phases of WSIS;

k) that, as stated in the WSIS outcomes, all governments should have an equal role and responsibility for international Internet governance and for ensuring the stability, security and continuity of the existing Internet and its future development and of the future Internet, and that the need for development of public policy by governments in consultation with all stakeholders is also recognized;

l) work being carried out by the Commission on Science and Technology for Development relevant to this resolution;

m) work being carried out by the Telecommunication Development Bureau to develop its capacity-building activities in the field of Internet governance,

recognizing further

a) that ITU is dealing with technical and policy issues related to IP-based networks, including the existing Internet and evolution to NGN as well as studies into the future Internet;

b) that ITU performs worldwide coordination of a number of radiocommunication-related and telecommunication-related resource allocation systems and acts as a forum for policy discussion in this area;

c) that significant effort has been put in by ITU on ENUM, ".int", internationalized domain name (IDN), and country code top-level domain (ccTLD) issues through workshops and standardization activities;

d) that ITU has published a comprehensive and useful Handbook on IP-based networks and related topics and issues;

e) §§ 71 and 78 a) of the Tunis Agenda with regard to the establishment of enhanced cooperation on Internet governance and the establishment of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), as two distinct processes;

f) the relevant WSIS outcomes in §§ 29-82 of the Tunis Agenda concerning Internet governance and §§ 55-65 of UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes;

g) that ITU should be encouraged to facilitate cooperation with all stakeholders as referred to in § 35 of the Tunis Agenda;

h) that Member States represent the interests of the population of the country or territory for which a ccTLD has been delegated;

i) that countries should not be involved in decisions regarding another country's ccTLD;

j) to take account of the results of the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation on public policy issues pertaining to the Internet,

emphasizing

a) that the management of the Internet encompasses both technical and public policy issues and should involve all stakeholders and relevant intergovernmental and international organizations, in accordance with §§ 35 a) – e) of the Tunis Agenda;

b) that emerging telecommunications/ICTs will transform the Internet, and policy-makers need to keep pace with change in the Internet to harness the benefits of that transformation;

c) that the role of governments includes providing a clear, consistent and predictable legal framework, in order to promote a favourable environment in which global ICT networks are interoperable with Internet networks and widely accessible to all citizens without any discrimination and to ensure adequate protection of public interests in the management of Internet resources, including domain names and addresses;

d) that WSIS recognized the need for enhanced cooperation in the future, to enable governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their roles and responsibilities, in international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet, but not in the day-to-day technical and operational matters that do not impact on international public policy issues;

e) that ITU, for its part, has started the process towards enhanced cooperation as one of the relevant organizations referred to in § 71 of the Tunis Agenda, and that CWG-Internet should continue its work on Internet-related public policy issues;

f) that ITU can play a positive role by offering all interested parties a platform for encouraging discussions and for the dissemination of information on the management of Internet domain names and addresses and other Internet resources within the mandate of ITU,

noting

a) that CWG-Internet has furthered the objectives of Resolution 75 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA and Resolution 30 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) regarding public policy issues pertaining to the Internet;

b) Resolutions 1305 and 1336 adopted by the ITU Council;

c) that CWG-Internet shall include in its work all relevant decisions of this conference and all other resolutions relevant to the work of the group as stated in Council Resolution 1305 and the annex thereto;

d) the continued importance of openness and transparency in the development of international Internet public policy issues, in line with § 35 of the Tunis Agenda;

e) the need for development of international Internet public policy by governments in consultation with all stakeholders;

f) ongoing activities in relevant ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) study groups relevant to this resolution,

resolves

1 to explore ways and means, in accordance with the Tunis Agenda, for greater reciprocal collaboration and coordination between ITU and relevant organizations[2] involved in the development of IP-based networks and the future Internet in the context of new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs, through cooperation agreements, as appropriate, in order to increase the role of ITU in Internet governance, and to promote greater participation by Member States in Internet governance, so as to ensure maximum benefits to the global community and promote affordable international connectivity;

2 that ITU may assist Member States to identify and access the advice and support that is available from other relevant entities and organizations;

3 that the sovereign and legitimate interests, as expressed and defined by each country, in diverse ways, regarding decisions affecting their ccTLDs, need to be respected and ensured, upheld and addressed via flexible and improved frameworks and mechanisms;

4 to continue to undertake activities on international Internet related public policy issues within ITU's mandate, including in CWG-Internet, in collaboration and cooperation with relevant organizations and stakeholders, as appropriate, with special attention to the needs of developing countries;

5 to continue the CWG-Internet activities as listed in the relevant Council resolutions;

6 that CWG-Internet should strengthen its work to continue to address international Internet-related public policy issues,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to continue to take a significant role and participate in international discussions and initiatives on the management of Internet domain names and addresses and other Internet resources, taking into account the impact of new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs, within the mandate of ITU, in order to contribute to international efforts and promote fruitful and constructive cooperation and partnership with relevant organizations, in particular the work of the United Nations;

2 to continue promoting the importance of Internet connectivity for sustainable development, taking into account future developments of the Internet, the purposes of the Union and the interests of its membership as expressed in its instruments, resolutions and decisions;

3 to take the necessary steps for ITU to continue to play a facilitating role in the coordination of international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet, as expressed in §35 d) of the Tunis Agenda, interacting as necessary with other intergovernmental organizations in these domains;

4 to continue to raise awareness of the critical importance of sustainable development in discussions and initiatives on international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet and the management of Internet resources;

5 in line with § 78 a) of the Tunis Agenda, to continue to contribute as appropriate to the work of IGF;

6 to continue to take the necessary steps for ITU to play an active and constructive role in the process towards enhanced cooperation as expressed in § 71 of the Tunis Agenda;

7 to continue to take the necessary steps in ITU's own internal process towards enhanced cooperation on international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet as expressed in § 71 of the Tunis Agenda, involving all stakeholders, in their respective roles and responsibilities;

8 to continue to report annually to the Council on the activities undertaken on these subjects and the implementation of this resolution and to submit proposals as appropriate, and, after the endorsement of this report by Member States through consultation procedures in force, to submit the report to the Secretary-General of the United Nations;

9 to continue to disseminate, as appropriate, the reports of CWG-Internet to all relevant international organizations and stakeholders actively involved in such matters for their consideration in their policy-making processes;

10 to engage, as appropriate, in other relevant United Nations activities on international Internet-related public policy issues and to promote the work of ITU and its members,

instructs the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to contribute to CWG-Internet concerning the activities undertaken by their respective Sectors, considering Council Resolutions 1305 and 1336, which are relevant to the work of the group;

2 to provide advice and assistance, within the Union's expertise, and within available resources, as appropriate, in cooperation with relevant organizations, to Member States, if so requested, in order to achieve their stated policy objectives with respect to the management of Internet domain names and addresses, other Internet resources and international Internet connectivity, within the remit of ITU, such as capacity building, availability and costs related to infrastructure, and with respect to Internet-related public policy issues, as stated in the annex to Council Resolution 1305, which identifies the role of CWG-Internet, within their mandate;

3 to liaise and to cooperate with the regional telecommunication organizations pursuant to this resolution;

4 that the sovereign and legitimate interests, as expressed and defined by each country, in diverse ways, regarding decisions affecting their ccTLDs, need to be respected and ensured, upheld and addressed via flexible and improved frameworks and mechanisms,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to ensure that ITU-T performs its role in technical issues, and to continue to contribute ITU-T expertise and to liaise and cooperate with appropriate entities on issues related to the management of Internet domain names and addresses and other Internet resources within the mandate of ITU, such as IP version 6 (IPv6), ENUM and IDNs, as well as any other related technological developments and issues, including facilitating appropriate studies on these issues by relevant ITU-T study groups and other groups;

2 in accordance with ITU rules and procedures, and calling upon contributions from the ITU membership, to continue to play a facilitating role in coordination and assistance in the development of public policy issues pertaining to Internet domain names and addresses and other Internet resources within the mandate of ITU and their possible evolution;

3 to work with Member States, Sector Members and relevant regional and international organizations on issues concerning Member States' ccTLDs, related experiences and best practices, fostering cooperation among them;

4 to report annually to the Council and the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group, and also to WTSA, on the activities undertaken and achievements on these subjects, including proposals for further consideration,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to organize international and regional forums and carry out necessary activities, in conjunction with appropriate entities, to discuss policy, operational and technical issues on the Internet in general, and on the management of Internet domain names and addresses and other Internet resources within the mandate of ITU in particular, including with regard to multilingualism, for the benefit of Member States, especially for developing countries, taking into consideration the content of the relevant resolutions of this conference, including this resolution, in addition to the content of the relevant resolutions of WTDC;

2 to continue promoting, through ITU-D programmes and study groups, the exchange of information, fostering debate and the development and sharing of best practices on Internet issues, and to continue to play a key role in outreach by contributing to capacity building, providing technical assistance and encouraging the involvement of developing countries in international Internet forums and issues;

3 to continue reporting annually to the Council and the Telecommunication Development Advisory Group, and also to WTDC, on the activities undertaken and achievements on these subjects, including proposals for further consideration as appropriate;

4 to liaise with the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and to collaborate with other relevant organizations involved in the development and deployment of IP-based networks and the growth of the Internet, aiming to make available to Member States widely accepted best practices for the design, installation and operation of Internet exchange points,

instructs the ITU Council Working Group on international Internet-related public policy issues

1 to consider and discuss the activities of the Secretary-General and Directors of the Bureaux in relation to the implementation of this resolution;

2 to prepare ITU inputs into the above-mentioned activities as appropriate;

3 to continue to identify, study and develop matters on international Internet-related public policy issues, taking into account relevant ITU resolutions,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to revise its Resolution 1344 to direct CWG-Internet, limited to Member States, with open consultation to all stakeholders, and to conduct such open consultation according to the following guidelines:

• CWG-Internet will decide on the international Internet-related public policy issues for open consultation, drawing primarily from Council Resolution 1305;

• CWG-Internet should generally hold both open online consultation and physical open consultation meetings, with remote participation, within a reasonable period, prior to each CWG-Internet meeting;

• relevant inputs received from stakeholders will be submitted to CWG-Internet for consideration of the issues chosen for its next meeting;

2 taking into account the annual reports presented by the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux, to take appropriate measures in order to contribute actively to the implementation of this resolution and international initiatives related to this resolution, within the mandate of ITU;

3 to consider the reports of CWG-Internet and take the necessary actions;

4 to report to the 2026 plenipotentiary conference on the activities undertaken and achievements in respect of the implementation of this resolution, including proposals for further consideration as appropriate,

invites Member States

1 to participate in the discussions on international management of Internet resources, including domain names and addresses, and in the process towards enhanced cooperation on Internet governance and international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet, so that worldwide representation in the debates can be ensured;

2 to continue to participate actively in the discussions and development of public policy issues related to Internet resources, including international Internet connectivity, within the remit of ITU, such as capacity building, availability and costs related to infrastructure, domain names and addresses, their possible evolution and the impact of new usages and applications, cooperating with the relevant organizations, and to contribute to CWG-Internet and ITU study groups on related matters;

3 to support a resilient, inclusive and interoperable Internet that is accessible to all, and to strive to ensure universal and affordable Internet access for all citizens, including persons with specific needs, pursuant to Resolution 175 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, taking into account the annual reports presented by the Secretary-General and the Council,

invites Member States and Sector Members

to seek the appropriate means to contribute to enhanced cooperation on international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet, in their respective roles and responsibilities.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] Including, but not limited to, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the regional Internet registries (RIRs), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), on the basis of reciprocity.

RESOLUTION 119 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Methods to improve the efficiency and effectiveness
of the Radio Regulations Board

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

that the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) (Geneva, 2003) introduced important amendments to Article 13 of the Radio Regulations, including two new important additions in Nos. 13.0.1 and 13.0.2, and that the same conference also introduced amendments to the working methods of the Radio Regulations Board (RRB),

considering

a) that WRC-03 considered that further improvements are both possible and necessary in order to ensure a high degree of transparency in RRB's work;

b) that WRC-03 introduced improvements to the working methods of RRB on the basis of Resolution 119 (Marrakesh, 2002), such as, inter alia, inclusion of the reasons for every RRB decision in the summary of decisions;

c) the continued importance of efficient and effective RRB working methods in meeting the requirements of the Radio Regulations and in preserving the rights of Member States;

d) the continued concerns expressed by some Member States at the plenipotentiary conferences in 2002 (Marrakesh) and 2006 (Antalya) and at this conference in regard to transparency and efficiency of RRB's working methods;

e) that, since RRB has an important role to consider appeals by Member States as prescribed in the Radio Regulations, appropriate facilities and resources are necessary for it to continue discharging its responsibilities expeditiously,

recognizing

the importance that the Union attaches to RRB's activities,

resolves to instruct the Radio Regulations Board

1 to continue to review periodically its working methods and internal processes and develop appropriate changes in its methods and decision-making processes and their overall effectiveness in order to attain a higher degree of transparency, and report the results to the next WRC through the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR);

2 to continue to include in the summary of its decisions (No. 13.18 of the Radio Regulations):

– the reasons for each decision taken by RRB;

– comments received from administrations on the Rules of Procedure;

this summary of decisions, including the associated reasons, shall be published by circular letter and on the RRB website; upon request from an administration, RRB may also consider, if appropriate, publishing relevant information on that request on the RRB and BR websites;

3 to continue to give advice to WRC and regional radiocommunication conferences, at an appropriate time, on difficulties in the application of any regulatory provision in force as well as those under discussion at the conference;

4 to prepare the necessary input to the report of the Director of BR to WRC in accordance with Nos. 13.0.1 and 13.0.2 of the Radio Regulations with respect to the implementation of the above-mentioned provisions;

5 to schedule its meetings with a view to facilitating consideration and action by administrations in accordance with No. 13.14 of the Radio Regulations,

instructs the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

to continue to provide to RRB:

− detailed explanations from BR on matters to be considered at RRB meetings;

− any relevant information from appropriate staff within BR,

calls upon all Member States

to continue to provide all necessary assistance and support to RRB members individually, and RRB as a whole, in carrying out their functions,

invites world radiocommunication conferences

to review, and to continue developing, principles applied or to be applied by RRB in the preparation of new Rules of Procedure in accordance with Article 13 of the Radio Regulations, with particular attention to Nos. 13.0.1 and 13.0.2 thereof,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to continue to make available the necessary facilities and resources for RRB members in conducting their meetings;

2 to continue to facilitate the recognition of the status of RRB members pursuant to No. 142A of the ITU Convention;

3 to provide the necessary logistical support, such as computer hardware and software, to RRB members from developing countries[1], if required, in order to perform their duties as RRB members,

further instructs the Secretary-General

to report to the 2023 session of the ITU Council, to subsequent sessions of the Council and to the next plenipotentiary conference on actions taken pursuant to this resolution and the results thereof.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 123 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Bridging the standardization gap between developing and
developed countries

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) No. 13 of Article 1 of the ITU Constitution, which establishes that the Union shall in particular facilitate the worldwide standardization of telecommunications, with a satisfactory quality of service;

b) that, in Article 17, the Constitution indicates that the functions of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) shall be, bearing in mind the particular concerns of the developing countries[1], to fulfil the purposes of the Union;

c) that the strategic plan for the Union for 2020-2023, approved by means of Resolution 71 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) of the Plenipotentiary Conference and its annexes, includes under the objectives of ITU-T to promote the active participation of the membership, in particular developing countries, in the definition and adoption of non-discriminatory international standards (ITU-T recommendations) with a view to bridging the standardization gap;

d) that the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) adopted Resolution 44 (Rev. Geneva, 2022);

e) Resolution 54 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on regional groups of ITU-T study groups, whose purpose is to help bridge the standardization gap between developing and developed countries;

f) that the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) adopted Resolution 47 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), in which it resolves to continue engaging in activities to enhance knowledge and effective application of information and communication technology (ICT) standards, including ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) and ITU-T recommendations, in developing countries;

g) Resolution 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, which recognizes the need to create digital opportunities in developing countries;

h) Resolution 32 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) of WTSA, on strengthening electronic working methods for the work of ITU-T;

i) that the Geneva Plan of Action and Tunis Agenda for the Information Society of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) emphasize efforts to overcome the digital divide and development divides,

considering

a) that the strategic plan for the Union for 2020-2023, adopted in Resolution 71 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) includes:

i) Outcome T.2-a: Increased participation in the ITU-T standardization process, including attendance of meetings, submission of contributions, taking leadership positions and hosting of meetings/workshops, especially from developing countries;

ii) Output T.2-1: Bridging the standardization gap;

to promote the active participation of the membership, in particular developing countries (e.g. remote participation, fellowships, establishment of regional study groups),

b) that focus on the following activities is still needed:

• to develop interoperable, non-discriminatory international standards (ITU-T recommendations);

• to assist in bridging the standardization gap between developed and developing countries;

• to extend and facilitate international cooperation among international and regional standardization bodies;

• to provide assistance to developing countries in bridging the digital divide by achieving broader telecommunication/ICT-enabled socio-economic development,

c) the continued shortage of skilled human resources in the standardization field in developing countries, resulting in a low level of developing-country participation in ITU-T and ITU-R meetings, and, consequently, in the standards-making process, leading to difficulties when interpreting and applying ITU-T and ITU-R recommendations;

d) ongoing challenges relating to capacity building, in particular for developing countries, in the light of rapid technological innovation and increased convergence of services;

e) the difficulty faced by developing countries with stringent budgetary constraints in participating in the activities of ITU, especially regular meetings of study groups and advisory groups, for which the meeting duration could be up to two weeks;

f) the moderate level of participation by representatives of developing countries in ITU standardization activities, whether through lack of awareness of these activities, difficulties in accessing information, lack of training for human talent in standardization-related matters, or lack of financial resources to travel to meeting sites, which are factors with impact in terms of widening the existing knowledge gap;

g) that technological needs and realities vary from country to country and region to region, and in many cases developing countries do not have opportunities or mechanisms to make them known;

h) that, for developing countries at the initial stage of introducing and/or switching to a new technology, it is important to have guidelines for the new technology in question that can be used to develop a national standard, which would make it possible to introduce or switch to the new technology in a timely manner;

i) the need for high-quality, demand-driven international standards, which should be developed rapidly in line with the principles of global connectivity, openness, affordability, reliability, interoperability and security, and which are critical for generating confidence for further investments, specifically in telecommunication/ICT infrastructure;

j) digital transformation through the emergence of key technologies, enabling new services and applications and promoting the building of the information society and progress towards sustainable development, which must be taken into account in the work of ITU-T;

k) that cooperation and collaboration with other standardization bodies and relevant consortia and forums are key to avoiding duplication of work and achieving efficient use of resources;

l) that rapidly evolving technology continues to create a standardization gap between developed and developing countries, and this gap is an obstacle for countries to transition towards the development of their economy, including the digital economy, enabled by access to affordable and interoperable technologies,

considering further

that the achievements of ITU-T in transformative digital technologies will contribute towards achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

taking into account

a) that developing countries could benefit from improved capability in the application and development of standards;

b) that ITU-T and ITU-R activities and the telecommunication/ICT market could also benefit from better involvement of developing countries in standards-making and standards application;

c) that initiatives to assist in bridging the standardization gap are intrinsic to, and are a high priority task of, the Union;

d) that although ITU is making efforts to reduce the standardization gap, major disparities in knowledge and management of standards remain between developing and developed countries;

e) that WTSA adopted Resolutions 32 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) and 44 and 54 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), all of which share the clear objective of contributing to bridging the standardization gap between developing and developed countries by means of:

i) providing installations, facilities and capacities in electronic working methods in ITU-T meetings, workshops and training courses, especially for developing countries in order to promote their participation;

ii) intensifying the participation of the ITU regional offices in the activities of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, in order to promote and coordinate standardization activities in their regions, to apply the relevant parts of the resolution, and to initiate campaigns aimed at encouraging the affiliation to ITU of new Sector Members, Associates and Academia from developing countries;

iii) inviting the new regions and Member States to create regional groups within the sphere of the ITU-T study groups, and to create corresponding regional standardization bodies in order to work closely with the ITU-D study groups and the Telecommunication Development Advisory Group;

f) Resolution 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), on bridging the digital divide, which aims at the establishment of international methods and specific mechanisms to strengthen international cooperation for narrowing the digital divide, including through implementation of studies or projects and activities, in collaboration with ITU-R, with a view to building capacities in efficient use of the orbit/spectrum resource for the provision of terrestrial, stratospheric and space-based technologies, including radiocommunication technologies, in order to support utilization of the orbit/spectrum resource to stimulate broadband development and bridge the digital divide, especially in the developing countries, in accordance with the WSIS Geneva Plan of Action and Tunis Agenda;

g) that joint meetings of regional groups of study groups, in particular if concatenated with a regional workshop and/or a meeting of a regional standardization body and meetings of the regional organizations, such as the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC), the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), the Council of Arab Ministers of Telecommunication and Information represented by the Secretariat-General of the League of Arab States (LAS), the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) and the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), could encourage the participation of developing countries in those meetings and increase the effectiveness of such meetings;

h) that holding ITU meetings in developing countries has shown the potential to increase the participation of ITU members from the region concerned in those meetings,

resolves to instruct the Secretary-General and the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to work closely with each other on the follow-up and implementation of this resolution, as well as Resolutions 32 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) and 44 and 54 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, Resolutions 37 and 47 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC and Resolution ITU-R 7-4 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) of the Radiocommunication Assembly, in order to step up intended actions and to reduce the standardization gap between developing and developed countries;

2 to maintain a close coordination mechanism among the three Sectors at the regional level for bridging the digital divide, through activities carried out by the ITU regional offices to that end;

3 to engage ITU regional offices in activities related to bridging the standardization gap, including the necessary assistance to raise awareness within developing countries;

4 to provide developing countries with assistance to enhance capacity building in the standardization field, including through collaboration with the relevant academia, in close collaboration between ITU-T and ITU-R, and taking into consideration the activities carried out by the ITU Academy training centres and other capacity-building initiatives of the Telecommunication Development Bureau;

5 to identify ways and means to support the participation of representatives of developing countries, including prioritizing fellowships for those who submit contributions to attend the meetings of the three Sectors of ITU and the dissemination of information on standardization;

6 to further collaborate with the relevant regional organizations and support their work in this area;

7 to strengthen the mechanisms for preparing and submitting reports on the implementation of the action plan associated with Resolution 44 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), taking into account the four-year rolling operational plans of each Bureau;

8 to continue collaboration at the regional level in order to lend further impetus to the development of ITU-T's Bridging the Standardization Gap (BSG) programme in these regions;

9 to promote equal access to fully virtual ITU meetings and physical ITU meetings with remote participation, to the maximum extent possible;

10 to promote the timely development of guidelines for developing countries on the basis of ITU-R and ITU-T recommendations, particularly those related to priority standardization issues, including the introduction of and switchover to new technologies, as well as the preparation and application of ITU recommendations;

11 to effectively consolidate all guidelines, recommendations, technical reports, best practices and use cases developed by ITU-R and ITU-T, through the use of ITU web-based tools, and to identify strategies and mechanisms to facilitate and allow Member States to proactively use these tools to hasten the transfer of knowledge;

12 to encourage the participation of members, particularly Academia, from developing countries in ITU's activities towards bridging the standardization gap, including through, whenever possible, the holding of workshops and study group and other meetings in the regions,

invites Member States and Sector Members

to make voluntary contributions (financial and in-kind) to the fund for bridging the standardization gap, as well as to undertake concrete actions to support ITU's actions and the initiatives of its three Sectors and its regional offices in this matter,

invites Member States

1 to study the possibility of implementing "national standardization secretariats", taking into account the guidelines provided under the ITU-T BSG programme, in particular in developing countries;

2 to promote active participation and propose candidates for study group chairmanship and vice-chairmanship positions in the three ITU Sectors, particularly from developing countries;

3 to continue the creation of national and regional standardization bodies, as appropriate, and encourage the involvement of these entities in ITU standardization work and the coordination of meetings with ITU-T regional groups, mainly to enable developing countries to communicate about their standardization priorities and requirements;

4 to host regional group and study group meetings as well as international or regional events (forums, workshops, etc.) related to ITU standardization activities in particular in developing countries;

5 to urge national small and medium enterprises, academia and relevant actors, in particular from developing countries, to participate in ITU's standardization activities.

RESOLUTION 125 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Assistance and support to Palestine
for infrastructure development and capacity building in the telecommunication and information technology sector

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolutions 125 (Rev. Dubai, 2018), 125 (Rev. Busan, 2014), 125 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010), 125 (Rev. Antalya, 2006), 125 (Marrakesh, 2002), 99 (Rev. Dubai, 2018), 99 (Rev. Busan, 2014) and 32 (Kyoto, 1994) of the Plenipotentiary Conference;

b) Resolutions 18 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), 18 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017), 18 (Rev. Dubai, 2014), 18 (Rev. Hyderabad, 2010), 18 (Rev. Doha, 2006), 18 (Rev. Istanbul, 2002) and 18 (Valletta, 1998) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on special technical assistance to Palestine;

c) the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

d) Nos. 6 and 7 of the ITU Constitution indicating among the purposes of the Union "to promote the extension of the benefits of the new telecommunication technologies to all the world's inhabitants" and "to promote the use of telecommunication services with the objective of facilitating peaceful relations";

e) the terms of Resolution 67/19 of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), under which it was decided to accord to Palestine non-member observer State status in the United Nations;

f) UNGA Resolution 67/229, which recognizes the Palestinian people's right to permanent sovereignty over their natural resources, specifically land, water, energy and other natural resources, in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem;

g) Resolution 9 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, which recognizes that it is the sovereign right of every State to manage spectrum use within its territories;

h) Resolution 93 (Hammamet, 2016) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on interconnection of 4G, IMT-2020 networks and beyond;

i) Resolutions 137 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) and 137 (Rev. Busan, 2014) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on deployment of future networks in developing countries;

j) Resolution 34 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on assistance and support to countries in special need for rebuilding their telecommunication sector;

k) the Geneva Declaration of Principles adopted by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS);

l) the efforts undertaken by ITU towards the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030,

considering

a) that the ITU Constitution and Convention are designed to strengthen peace and security in the world for the development of international cooperation and better understanding among the peoples concerned;

b) that ITU's policy of assistance to Palestine for the development of its telecommunication sector has been efficient but has not yet fulfilled its goals, due to the prevailing situation;

c) that, for Palestine to take an effective part in the new information society, it has to build its information society;

d) that the ITU Constitution aims to promote the development of technical facilities and their most efficient operation with a view to improving the efficiency of telecommunication services, increasing their usefulness and making them, so far as possible, generally available to the public;

e) that a purpose of ITU is to promote the use of telecommunication services with the objective of facilitating peaceful relations;

f) that ITU has an important role in assisting developing countries to establish a modern and reliable telecommunication network,

considering further

a) that the development, establishment and deployment of reliable and modern telecommunication networks are an essential part of economic and social development and are of the utmost importance to the future of the Palestinian people;

b) that the international community has an important role in assisting Palestine to develop a modern and reliable telecommunication network;

c) that Palestine at present does not have international telecommunication networks on account of difficulties for their establishment,

mindful

of the fundamental principles contained in the Preamble of the Constitution,

noting

the Telecommunication Development Bureau's (BDT) long-term technical assistance to Palestine for the development of its telecommunications in implementation of Resolution 32 (Kyoto, 1994) and the urgent need for assistance to be provided in the various fields of communication and information,

noting also

the restrictions and difficulties related to the current situation in Palestine that are preventing access to telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) means, services and applications and which constitute a continuing obstacle to telecommunication/ICT development in Palestine,

welcomes

the recent bilateral progress made for assignment of frequencies which will enable the deployment of IMT Advanced and IMT-2020 technologies in Palestine;

resolves

1 that the plan of action initiated after the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994) within the framework of the activities of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D), with the specialized assistance of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) and the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), shall be continued and enhanced in order to provide assistance and support to Palestine for building and developing its telecommunication infrastructure, re-establishing institutions in this sector, developing telecommunication legislation and a regulatory framework including a numbering plan, radio-frequency spectrum management in accordance with the Interim Agreement, tariff and human resource development and all other forms of assistance;

2 to ensure that Palestine is promptly empowered by providing assistance to it, to enable Palestine in acquiring and managing frequencies required for the operation of single- and multi-frequency digital terrestrial television, and identify mechanisms for ensuring that Palestine can exploit additional necessary bands for new modern mobile networks, such as IMT-2020, and all in accordance with the Interim Agreement;

3 to provide urgent assistance to Palestine in operating and managing the required radio-frequency spectrum resource for the operation of 4G and 5G networks, in furtherance of ongoing efforts to address technical issues and overcoming the challenges of introducing new technologies, in accordance with the Interim Agreement;

4 to enable Palestine to urgently extend, install, own, manage and operate fibre-optic broadband telecommunication networks and fibre-optic links between governorates and major cities to ensure a more robust digital transformation in Palestine in accordance with the Interim Agreement signed between the Parties;

5 to instruct the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau and the Director of BDT to ensure that this resolution is implemented,

urges Member States

to make every effort with a view to:

i) preserving the Palestinian telecommunication infrastructure;

ii) enabling the establishment of Palestine's own international gateway networks, including satellite earth stations, submarine cables, optical fibre and microwave systems in accordance with the Interim Agreement signed between the Parties;

iii) providing all forms of assistance and support to Palestine, bilaterally or through executive measures taken by ITU, in rebuilding, restoring and developing the Palestinian telecommunication network;

iv) assisting Palestine in recovering its entitlements accruing from incoming and outgoing international traffic;

v) providing assistance to Palestine in support of the implementation of BDT projects, including human resources capacity building;

vi) enabling Palestine to operate and manage the assigned radio-frequency spectrum to operate 4G and 5G networks;

vii) providing assistance in the implementation of projects of the three ITU Bureaux and regional initiatives relating to Palestine,

invites the ITU Council

1 to allocate the necessary funds within available resources for the implementation of this resolution;

2 to study the reports and proposals of the Secretary-General and of the three Bureaux of the Union in relation to the implementation of this resolution,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to continue and enhance the technical assistance provided to Palestine for the development of its telecommunications, taking into consideration the need to overcome the increasing and escalating difficulties encountered in the provision of this assistance during the previous cycle since 2002;

2 to take appropriate measures within the mandate of BDT aimed at facilitating the establishment of international access networks, including terrestrial and satellite stations, submarine cables, optical fibre and microwave systems in accordance with the Interim Agreement signed between the Parties;

3 to implement projects such as e-health, e-education, e-government, spectrum planning and management and human resources development and all other forms of assistance such as consultations,

4 to ensure support and assistance in the mobilization and development of financial and human resources and capacity building in the Palestinian telecommunication and information technology sector through innovation and financing in the following areas:

i) digital transformation to usher in rapid transition to the digital economy;

ii) e-applications (e-government, e-business, e-learning, e-health, e-employment, e-environment, e-agriculture and e-science) based on WSIS Action Line C7;

iii) expanding broadband, connectivity and modern technology infrastructure;

iv) assisting in the development, financing and implementation of plans and network infrastructure for 4G and 5G services, given the pivotal role that these services play in transforming economies and societies;

v) managing the planning of the frequency spectrum assigned to Palestine;

vi) assisting in the delivery of telecommunication networks and Internet services to remote areas and all health centres in Palestine in accordance with the Interim Agreement signed between the Parties;

vii) developing and supporting quality of service control in the telecommunication sector with the necessary hardware and software;

5 to assist in the implementation of projects of the three ITU Bureaux, including regional initiatives,

instructs the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

to ensure that ITU-R continues the collaboration with ITU-D in the implementation of this resolution,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to ensure that this resolution and all other resolutions adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference on Palestine, in particular in relation to the international access code and the processing of frequency assignment notifications, are implemented, and to submit periodic reports to the ITU Council on progress on these questions;

2 to coordinate the activities carried out by the three ITU Sectors in accordance with resolves above, to ensure that the Union's action in favour of Palestine is as effective as possible, and to report on the matter to the Council and to the next plenipotentiary conference on the progress achieved on these issues;

3 to submit an annual report to the Council on progress made in implementing this resolution.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 130 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Strengthening the role of ITU in building confidence and security
in the use of information and communication technologies

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 68/198, on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development;

b) UNGA Resolution 71/199, on the right to privacy in the digital age;

c) UNGA Resolution 68/243, on developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security;

d) UNGA Resolution 57/239, on the creation of a global culture of cybersecurity;

e) UNGA Resolution 64/211, on the creation of a global culture of cybersecurity and taking stock of national efforts to protect critical information infrastructures;

f) the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS beyond 2015, which were adopted at the ITU-coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event (Geneva, 2014), based on the Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform, together with other United Nations agencies and inclusive of all WSIS stakeholders, were endorsed by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) and were submitted to the UNGA overall review;

g) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes;

h) Resolution 174 (Rev. Busan, 2014) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on ITU's role with regard to international public policy issues relating to the risk of illicit use of ICTs;

i) Resolution 179 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on ITU's role in child online protection;

j) Resolution 181 (Guadalajara, 2010) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on definitions and terminology relating to building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

k) Resolution 196 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on protecting telecommunication service users/consumers;

l) Resolution 45 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on mechanisms for enhancing cooperation on cybersecurity, including countering and combating spam;

m) Resolution 140 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on ITU's role in implementing the WSIS outcomes and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as in their follow-up and review processes;

n) Resolution 50 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), on cybersecurity;

o) Resolution 58 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on encouraging the creation of national computer incident response teams (CIRTs), particularly for developing countries[1];

p) Resolution 67 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on the role of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) in child online protection;

q) Resolution 69 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on facilitating the creation of national CIRTs, particularly for developing countries, and cooperation among them;

r) that ITU Council Resolution 1305, adopted at its 2009 session, identified the security, safety, continuity, sustainability and robustness of the Internet as public policy issues that fall within the scope of ITU,

considering

a) that ITU has played a valuable role during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, providing a platform for ICT regulators, policy-makers and other stakeholders to share information and best practices, for example through the ITU's Global Network Resiliency Platform;

b) that the ITU-coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event reaffirmed the importance of building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, as mentioned in relevant paragraphs of the WSIS+10 outcome documents (Geneva, 2014);

c) the crucial importance of information and communication infrastructures and their applications to practically all forms of social and economic activity;

d) the cybersecurity-related provisions of the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society and the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of WSIS;

e) that, with the application and development of ICTs, new threats from various sources have emerged that have had an impact on confidence and security in the use of ICTs by all Member States, Sector Members and other stakeholders, including all users of ICTs, and on the preservation of peace and economic and social development of all Member States, and that threats to and vulnerabilities of infrastructures, networks and devices continue to give rise to ever-growing security challenges across national borders for all countries, in particular developing countries, while noting in this context the strengthening of ITU's role in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs and the need to further enhance international cooperation and capacity building and develop appropriate existing national, regional and international mechanisms (for example agreements, best practices, memoranda of understanding (MoU), etc.);

f) that the ITU Secretary-General has been invited to support other global or regional cybersecurity projects, as appropriate, and all countries, particularly developing countries, have been invited to take part in their activities that are relevant to ITU;

g) the ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA), which encourages international cooperation aimed at proposing strategies for solutions to enhance confidence and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs;

h) that the Council approved, at its 2022 session, guidelines for the utilization of the GCA by ITU in its work;

i) that, in order to protect these infrastructures and address these challenges and threats, coordinated national, regional and international action is required for prevention, preparation, response and recovery from computer security incidents, on the part of government authorities, at the national (including the creation of national CIRTs) and sub-national levels, the private sector and citizens and users, in addition to international and regional cooperation and coordination, and that ITU has a lead role to play within its mandate and competencies in this field;

j) that an iterative, risk-based approach to cybersecurity enables cybersecurity practices to be developed and applied as needed to address constantly evolving threats and vulnerabilities, and that security is a continuous and iterative process which must be built into the development and deployment of technologies and their applications from the beginning and continue throughout their lifetime;

k) the need for continual evolution in new technologies to support the early detection of, and coordinated and timely response to, events or incidents compromising computer security, or computer network security incidents that could compromise the availability, integrity and confidentiality of critical infrastructures in ITU Member States, and for strategies that will minimize the impact of such incidents and mitigate the growing risks and threats to which such platforms are exposed;

l) that UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes, recognized the challenges that States, in particular developing countries, face in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs and called for renewed focus on capacity building, education, knowledge-sharing and regulatory practice, as well as promoting multistakeholder cooperation at all levels and raising awareness among ICT users, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable;

m) that the number of cyberthreats and cyberattacks is growing, as is dependence on the Internet and other networks that are essential for accessing services and information;

n) that the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) has adopted around 300 standards relating to building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

o) the final report on ITU-D study Question 3/2, on securing information and communication networks: best practices for developing a culture of cybersecurity;

p) that the multidisciplinary nature of the cybersecurity standards landscape calls for shared actions, cooperation and synergies between ITU and other national organizations of Member States and regional, global and sectoral organizations;

q) that many developing countries are elaborating or implementing national cybersecurity strategies;

r) that although progress has been made in some areas, many countries face challenges in developing effective qualifications and career pathways, and this is a significant barrier to promoting confidence and security in ICTs;

s) that cybersecurity has become a very important issue at the international level, and that the role and involvement of the United Nations and its relevant specialized agencies such as ITU in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs is therefore important;

t) the different roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders in ensuring confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

u) that some small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face additional challenges in implementing cybersecurity practices;

v) the need to raise awareness and promote basic security measures for cyberhygiene that everyone should take to protect themselves, including women, children, persons with disabilities, persons with specific needs and persons with age-related disabilities, from cybersecurity risks,

recognizing

a) that cybersecurity is a fundamental element for securing telecommunication/ICT infrastructures and an essential foundation for social and economic development;

b) that the development of ICTs has been and continues to be instrumental for the growth and development of the global economy, including the digital economy, underpinned by security and trust;

c) that WSIS affirmed the importance of building confidence and security in the use of ICTs and the great importance of multistakeholder implementation at the international level, and established Action Line C5 (Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs), with ITU identified in the Tunis Agenda as moderator/facilitator for the action line, and that this task has been carried out by the Union in recent years, for example under the GCA;

d) that the Kigali Declaration adopted by WTDC-22 declares: "In the digital era, universal, secure and affordable broadband connectivity is indispensable and provides opportunities for boosting productivity and efficiency, ending poverty, improving livelihoods and ensuring that sustainable development becomes a reality for all. Continuing to build confidence, trust and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs remains of vital importance.";

e) that WTDC-22 adopted the Kigali Action Plan and the ITU-D priority on inclusive and secure telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development, which declares: "The focus of this priority is on providing support for Member States to achieve secure telecommunications/ICTs for digital development for all. The following topics can be considered as the supporting components of this priority: fostering digital literacy and raising awareness of cybersecurity issues and best practice; strengthening the security of users online and promoting consumer protection; assisting Member States to develop national cybersecurity strategies and computer incident response teams (CIRTs); promoting digital skills development and digital training programmes, including training for public authorities; investment in secure infrastructure, particularly in underserved areas.";

f) that WTDC-22 revised Resolution 45 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), on mechanisms for enhancing cooperation on cybersecurity, including countering and combating spam, as appropriate; WTDC-22 adopted Resolution 69 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), on facilitating the creation of national CIRTs, particularly for developing countries, and cooperation among them; and WTSA-20 adopted Resolution 58 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), on encouraging the creation of national CIRTs, particularly for developing countries;

g) § 15 of the Tunis Commitment, which states: "Recognizing the principles of universal and non-discriminatory access to ICTs for all nations, the need to take into account the level of social and economic development of each country, and respecting the development-oriented aspects of the information society, we underscore that ICTs are effective tools to promote peace, security and stability, to enhance democracy, social cohesion, good governance and the rule of law, at national, regional and international levels. ICTs can be used to promote economic growth and enterprise development. Infrastructure development, human capacity building, information security and network security are critical to achieve these goals. We further recognize the need to effectively confront challenges and threats resulting from use of ICTs for purposes that are inconsistent with objectives of maintaining international stability and security and may adversely affect the integrity of the infrastructure within States, to the detriment of their security. It is necessary to prevent the abuse of information resources and technologies for criminal and terrorist purposes, while respecting human rights", and that the challenges created by such misuse of ICT resources have only continued to increase since WSIS;

h) that the ITU-coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event identified several challenges in the implementation of the WSIS action lines that still remain and that will need to be addressed beyond 2015;

i) that Member States, in particular developing countries, in the elaboration of appropriate and workable legal measures relating to protection against cyberthreats at the national, regional and international levels, may require assistance from ITU in establishing technical and procedural measures, aimed at securing national ICT infrastructures, on request from these Member States, while noting that there are a number of regional and international initiatives which may support these countries in elaborating such legal measures;

j) Opinion 4 (Lisbon, 2009) of the World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum (WTPF), on collaborative strategies for creating confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

k) the relevant outcomes of WTSA-20, notably:

i) Resolution 50 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), on cybersecurity;

ii) Resolution 52 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016), on countering and combating spam;

l) that secure and trusted networks will build confidence and encourage the exchange and use of information and data;

m) that the development of human skills and capacity building are key to enhancing the protection of information networks;

n) that many Member States face significant skills shortages in their cybersecurity workforce and that this lack of trained cybersecurity professionals is a fundamental barrier to building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, and that it is important to encourage more people to choose a career in cybersecurity;

o) that Member States are making efforts to improve institutional environments;

p) that risk assessment and analysis provide a better understanding of the cybersecurity risks that organizations face and how to mitigate them;

q) that spam is a global problem, with different characteristics in different regions, and a multistakeholder cooperative approach is necessary to counter it,

aware

a) that ITU and other international organizations, through a variety of activities, are examining issues related to building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, including stability and measures to combat spam, malware, etc. and to protect personal data and privacy;

b) that the relevant ITU study groups, in accordance with their mandates, should keep pace with the development of telecommunication/ICT technologies and take into account issues related to cybersecurity;

c) that ITU-T Study Group 17, ITU-D Study Groups 1 and 2 and other relevant ITU study groups continue to work on technical means for the security of information and communication networks, in accordance with WTSA Resolutions 50 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) and 52 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) and WTDC Resolutions 45 and 69 (Rev. Kigali, 2022);

d) that ITU has a fundamental role to play in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

e) that ITU-D Study Group 2 continues to carry out the studies called for in ITU-D study Question 3/2, on securing information and communication networks: best practices for developing a culture of cybersecurity, which has been reflected in UNGA Resolution 64/211;

f) that ITU is also assisting developing countries in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs and supporting the establishment of CIRTs and promoting the related operating framework of CIRTs, including CIRTs responsible for government-to-government cooperation, and the importance of coordination among all relevant organizations;

g) that Council Resolution 1336, adopted at its 2011 session, established the Council Working Group on international Internet-related public policy issues (CWG-Internet), whose terms of reference are to identify, study and develop matters related to international Internet-related public policy issues, including those issues identified in Council Resolution 1305 (2009), such as security, safety, continuity, sustainability and robustness of the Internet;

h) that WTDC-17 adopted Resolution 80 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017), on establishing and promoting trusted information frameworks in developing countries to facilitate and encourage electronic exchanges of economic information between economic partners;

i) of Article 6, on security and robustness of networks, and Article 7, on unsolicited bulk electronic communications, of the International Telecommunication Regulations adopted by the World Conference on International Telecommunications (Dubai, 2012),

noting

a) that, as an intergovernmental organization with private-sector participation, ITU is well-positioned to play an important role, together with other relevant international bodies and organizations, in addressing threats and vulnerabilities which affect efforts to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

b) §§ 35 and 36 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles and § 39 of the Tunis Agenda, on building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

c) that although there are no universally agreed upon definitions of spam and other terms in this sphere, spam was characterized by ITU-T Study Group 2, at its June 2006 session, as a term commonly used to describe unsolicited electronic bulk communications over e-mail or mobile messaging (SMS, MMS), usually with the objective of marketing commercial products or services;

d) the Union's initiative on cooperation with the Forum for Incident Response and Security Teams;

e) the relevant WTPF-21 opinions,

bearing in mind

the work of ITU established by WTSA Resolutions 50 and 58 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) and 52 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) and WTDC Resolutions 45 and 69 (Rev. Kigali, 2022); the ITU-D priority on inclusive and secure telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development of the Kigali Action Plan; the relevant ITU-T questions on technical aspects regarding the security of information and communication networks; and ITU-D study Question 3/2,

resolves

1 to continue promoting the ITU's Global Network Resiliency Platform and its work to provide a platform for ICT regulators, policy-makers and other stakeholders to share best practice on building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

2 to continue to give this work high priority within ITU, taking into account new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies and in accordance with its competences and expertise, including promoting common understanding among governments and other stakeholders of building confidence and security in the use of ICTs at the national, regional and international levels;

3 that ITU should continue to serve as an information-sharing platform for the various activities, initiatives and projects that are being carried out on different facets of cybersecurity by stakeholders and organizations active in this field to provide an easy point of access for all;

4 to continue to give high priority to the work of ITU described under bearing in mind above, in accordance with its competencies and areas of expertise, and to continue to work closely, as appropriate, with other relevant bodies/agencies within the United Nations and other relevant international bodies, taking into account the specific mandates and areas of expertise of the different agencies, while being mindful of the need to avoid duplicating work between organizations and among the Bureaux or the General Secretariat;

5 that ITU shall focus resources and programmes on those national, regional and international areas of cybersecurity that are within its core mandate and expertise, notably the technical and development spheres, and not including areas related to Member States' application of legal or policy principles related to national defence, national security, content and cybercrime, which are within their sovereign rights, although this does not however exclude ITU from carrying out its mandate to develop technical recommendations designed to reduce vulnerabilities in the ICT infrastructure, nor from all the assistance that was agreed upon at WTDC-22, including the ITU-D priority on inclusive and secure telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development;

6 to promote a culture in which security is seen as a continuous and iterative process, built into products from the beginning and continuing throughout their lifetime, and is accessible and understandable for users;

7 to promote greater awareness among ITU members on the activities carried out within ITU and other relevant entities involved in strengthening confidence and security in the use of ICTs, including cybersecurity, cyberresilience and capacity building;

8 to engage actively with other relevant organizations in order to raise their awareness of the particular challenges faced by developing countries in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

9 to contribute to further strengthening the trust and security framework, consistent with ITU's role as lead facilitator of WSIS Action Line C5, taking into account Resolution 140 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022);

10 to continue to maintain, in building upon the information base associated with the "ICT Security Standards Roadmap" and "Security Compendium" and ITU-D's efforts on cybersecurity, and with the assistance of other relevant organizations, an inventory of national, regional and international initiatives and activities to promote the development of common approaches in the field of cybersecurity;

11 to promote the growth and development of a diverse and skilled cybersecurity workforce that is able to address and mitigate cyberrisks, and promote the importance of effective qualifications and professional career pathways;

12 to develop case studies on cybersecurity-related institutional arrangements, regulatory approaches, awareness-raising programmes and skills and workforce development in cooperation with the membership and relevant organizations;

13 to consider the specific cybersecurity challenges faced by SMEs and incorporate those considerations into ITU's activities in the area of building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

14 to take into account the impact of the deployment of emerging technologies on cybersecurity, and incorporate this consideration in ITU's activities in the area of building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

15 to support the development of infrastructure which underpins the ongoing digital transformation of the global economy by building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, in particular in dealing with existing and future threats, within the mandate of ITU;

16 that all work carried out by ITU to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs should be guided by an assessment of the needs and objectives of its members using tools such as the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), with clearly defined deliverables, and in accordance with appropriate metrics and measurements that are designed specifically for this purpose;

17 to take into account the specific challenges faced especially by developing countries in the area of building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

18 to utilize the GCA framework in order to further guide the work of the Union on efforts to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs, taking into consideration the Guidelines for utilization of the GCA by ITU approved by the Council;

19 to encourage all stakeholders to engage with one another and take action to support capacity building and voluntary information-sharing on cybersecurity issues and best practices,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to continue to provide a platform for ICT regulators, policy-makers and other stakeholders to share with one another information and best practice on building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, especially during globally shared challenges such as pandemics;

2 to continue to review:

i) the work done so far in the three Sectors, under the GCA and in other relevant organizations and initiatives to address and strengthen protection against existing and future threats in order to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

ii) the progress achieved in the implementation of this resolution, with ITU continuing to play a lead facilitating role as the moderator/facilitator for WSIS Action Line C5, with the help of the advisory groups, consistent with the ITU Constitution and ITU Convention;

iii) the results of work done so far to support developing countries in particular to build capacity and skills in cybersecurity in order to ensure that ITU is effectively focusing its resources to address development challenges;

3 to raise awareness on the activities carried out within ITU and other relevant entities involved in strengthening cybersecurity, including on capacity building, and of the particular challenges faced by developing countries in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, consistent with resolves 4 and 5 above;

4 to facilitate access to tools and resources, within the available budget, required for enhancing confidence and security in the use of ICTs for all Member States, consistent with WSIS provisions on universal and non-discriminatory access to ICTs for all nations;

5 to continue knowledge- and information-sharing of existing and future national, regional and international cybersecurity-related initiatives worldwide through the ITU cybersecurity webpage, and encourage all stakeholders to contribute to these activities, taking into account existing portals;

6 to further enhance coordination between the study groups across the Sectors and programmes concerned;

7 to consider the results of the GCI to guide ITU cybersecurity-related initiatives, especially taking into account the gaps identified through the GCI process;

8 to report annually to the Council on the implementation of this resolution, and on the activities of the three Sectors and the General Secretariat to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs in line with WSIS Action Line C5, and to make proposals as appropriate;

9 consistent with Resolution 45 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), to report to the Council on activities within ITU and other relevant organizations and entities aimed at enhancing cooperation and collaboration, regionally and globally, and strengthening building confidence and security in the use of ICTs of Member States, in particular developing countries, taking into account any information provided by Member States, including information on situations within their own jurisdiction that could affect this cooperation;

10 consistent with Resolution 45 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), to report on MoU between countries, as well as existing forms of cooperation, providing analysis of their status, scope and the application of these cooperative mechanisms to strengthen cybersecurity and combat cyberthreats, with a view to enabling Member States to identify whether additional memoranda or mechanisms are required,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to intensify work within existing ITU-T study groups in order to:

i) address existing and future threats and vulnerabilities affecting efforts to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs, taking into account new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies based on telecommunication/ICT networks, by developing recommendations, supplements and technical reports, as appropriate, with the goal of implementing WTSA resolutions, particularly Resolutions 50 and 58 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) and 52 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016), allowing work to begin before a question is approved;

ii) seek ways to enhance the exchange of technical information in these fields, promote the adoption of protocols and standards that enhance security, and promote international cooperation among appropriate entities;

iii) to encourage collaboration among the various ITU-T study groups regarding the study of cybersecurity-related matters, throughout their work on standardization;

iv) to facilitate actions deriving from the outcomes of WTSA, in particular:

• Resolution 50 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), on cybersecurity;

• Resolution 52 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016), on countering and combating spam;

2 to consider within ITU-T the promotion of a culture in which security is seen as a continuous and iterative process, and to make proposals to the Council as appropriate;

3 to continue collaboration with relevant organizations with a view to exchanging best practices and disseminating information through, for example, joint workshops and training sessions and joint coordination activity groups, and, by invitation, through written contributions from relevant organizations;

4 to support the work under ITU-D study Question 3/2;

5 to continue to collaborate with the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau in the dissemination to developing countries of information on guidelines, recommendations, technical reports and best practices related to building confidence and security in the use of ICTs which have been developed by the ITU-T study groups,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 consistent with the results of WTDC-22, and pursuant to Resolutions 45 and 69 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), Resolution 80 (Buenos Aires, 2017) and the ITU-D priority on inclusive and secure telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development of the Kigali Action Plan, to support ongoing regional and global cybersecurity projects, and to encourage all countries to take part in these activities;

2 upon request, to support ITU Member States in their efforts to build capacity, by facilitating Member States' access to resources developed by other relevant international organizations that are working on national legislation to combat cybercrime; supporting ITU Member States' national and regional efforts to build capacity to protect against cyberthreats/cybercrime, in collaboration with one another; consistent with the national legislation of Member States referred to above, assisting Member States, in particular developing countries, in the elaboration of appropriate and workable legal measures relating to protection against cyberthreats at the national, regional and international levels; establishing technical and procedural measures aimed at securing national ICT infrastructures, taking into account the work of the relevant ITU-T study groups and, as appropriate, other relevant organizations; establishing organizational structures, such as CIRTs, to identify, manage and respond to cyberthreats, and cooperation mechanisms at the regional and international level;

3 to provide the necessary financial and administrative support for these projects within existing resources, including those for the continuity of the GCI process, and to seek additional resources (in cash and in kind) for the implementation of these projects through partnership agreements;

4 to ensure coordination of the work of these projects within the context of ITU's overall activities in its role as moderator/facilitator for WSIS Action Line C5, and to eliminate any duplication regarding this important subject with the General Secretariat and ITU-T;

5 to continue to evolve capacity-building activities, through international collaboration, taking into account the need for new skills to adapt to the opportunities and challenges of emerging technologies in the field of cybersecurity; in this regard, greater collaboration should be fostered with Member States, academia, the private sector and relevant United Nations organizations;

6 to coordinate the work of these projects with that of the ITU-D study groups on this topic, and with the relevant programme activities and the General Secretariat;

7 to continue collaboration with relevant organizations with a view to exchanging relevant information on cybersecurity threats and issues, sharing best practices and disseminating information through, for example, joint workshops and training sessions;

8 to identify best practice for the development of qualifications and professional career pathways in cybersecurity for the benefit of the ITU membership;

9 to support the work of ITU-T Study Group 17 and other study groups by promoting and facilitating the implementation of approved security-related ITU-T recommendations by ITU Member States and Sector Members, especially from developing countries;

10 to support ITU Member States in the development of their national and/or regional cybersecurity strategies towards building national capabilities for protecting against and dealing with cyberthreats in accordance with the principles of international cooperation;

11 to support the membership in the development of human skills and capacity building to enhance cybersecurity;

12 to support the membership to address cybersecurity skills shortages by encouraging people to enter the cybersecurity profession and promoting the employment of women in the cybersecurity field;

13 to support the membership in the risk-assessment activities related to cybersecurity;

14 to maintain, develop and promote a repository of best practice on measures that facilitate and encourage people to choose a career in cybersecurity;

15 to change how the results of the GCI are presented so that countries are represented in tiers rather than by individual ranking in order to more accurately reflect the development of cybersecurity in Member States;

16 to create and maintain a repository of best practices on countering and combating spam, to be shared through ITU with all members,

further instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, each within the scope of their responsibilities:

1 to implement relevant resolutions of both WTSA-20 and WTDC-22, including the ITU-D priority on inclusive and secure telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development of the Kigali Action Plan, with particular focus on the needs of developing countries as they undertake efforts to improve cybersecurity and build confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

2 to disseminate to ITU Member States, in particular developing countries, information on guidelines, recommendations, technical reports and best practices related to cybersecurity;

3 to identify and promote the availability of information on building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, including ICT infrastructure, for Member States, Sector Members and relevant organizations;

4 to continue to support relevant ITU study groups to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

5 without duplicating the work under ITU-D study Question 3/2, to continue identifying best practices related to Question 3/2, including establishing CIRTs, and promoting the related operating framework of CIRTs to review the reference guide for the Member States and, where appropriate, to contribute to Question 3/2;

6 to cooperate with relevant organizations and other relevant international and national experts, as appropriate, in order to identify best practices in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, including the establishment of CIRTs;

7 to take action with a view to new questions being examined by the study groups within the Sectors on the establishment of confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

8 to identify, document and promote the adoption of practical steps to support developing countries in building capacity and skills in cybersecurity, taking into account the specific challenges they face;

9 to consider the specific cybersecurity challenges and needs faced by SMEs, incorporating these particular aspects into the activities of ITU to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

10 to take into account the challenges faced by all stakeholders, particularly in developing countries, in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs and identifying steps that can help to address them;

11 to support Member States to identify the basic security measures for cyberhygiene that everyone should take to protect themselves from cyberrisks, and to encourage and support ITU members and other stakeholders to promote these to the public;

12 to identify and document practical steps to strengthen security in the use of ICTs internationally, including the concept that security is seen as a continuous and iterative process, based on "security by design" approaches and other widely accepted practices, guidelines and recommendations that Member States and other stakeholders can choose to apply to improve their ability to combat cyberthreats and attacks, including a dynamic and iterative risk-based approach that reflects the evolving nature of threats and vulnerabilities, and to strengthen international cooperation in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, including promoting voluntary information-sharing among interested Member States, taking into account the GCA and within available financial resources;

13 to support strategy, organization, awareness-raising, cooperation, evaluation and skills development;

14 to provide the necessary technical and financial support, within the constraints of existing budgetary resources;

15 to encourage the engagement of experts in the ITU's activities in the area of building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

16 to mobilize appropriate extrabudgetary resources, outside the regular budget of the Union, for the implementation of this resolution, to help developing countries;

17 to support and assist developing countries in promoting and facilitating the implementation of security-related ITU-T recommendations;

18 to share experiences and raise awareness on cybersecurity assurance practices and programmes,

instructs the Secretary-General

pursuant to the Secretary-General's initiative on this matter:

1 to continue to mobilize the development and technical expertise of the Union, as a specialized agency for ICTs within the United Nations system and the sole facilitator of WSIS Action Line C5 (Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs), with a view to strengthening national, regional and international cybersecurity in support of the Sustainable Development Goals, working with other relevant bodies/agencies within the United Nations and other relevant international bodies, taking into account the specific mandates and areas of expertise of the different agencies, while being mindful of the need to avoid duplicating work between organizations, and among the Bureaux or with the General Secretariat;

2 to cooperate with relevant international organizations, including through the adoption of MoU, subject to the approval of the Council in this regard, in accordance with Resolution 100 (Minneapolis, 1998) of the Plenipotentiary Conference;

3 to support ITU's regional and global cybersecurity initiatives, and to invite all countries to take part in these activities, such as cyberdrills, among others;

4 to support efforts to promote cybersecurity through bringing different stakeholders together, through the WSIS Forum, inter alia, taking into account WSIS Action Line C5,

requests the ITU Council

to include the report of the Secretary-General in the documents sent to Member States in accordance with No. 81 of the Convention,

invites Member States

1 to consider joining appropriate competent international and regional initiatives for enhancing national legislative frameworks relevant to the security of information and communication networks as well as collaboration in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

2 to closely collaborate in strengthening regional and international cooperation, taking into account Resolution 45 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), with a view to enhancing confidence and security in the use of ICTs, in order to mitigate risks and threats;

3 to support ITU initiatives on cybersecurity, including the GCI, and the Global Network Resiliency Platform, in order to promote national strategies and the sharing of information on efforts across industries and sectors;

4 to inform the Secretary-General of relevant activities related to this resolution regarding confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

5 to benefit from the resources, support and best practices of national, regional and international cybersecurity-related initiatives worldwide through the ITU cybersecurity webpage;

6 to collaborate with relevant organizations, through the exchange of best practices in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, including the establishment, development and implementation of national CIRTs, especially in developing countries;

7 to encourage their national CIRTs to collaborate with other national and subnational governmental agencies as appropriate, and other CIRTs and stakeholders;

8 to encourage the engagement of experts in ITU's activities in the area of building confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

9 to continue to raise awareness through the dissemination of best practices and policies that have been implemented in order to increase the ability to develop appropriate policies to address the protection of users, so as to enhance trust in the use of telecommunications/ICTs;

10 to identify the basic security measures that their public should take to protect themselves from cyberrisks, and promote them;

11 to encourage information-sharing on cybersecurity issues and best practices, at the national, regional and international levels;

12 to support and engage in efforts that lead to sustainable, secure and stable national telecommunication/ICT infrastructure,

invites Member States, Sector Members and Associates

1 to contribute on this subject to the relevant ITU study groups and to any other activities for which the Union is responsible;

2 to contribute to building confidence and security in the use of ICTs at the national, regional and international levels, by undertaking activities as outlined in the WSIS outcome documents, the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of WSIS outcomes and the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS beyond 2015, and the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes, and to contribute to the preparation and implementation of those activities;

3 to raise awareness among all stakeholders, including organizations and individual users, of the importance of strengthening cybersecurity, including the implementation of basic safeguards;

4 to promote the development of educational and training programmes to enhance user awareness of cyberrisks, especially for women, children, persons with disabilities, persons with specific needs and persons with age-related disabilities, and the steps that they can take to protect themselves;

5 to incorporate an iterative, risk-based approach towards addressing evolving threats and vulnerabilities, and to promote a culture in which security is seen as a continuous and iterative process which must be built into the development and deployment of technologies and their applications from the beginning and continue throughout their lifetime, in their efforts to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs;

6 to promote initiatives to encourage more people to enter the cybersecurity profession and to provide training opportunities for them;

7 to provide initiatives so that women and girls can have access to studies and careers in cybersecurity;

8 to contribute to ITU's repository of best practices on measures that facilitate and encourage more people to choose a career in cybersecurity;

9 to collaborate on cybersecurity, cyberresilience and capacity-building solutions, as appropriate, in order to address and prevent problems that undermine confidence and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs;

10 to engage in the improvement of the GCI process, including the discussion on the methodology, structure, weightage and questions, using the GCI expert group;

11 to share best practices and information about digital certificates.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 131 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Measuring information and communication technologies to build an integrating and inclusive information society

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolutions 139, 140, 175, 179, 180 and 198 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, in relation to ITU's role in producing comprehensive statistics in the domain of telecommunication/information and communication technologies (ICTs);

b) Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027, and Resolution 200 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the Connect 2030 Agenda for global telecommunication/ICT, including broadband, for sustainable development, which approved strategic targets and indicators to monitor the development of ICTs and their support to the digital economy, and established a comprehensive linkage between the strategic goals of ITU and the targets and indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

c) Resolution 8 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on collection and dissemination of information and statistics,

taking into account

a) the critical importance of telecommunication/ICT tools as a driver for economic and social development for all countries;

b) the urgent need for national telecommunication/ICT plans and policies for empowering people and achieving the welfare of societies;

c) the pressing need to have telecommunication/ICT access and usage measurements to monitor usage among all citizens in all countries, with special consideration for residents of remote areas,

aware

a) that technological innovation, digitalization and telecommunications/ICTs have the potential to help achieve the SDGs, and to create new opportunities, while contributing to short- and long-term socio-economic development, including the digital economy, building towards an inclusive information society;

b) that each Member State is seeking to establish its own policies and regulatory frameworks based on telecommunication/ICT statistical data in order to narrow as effectively as possible the digital divide between those who have access to communication and information and those who do not;

c) that ensuring the integrity, consistency and relevance of ITU's statistics function is one of the Union's highest strategic priorities;

d) that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), through Resolution 70/1, approved 17 SDGs with 169 associated targets which are integrated and indivisible;

e) that UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), highlights the cross-cutting contribution of ICT to the SDGs and poverty eradication, acknowledges the importance of data and statistics to support ICT for development, and calls for further quantitative data to support evidence-based decision-making;

f) that UNGA Resolution 71/313 established 231 indicators to measure the achievement of the 17 SDGs, and that seven of the 231 indicators are under the custody and monitoring of ITU,

recognizing

a) that the WSIS outcomes referred to in aware e) above represented an opportunity to identify a global strategy for narrowing the digital divide in different spheres of activity and social sectors at the international and national levels (including the digital divide between regions, between countries and parts of countries, and between urban and rural areas), in the interests of development;

b) that the outcome of the global Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, including ITU (represented by the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D)) and key stakeholders, has resulted in agreement on the identification of a set of basic indicators and a methodological framework for producing internationally comparable data for the measurement of telecommunications/ICT for development, as called for by § 115 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society;

c) that there will be a continuing need to help developing countries[1] in telecommunication/ICT access and use by ensuring the periodical flow of information to government and society partners,

considering

a) Resolution 8 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of WTDC as well as the Buenos Aires Action Plan, where it is proposed that the work of collecting and producing information and statistical data be mainly focused within the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), in order to avoid duplication in this field;

b) that ITU works on guidelines and studies with the help and advice of experts in the field of measurement and indicators, including from the Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators (EGTI) and the Expert Group on ICT Household Indicators (EGH);

c) the Buenos Aires Action Plan and the relevant paragraphs of the Tunis Agenda relating to indicators in the field of telecommunications/ICTs,

highlighting

a) the responsibilities that ITU-D had to assume as a result of the Tunis Agenda, especially §§ 112 to 120 thereof;

b) that the Buenos Aires Declaration adopted by WTDC-17 declares that measuring the information society and elaborating proper and comparable indicators/statistics, in sex-disaggregated form, as well as analysing ICT trends, are important for both Member States and the private sector, the former being able to identify gaps that need public policy intervention, and the latter to identify and find investment opportunities, and that particular attention should be focused on tools for monitoring the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

c) the mission of ITU, as approved by Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022), particularly in regard to promoting, facilitating and fostering affordable and universal access to telecommunications/ICTs,

recognizing further

a) that the rapid development of telecommunications/ICTs is having an impact on the evolution of the digital divide, causing it in particular to widen between the developed and developing countries;

b) that bridging the digital divide is a crucial task in the context of developing the overall economy, including the digital economy, in areas related to telecommunication/ICT infrastructure;

c) that the development of an approach for achieving universal service through broadband access is one of the main goals of ITU;

d) that the ICT Price Basket (IPB) and the ICT Development Index (IDI) are important for measuring the information society and extent of the digital divide in international comparisons,

bearing in mind

a) that for the vast majority of global stakeholders interested and involved in telecommunications/ICTs (i.e. academics; business decision-makers; policy-makers; regulators), ICT statistics, and particularly the IPB and the IDI, are important ITU outputs;

b) that, in order to keep each country's public policy-makers properly informed, ITU-D shall continue to strive to gather and periodically publish a variety of telecommunication/ICT statistics which provide some indication of the degree of progress in and penetration of telecommunication/ICT services in the different regions of the world;

c) that, according to the guidelines of this conference, it is necessary to ensure as far as possible that the policies and strategies of the Union are fully in tune with the constantly changing telecommunication environment, and also to ensure consistency between the telecommunication/ICT development indicators contained in the IDI, the indicators on household ICT use and the goals and targets set out in the strategic plan for the Union for 2020-2023,

noting

a) that the Geneva Plan of Action adopted by WSIS identifies indicators and appropriate reference points, including indicators of ICT access, use, skills and affordability, as elements for the follow-up and evaluation thereof;

b) that the IPB studies and the IDI were developed by ITU-D and have been published annually since 2009;

c) that Resolution 8 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) instructs the Director of BDT, among other actions:

– to review, revise and further develop benchmarking, including through consultation and inviting contributions from Member States and experts, and ensure that ICT indicators, the IDI and the IPB reflect the real development of the ICT sector, taking into consideration different levels of development and national circumstances as well as ICT trends, in application of the WSIS outcomes; and

– to continue to work closely with Member States for the sharing of best practices concerning national ICT policies and strategies, including the development of statistics and their dissemination, and considering gender, age and any other disaggregated information relevant to the development of national public policies,

resolves

1 that ITU, as a specialized agency of the United Nations, should spearhead the tasks of compiling information and statistical data on telecommunications/ICTs; data for evaluating telecommunication/ICT trends; and data for measuring the impact of telecommunications/ICTs in narrowing the digital divide, showing, to the extent possible, their impact on matters related to gender, persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, and the different social sectors, as well as social inclusion, resulting from access in the areas of education, health and government services, etc., including their influence on the development and quality of life of all persons, highlighting their contribution to progress, sustainable development and economic growth;

2 that ITU should strengthen its collaboration with other international organizations involved in the collection of telecommunication/ICT-related statistical data, and update, when necessary, the standardized set of indicators, including through the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, improving the quality, comparability, availability and reliability of telecommunication/ICT data and indicators and fostering the development of strategies and national, regional and international public policy in the area of telecommunications/ICTs; and to take appropriate steps towards ensuring that ITU data and material be properly attributed when used;

3 that ITU should take further necessary measures to establish a valid structure and methodology for the IDI, working through EGTI/EGH, and through formal consultations with Member States[2], that allows the publication of the IDI on an annual basis, without ranking, provided that there are sufficient valid data to cover a majority of Member States;

4 that the IDI structure and methodology would be valid for a period of four years;

5 that ITU will formally consult Member States to provide them with the option to decline to participate in the IDI during the given period of validity, though with the choice to rejoin the exercise on an annual basis;

6 that ITU should establish the criteria on the minimum data availability for Member States to feature in the IDI, working through EGTI/EGH;

7 that ITU should consult and seek agreement from Member States not meeting these criteria about proposed methods for supplementing data, including from other sources or from estimations, to enable their inclusion in the IDI;

8 that in the event that EGTI/EGH decide to review and revise the IDI, the same procedures as in resolves 3 above should be followed;

9 to publish annually the IPB,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to take the measures necessary to enable ITU to carry out the tasks described under resolves above;

2 to ensure that indicators of telecommunication/ICT access, use, skills and affordability are taken into account in regional and world meetings convened for the purpose of evaluating and following up the Geneva Plan of Action, the Tunis Agenda, the WSIS+10 outcome document adopted in UNGA Resolution 70/125, and the emergence of new challenges in achieving the development of an inclusive information society in the wider context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

3 to ensure that projects, while having highly different goals and scopes, take account of the data, indicators and indices for measuring telecommunications/ICTs for their comparative analysis and for measurement of their results;

4 to give the necessary support for the implementation of Resolution 8 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), including in relation to the IDI and IPB,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to urgently perform the tasks set out in resolves above;

2 to continue to promote the adoption of the telecommunication/ICT statistics and composite indices developed by ITU using an internationally recognized and transparent methodology based on official data provided by Member States, and to publish them regularly;

3 to develop, implement and maintain benchmarking tools and reports, such as the ITU DataHub, ITU Digital Development Dashboard and other relevant benchmarking publications, in consultation with ITU members, in order to disseminate indicators related to ICT infrastructure (deployment, access and connectivity); ICT usage and digital skills; and affordability, so as to provide information on progress towards creating an information society, bridging the digital divide and achieving the SDGs over time and across regions, and to make these tools and reports available to the general public on the ITU website;

4 to rely primarily on official data provided by Member States based on internationally recognized and transparent methodologies, while also taking into account their level of telecommunication/ICT and statistical database development; only in the absence of such information may other sources be used, after consulting with the focal points of the Member States concerned in advance on other sources used to obtain the information by means of which ITU fulfils the role referred to in considering a) above;

5 to start the dissemination of the telecommunication/ICT data surveys to the Member States' focal points by the end of the year, start data collection at the beginning of the following year, and publish the resulting data in the ITU database as soon as they are validated by the Bureau and within three months of their submission by the countries, in order to allow other organizations to build their indices on the basis of recent data from the Member States;

6 to make information available to EGTI/EGH on the availability of data for consideration in the development of the IDI;

7 to invite Member States to contribute and comment on the IDI methodology and structure;

8 to facilitate the work of EGTI/EGH in fulfilling the tasks set out under resolves above, including by correspondence;

9 to convene a meeting of EGTI/EGH following a formal consultation of Member States as appropriate, with a view to resolving any contentious issues and seeking consensus, while taking into account instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau 12, among Member States;

10 to send, by means of a circular letter, the full methodology and structure of the IDI, including the minimum data requirement for inclusion in the IDI, to Member States at the end of the consultation process and ahead of its publication, providing Member States with the possibility of not participating in the IDI;

11 to strive to improve data availability in all Member States, as instructed in Resolution 8 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), on the collection and dissemination of information and statistics, in order to achieve the largest coverage possible;

12 to preserve the integrity of all ITU's statistical work, ensure that the secretariat strictly adheres to UNGA Resolution 68/261, on the fundamental principles of official statistics, and with the Principles governing international statistical activities established by the United Nations Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities and endorsed by ITU;

13 to publish annually the IPB and the IDI, including studies, charts, benchmarks and in-depth analysis of successful best practices, so as to reflect progress or lack thereof in access to and use and affordability of ICTs;

14 to ensure that the annually published IDI and IPB are not retroactively updated or amended post publication, in order to assist decision-makers and ensure consistency in comparison of time-series data;

15 to liaise with other prominent international organizations, in particular those involved in the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, the United Nations Statistics Division and the United Nations regional commissions, and to consider their best practices and methodologies in the gathering, analysis, maintenance and presentation of statistics, indicators, reports and graphical tools;

16 to promote, within the ITU mandate and having particular regard to countries' specific characteristics, the activities required to define and adopt new indicators, including e-application and ICT skills indicators, for the purpose of measuring the impact of telecommunications/ICTs in countries' development, including their contribution to the development of the digital economy;

17 to promote efforts for the timely and transparent dissemination of the internationally agreed ICT methodologies and comparable indicators, particularly in relation to surveys that contain data from Member States, having regard to national contexts;

18 to monitor the development and improvement of methodologies relevant to indicators and data-collection methods, through consultation with, and inviting inputs from, Member States, among others, particularly by means of EGH, EGTI and the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium, coordinated by BDT;

19 to the extent possible, to ensure reliability, transparency and openness in the procedures used for processing the data supplied to ITU-D by Member States, in particular by making the IDI and IPB calculation methodologies and structures openly available in the statistical section of the ITU website in all six languages of the Union, including all algorithms, calculation formulae and sub-indices of the relevant index structures, as well as the source data received by ITU from Member States;

20 to hold, on a regular basis, regional seminars and training events for developing countries, in order to raise the level of knowledge and skills in the collection and processing of ICT indicators;

21 to give the necessary support for the implementation of Resolution 8 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), stress the importance of implementing the WSIS outcomes in relation to the indicators mentioned, and continue to avoid duplication in statistical work in this field;

22 by strengthening partnerships and collaboration through ITU-D, to leverage the role of telecommunications/ICTs as an enabler that contributes to development of the digital economy, the benefits of which contribute greatly to the overall economy;

23 to review ITU-D's work in developing statistics and indicators taking into account members' input into the process, to which end the Director of BDT is instructed to identify approaches that exist for members to provide regular inputs regarding their concerns in respect of the development and analysis of statistics and indicators as well as the way they are presented;

24 to submit a report to the ITU Council on progress in the implementation of this resolution and Resolution 8 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), and in particular on the work of reviewing the structures and calculation methodologies of the IDI and IPB;

25 to follow the other instructions in instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of Resolution 8 (Rev. Kigali, 2022),

instructs the study groups of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector

to take into account the relevant findings of the Measuring Digital Development series of publications in order to help Member States bridge the digital divide,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to submit a report to the next plenipotentiary conference on progress in the implementation of this resolution;

2 to encourage the participation of organizations which benefit from telecommunications/ICTs, particularly international organizations involved in achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to contribute towards the work of this resolution and to promote their potential membership of ITU;

3 to examine the necessary human and financial resources required in all the ITU Bureaux to conduct ITU's work in gathering, producing and publishing meaningful data, information, statistics and reports, and inform the Council of the results of this study,

instructs the ITU Council

on the basis of the findings of the annual report submitted by the Director of BDT in accordance with instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau 24 and instructs the Secretary-General 3 above, to make appropriate recommendations as necessary regarding the ongoing implementation of this resolution,

invites Member States

1 to participate in the submission to ITU-D of their national statistics in the area of telecommunications/ICTs for the purpose of international comparisons and determining the characteristics of the digital divide;

2 to participate actively, including through participation in EGTI/EGH, in the implementation of this resolution, by providing the requested information to ITU-D on access, use and skills as well as affordability of telecommunications/ICTs so as to produce telecommunication/ICT benchmarks.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] If 70 per cent or more of the replies from the Member States indicate approval, the proposal shall be accepted.

RESOLUTION 133 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Role of administrations of Member States in the management
of internationalized (multilingual) domain names

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022)

considering

the provisions of Resolutions 101 and 102 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, with regard to international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet and the management of Internet resources, including domain names and addresses,

recalling

a) the role of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), as defined in resolutions adopted at the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, including, inter alia, Resolution 47 (Rev. Dubai, 2012), on country code top-level domain names, and Resolution 48 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), on internationalized (multilingual) domain names;

b) the role of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector, as defined in the resolutions adopted by the World Telecommunication Development Conference, especially Resolution 82 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), on preserving and promoting multilingualism on the Internet for an inclusive information society;

c) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS);

d) UNGA Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

e) the commitment of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society adopted by WSIS to advance the process for the introduction of multilingualism in a number of areas, including domain names, e-mail, Internet addresses, information and communication technology (ICT) applications and keyword look-up;

f) the need to continue the regional expansion of the Domain Name System (DNS) root server instances in order to increase DNS resilience, and to promote the use of internationalized domain names (IDNs) to overcome linguistic barriers and increase the accessibility of the Internet;

g) past successful standardization activities undertaken by ITU-T with regard to the adoption of recommendations pertaining to non-Latin character sets for telex (five-character code) and data transfer (seven-character code), allowing the use of non-Latin character sets for national and regional telex and for data transfer at the global, regional and international levels,

aware

a) of the continuing progress towards integration of telecommunications and the Internet, particularly to increase accessibility;

b) that Internet users are generally more comfortable reading or browsing through texts in their own language and that, for the Internet to become more widely available to a large number of users and to increase the benefits for societies, it is necessary to make the Internet (DNS) available in non-Latin based scripts, taking into account the progress recently made in this regard;

c) that a multilingual Internet can help build digital skills and literacy;

d) that a majority of people who are yet to be connected live in developing countries[1];

e) that, recalling the results of WSIS and relevant resolutions of plenipotentiary conferences, there should be a continuing commitment to working earnestly towards multilingualization of the Internet, as part of the multilateral, transparent, democratic and multistakeholder process, involving governments and all other stakeholders, in their respective roles in implementation of this resolution;

f) of the progress made by all stakeholders, in particular through relevant organizations and entities, in the introduction of IDNs;

g) of the significant progress made towards the provision of IDNs and the benefits of using non-Latin character sets available on the Internet;

h) of the progress made in providing multilingualism on the Internet, while recognizing that there are difficulties in some scripts to implement appropriate and language-specific requirements, including variants;

i) of the need to address challenges associated with the use of visually similar characters from different languages or character sets,

emphasizing

a) that the DNS has made progress in reflecting the diverse and growing language needs of all users, while recognizing that more remains to be done;

b) that IDNs, and more generally ICTs and the Internet, must be widely accessible to all citizens without regard to gender, race, religion, age, disability, country of residence or language;

c) that IDNs promote greater Internet use by all, including women and children, when in their local language;

d) that Internet domain names should not privilege any country or region of the world to the detriment of others, and should take into account the global diversity of languages while allowing for global access;

e) that IDNs contribute to sustainable development through the promotion of greater Internet accessibility and use in local languages;

f) the role of ITU to assist its membership in promoting the use of their language scripts for domain names;

g) the need to continue to implement technical solutions to enhance the implementation of IDNs;

h) that, recalling the results of WSIS and the needs of linguistic groups, there is an urgent need to:

• further advance the process for the introduction of multilingualism in a number of areas, including domain names, e-mail addresses and keyword look-up;

• continue implementing programmes that allow for the presence of multilingual domain names and content on the Internet and the use of various software models in order to fight against the linguistic digital divide and to ensure that everyone can participate in the emerging new society;

• further strengthen cooperation between relevant bodies for the further development of technical standards and to foster their global deployment,

recognizing

a) the existing role and sovereignty of ITU Member States with respect to allocation and management of their country code numbering resources as enshrined in Recommendation ITU-T E.164;

b) that there are a number of challenges with regard to intellectual property and the deployment of IDNs, and adequate solutions should be explored;

c) the role played by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) with regard to dispute resolution for domain names;

d) the role played by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with regard to promoting cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content;

e) that ITU enjoys close cooperation with both WIPO and UNESCO;

f) the role played by governments, technical communities and other stakeholders in advancing multilingualism, including the introduction of internationalized domain names;

g) the importance of community engagement and information-sharing to get a better understanding of existing challenges and to support solutions, particularly in developing countries;

h) that it is paramount to maintain global interoperability as domain names expand to include additional non-Latin character sets,

noting

the need for consistent and continuous reporting to the ITU Council on IDNs, given ITU's membership in the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),

resolves

to explore ways and means, in accordance with the Tunis Agenda, for greater reciprocal collaboration and coordination between ITU and relevant organizations[2] involved in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networks and the future Internet in the context of emerging telecommunications/ICTs, through cooperation agreements, as appropriate, in order to increase the role of ITU in Internet governance, and to promote greater participation by Member States in Internet governance so as to ensure maximum benefits to the global community and promote affordable international connectivity,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to play an active part in all international discussions, initiatives and activities on the deployment and management of IDNs, in cooperation with relevant organizations, including WIPO and UNESCO;

2 to take any necessary action to ensure the sovereignty of ITU Member States with regard to Recommendation ITU-T E.164 numbering plans whatever the application in which they are used;

3 to explore ways and means for greater collaboration and coordination between ITU and relevant organizations involved in the deployment of IP-based networks;

4 to encourage the ITU members, as appropriate, to develop and deploy the IDNs in their respective language scripts using their specific character sets;

5 to support Member States in meeting the commitments of the Geneva Plan of Action and the Tunis Agenda in respect of IDNs;

6 to make proposals, where appropriate, for achieving the aims of this resolution;

7 to bring this resolution to the attention of WIPO and UNESCO, which is facilitator for the implementation of WSIS Action Line C8, stressing the concerns and requests for assistance of Member States, in particular the developing countries, with regard to multilingual IDNs, and their insistence on help from the Union in this field, in order to ensure increased Internet accessibility and advancement across language barriers, thereby increasing the international use of the Internet;

8 to report annually to the Council on the activities undertaken and achievements attained on this subject, including the related activities in the ICANN GAC,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in close collaboration with the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to give more attention and develop initiatives, with engagement of various stakeholders, to promote awareness, understanding and implementation of IDNs, particularly in developing countries;

2 to contribute to the ongoing implementation of this resolution,

instructs the ITU Council

to consider the activities of the Secretary-General and Directors of the Bureaux with regard to the implementation of this resolution and to take necessary actions, as appropriate,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to share and exchange information on developments pertaining to IDNs;

2 to take an active part in all international discussions and initiatives on the further development and deployment of IDNs, including the initiatives of relevant language groups, and to submit contributions to ITU in order to help implement this resolution;

3 to urge all relevant entities to work on the further deployment and implementation of IDNs in order to expedite their activities in this area;

4 to promote capacity building, information-sharing and the exchange of best practices among all stakeholders in the deployment and implementation of IDNs;

5 to consider how to further promote the adoption of universal acceptance in respect of IDNs and to collaborate and coordinate with relevant organizations and stakeholders in enabling the use of IDNs in the Internet.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] Including, but not limited to, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the regional Internet registries (RIRs), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), on the basis of reciprocity.

RESOLUTION 135 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

ITU's role in the durable and sustainable development of telecommunications/information and communication technologies, in providing technical assistance and advice to developing countries and in implementing relevant national, regional and interregional projects

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 34 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on assistance and support to countries in special need for rebuilding their telecommunication sector;

b) relevant outcomes of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), especially Resolution 17 (Rev. Kigali, 2022); the Kigali Action Plan on implementation of initiatives at the national, regional, interregional and global levels approved by the six[1] regions; and Resolution 34 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), on the role of telecommunications/information and communication technology (ICT) in disaster preparedness, early warning, rescue, mitigation, relief and response, as well as the provisions of the outputs adopted by WTDC-22 and their linkage with those outcomes;

c) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

d) the United Nations Secretary-General's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation,

recalling further

a) decisions taken during the two phases of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) regarding non-discriminatory access, in particular §§ 15, 18 and 19 of the Tunis Commitment and §§ 90 and 107 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society;

b) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes,

considering

a) the development goals which require that telecommunications/ICTs be accessible to humanity as a whole, especially the peoples of developing countries[2];

b) the importance of telecommunications/ICTs, and of the durability and sustainability of their infrastructures, for economic, social and cultural progress, especially for developing countries;

c) the accumulated and advanced experience of ITU in implementing the above-mentioned resolutions;

d) the tasks assigned to ITU as regards Action Lines C2, C5 and C6 in the Tunis Agenda, and the required ITU participation in implementing other action lines that depend on the availability of telecommunications/ICTs and their durable and sustainable evolution, in agreement with the United Nations agencies that collaborate in implementing those action lines;

e) the continued success achieved by the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector in its partnerships to implement many development actions, including developing telecommunication/ICT networks in several developing countries;

f) the Kigali Action Plan and the necessary optimization of resources to achieve the proposed goals;

g) the actions undertaken to implement Resolution 157 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on strengthening of the project execution and project monitoring functions in ITU;

h) Resolution 59 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on strengthening coordination and cooperation among the three ITU Sectors on matters of mutual interest;

i) that technological advances in telecommunication systems are enabling durable, sustainable and affordable access to information and knowledge, as well as development of the economy, including the digital economy, through the provision of highly connected communications services (broadband) of broad coverage (regional or global scope), so that countries can be connected directly, rapidly and reliably;

j) that broadband satellite and radiocommunication services are in turn providing highly connected, rapid, reliable and cost-efficient communications solutions both in metropolitan and in rural and remote areas, efficiently complementing optical fibre and other technologies and serving as a fundamental driver of economic and social growth of countries and regions;

k) that ITU's role in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will require more widespread collaboration and partnership with other key sectors highlighted under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in providing technical assistance and advice on telecommunications/ICTs;

l) that it is deemed relevant to deepen collaboration and interrelated work among the different ITU Sectors with a view to carrying out studies and activities, including capacity building, for the provision of better advice and technical assistance to developing countries for optimal use of resources and the execution of national, regional and interregional projects;

m) the alignment of the WSIS outcomes with the SDGs;

n) that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the critical role of telecommunications/ICTs and also brought to the fore startling digital inequalities between and within countries,

recognizing

a) that technological advances in telecommunication/ICT systems have an impact on countries' development plans;

b) that technical advances in telecommunication/ICT systems should facilitate incremental technical evolution, especially for aspects of backward compatibility, to ensure sustainability and durability of infrastructures, in particular in developing countries;

c) that new telecommunications/ICTs should coexist with existing technologies deployed in present infrastructures, in order to guarantee their durability and sustainability;

d) that harnessing the potential of telecommunications/ICTs can benefit the socio-economic status of a developing country and help achieve the 17 SDGs adopted in UNGA Resolution 70/1 and contribute towards development of the digital economy,

resolves

1 that ITU should:

i) continue to coordinate efforts for the harmonization, development and enhancement of telecommunications/ICTs throughout the world towards building the information society, and to take appropriate measures to adapt itself to the trends in the telecommunication/ICT infrastructure development environment;

ii) maintain contacts with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to revise the International Programme for the Development of Communication, with a view to the continued implementation of Action Line C7 in the Tunis Agenda relating to education, and cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP);

iii) contribute, in its areas of competence, to the evolution of the integrating information society, through, among other things, the creation of knowledge societies worldwide based on principles such as freedom of expression, equality and quality education for all, with the aim of ensuring equitable access to telecommunications/ICTs and to information and knowledge, and respect for linguistic and cultural diversity and cultural heritage;

iv) facilitate sustainable and harmonious technological evolution of telecommunications/ICTs, facilities, services and related applications, based on recommendations of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization and Radiocommunication Sectors, in order to meet the expectations of Member States, to ensure sustainability and durability of infrastructures;

v) contribute, in its areas of competence, to defining and implementing ITU's role in achieving the 17 SDGs, as well as development of the digital economy, providing technical assistance and advice on the development of telecommunications/ICTs, to harness the potential of and opportunities arising from new and emerging technologies;

vi) assist countries, including through ITU regional offices, in particular developing countries, that request support for their infrastructure development plans, taking into account their technological migration plans, according to their actual situation and their development specificities;

vii) encourage cooperation on technology migration, with minimal environmental impact;

2 that the Telecommunication Development Bureau shall:

i) continue to provide highly qualified technical experts to offer advice in subjects of importance to developing countries, on an individual and collective basis, and to ensure adequate expertise through recruitment or short-term contracts, as appropriate;

ii) continue cooperating with financing sources, whether under the United Nations system, UNDP or other financing arrangements, and multiplying partnerships with Member States, Sector Members, financial institutions and international and regional organizations, to finance the activities related to the implementation of this resolution;

iii) facilitate the implementation of projects under the regional initiatives by considering cash and/or in-kind contributions from Member States;

iv) continue its Special Voluntary Programme for Technical Cooperation, based on financial contributions, expert services or any other form of assistance, to help better meet the requests of developing countries in the telecommunication/ICT field as far as possible;

v) take into account, when establishing the above-mentioned actions, previous national or regional connectivity plans, so that the actions carried out give effect to the priority aspects of these plans and the impact of the action undertaken in essential aspects serves the achievement of national, regional and ITU goals; if the administrations do not have these plans, the projects may also consider developing them;

vi) promote and facilitate collaborative actions with the different Sectors of the Union in order to carry out studies and interrelated activities to complement the use of telecommunication technologies and systems so as to achieve optimal use of resources, including orbit and associated radio-frequency spectrum resources, and improve access to and the connectivity of telecommunication/ICT networks and systems to address the telecommunication needs of developing countries;

vii) promote collaborative activities in coordination with the different Sectors of the Union to create and build capacities so as to provide and deepen universal access to knowledge on optimal use of telecommunication resources, including orbit and associated radio-frequency spectrum resources, and to increase access to and the connectivity of telecommunication/ICT systems and networks included in national and regional telecommunication projects and plans;

viii) work on raising the awareness of all related stakeholders, having regard to their development plans, on ICT environmental protection issues, for the well-being of the population, in order to guarantee the prosperity of Member States' economies;

ix) promote a national, regional and international dialogue with relevant stakeholders to help meet the expectations of the most underprivileged social groups, and raise awareness on new technologies, as well as the emergence of national economies that can ensure effective fulfilment of the SDGs;

x) work on increasing knowledge, awareness and capacity building and development programmes on the evolving role of telecommunications/ICTs in all aspects of life, through relevant platforms including ITU Academy training centres and digital transformation centres;

xi) through ITU regional and area offices, assist and support developing countries in keeping pace with technological development by implementing development projects or supporting national initiatives in cooperation with other stakeholders, if needed, within available resources,

invites regional and international financial organizations and agencies, equipment providers, operators and all potential partners

to consider the possibility of ensuring complete or partial financing to implement cooperation programmes for developing telecommunications/ICTs, including the regionally approved initiatives under the Kigali Action Plan and Resolution 17 (Rev. Kigali, 2022),

instructs the Secretary-General, in close cooperation with the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to submit a detailed annual report to the ITU Council on the results of the implementation of this resolution, including any recommendations which the Secretary-General may deem necessary, to enhance the impact of this resolution;

2 to work on the dissemination of information and best practices to ensure a digital transition that benefits citizens and governments, especially of developing countries, and protects the environment;

3 to encourage entities in key sectors highlighted under the SDGs that are actively involved in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to participate in projects and programmes, as well as to become members of ITU,

invites the ITU Council

to review the results achieved and to take all necessary steps to expedite the implementation of this resolution in the best possible way.

[1] Africa, Americas, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe.

[2] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 136 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies for humanitarian assistance and for monitoring and management in emergency and disaster situations, including health-related emergencies, for early warning, prevention, mitigation and relief

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 182 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the role of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) in regard to climate change and the protection of the environment;

b) Resolution 34 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on the role of telecommunications/ICT in disaster preparedness, early warning, rescue, mitigation, relief and response;

c) Resolution 66 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on ICT, environment, climate change and circular economy;

d) Resolution 48 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on strengthening cooperation among telecommunication regulators;

e) Resolution 646 (Rev.WRC-19) of the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), on public protection and disaster relief;

f) Resolution 647 (Rev.WRC-19) of WRC, on radiocommunication aspects, including spectrum-management guidelines, for early warning and disaster prediction, detection, mitigation and relief operations relating to emergencies and disasters;

g) Resolution 673 (Rev.WRC-12) of WRC, on the importance of Earth observation radiocommunication applications;

h) Article 5 of the International Telecommunication Regulations, on safety of life and priority of telecommunications;

i) the emergency telecommunication/ICT coordination mechanisms established by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),

recognizing

a) the recent tragic events in the world that clearly demonstrate the need to be able to count on resilient communication infrastructure and for the availability and dissemination of information to assist public safety, health and disaster-relief agencies;

b) that there will be a continuing need to assist developing countries[1] in the use of ICTs to preserve life by ensuring a timely flow of information to government agencies, consumers, humanitarian-oriented organizations and industry involved in disaster-related rescue and recovery operations and in the provision of medical assistance to those affected by health-related emergencies;

c) that information needs to be accessible and available also in local languages so as to ensure maximum impact;

d) that policy-makers need to create an enabling environment to leverage the use of ICTs to address infrastructure and information needs in emergency situations, including health-related emergencies,

taking into account

Resolution 60/125, on international cooperation on humanitarian assistance in the field of natural disasters, from relief to development, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in March 2006,

noting

a) § 51 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles adopted by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), on the use of ICT applications for disaster prevention;

b) § 20(c) of the Geneva Plan of Action adopted by WSIS, on e-environment, which calls for the establishment of monitoring systems, using ICTs, to forecast and monitor the impact of natural and man-made disasters, particularly in developing countries, least developed countries and small economies;

c) § 30 of the Tunis Commitment adopted by WSIS, on disaster mitigation;

d) § 91 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society adopted by WSIS, on disaster reduction;

e) the work of the study groups of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) and the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) in adopting recommendations that provide technical information on satellite and terrestrial radiocommunication systems and wired networks and their role in disaster management, including important recommendations pertaining to the use of satellite networks in times of disasters;

f) the work of the ITU-T study groups in developing and adopting recommendations for priority/preferential emergency telecommunications and emergency telecommunication services, including consideration of use of both terrestrial and wireless telecommunication systems during emergencies and, in addition, the activities that are carried out in ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) Study Group 1 under study Question 3/1, on the use of telecommunications/ICTs for disaster risk reduction and management;

g) Sustainable Development Goals 9 (Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation) and 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable), adopted by UNGA,

considering

a) the devastation suffered from disasters, including, but not limited to, tsunamis, earthquakes and storms, around the world, particularly in developing countries, which may suffer disproportionately due to a lack of infrastructure and, therefore, have the most to gain from information on the subject of disaster early warning, prevention, mitigation and relief efforts;

b) that ICTs are critical for addressing all phases of emergencies, including health-related emergencies, and that aspects of emergency communications associated with emergencies include, inter alia, disaster prediction, detection and alert and enabling the flow of information to keep individuals informed as to actions they can take to preserve life;

c) that the ITU-D m-Powering Development initiative is designed to focus on the use of ICTs to empower communities and people;

d) that telecommunications/ICTs play an important role in disseminating information in case of disasters and facilitate disaster early warning, prevention, mitigation, relief and recovery efforts;

e) the ongoing cooperation between ITU study groups and other standards-development organizations dealing with emergency telecommunications, alert and warning systems;

f) Resolution 59 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on strengthening coordination and cooperation among the three ITU Sectors on matters of mutual interest;

g) the need to plan for immediate availability of telecommunication services in emergency or disaster situations in affected areas or regions, through primary or secondary telecommunication systems, including those which may be movable or portable, in order to minimize impacts and facilitate relief operations;

h) that satellite services, among other radiocommunication services, may constitute a reliable platform for public safety, especially in natural disasters when existing land networks are often disrupted, and are highly useful for the coordination of humanitarian assistance by government agencies and other humanitarian entities;

i) that oceanic sensing technologies, which may be deployed through or using undersea cables, can be used for early warning and disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response, including tsunami and earthquake early warning.

j) that the Intergovernmental Conference on Emergency Telecommunications (Tampere, 1998) adopted the Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations, which entered into force on 8 January 2005;

k) that the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction (Kobe, Hyogo, 2005) encouraged all States, taking into account their domestic legal requirements, to consider, as appropriate, acceding to, approving or ratifying relevant international legal instruments relating to disaster reduction, such as the Tampere Convention,

considering further

a) the activities being undertaken at the international and regional levels within ITU and other relevant organizations to establish internationally agreed means for the operation of systems for public protection and disaster relief on a harmonized and coordinated basis;

b) the ongoing development by ITU, in coordination with the United Nations and other United Nations specialized agencies, of guidelines for applying the international content standard for all-media public warning in all disaster and emergency situations;

c) the activities of the Joint Task Force to investigate the use of submarine telecommunication cables for ocean and climate monitoring and disaster warning (JTF SMART cable systems), established in late 2012 by ITU, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO/IOC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO);

d) the contribution of the private sector in the early warning, prevention, preparedness, mitigation and relief of emergency and disaster situations, which is proving to be effective;

e) the need for a common understanding of the network infrastructure components required to provide rapidly installed, interoperable, interworking, robust telecommunication capabilities in humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief operations;

f) the importance of working towards the establishment of standards-based monitoring and worldwide early-warning systems, based on telecommunications/ICTs, that are linked to national and regional networks and that facilitate emergency disaster response all over the world, particularly in high-risk regions;

g) the importance of redundancy, infrastructure resilience and the availability of energy supply when planning for disaster situations;

h) the role that ITU-D can play, through such means as the Global Symposium for Regulators, training workshops and programmes and the work of the ITU-D study groups, in collecting and disseminating national regulatory best practices for telecommunication/ICT facilities for disaster early warning, prevention, preparedness, mitigation and relief;

i) that private and public networks include various public safety and group communications features which can play a key role in emergency and disaster preparedness, prevention, mitigation and relief situations,

convinced

a) that an international standard for communication of alert and warning information can assist in the provision of effective and appropriate humanitarian assistance and in mitigating the consequences of disasters, in particular in developing countries;

b) that there is a need to train rescue and relief agencies, as well as the general public, in the use of telecommunication/ICT networks and services to strengthen both preparedness and response for disasters and health-related emergencies, particularly in developing countries;

c) that the continuous use of telecommunication/ICT equipment and services is indispensable for the provision of humanitarian and emergency assistance;

d) that the Tampere Convention provides the necessary framework for such use of telecommunication/ICT resources,

resolves to instruct the Secretary-General

1 to collaborate with OCHA, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the World Food Programme, and with other relevant organizations, to enhance the Union's participation in activities related to emergency communications preparedness and early-warning systems;

2 to continue to collaborate with all relevant parties, including the United Nations and its agencies, in particular the World Health Organization, in order to define and engage in programmes to respond to and address health-related emergencies in areas within the scope and mandate of the Union;

3 to implement measures aimed at mobilizing support from governments, industry and other partners to respond to and address health-related emergencies;

4 to coordinate the activities conducted by the ITU Sectors in line with instructs the Directors of the Bureaux 5 below, in order to ensure the most effective action possible by ITU in this matter;

5 to assist Member States, if they so request, in their work towards their national accession to the Tampere Convention, as well as with the development of their practical arrangements for the implementation of the Tampere Convention, in close collaboration with the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator;

6 to assist Member States in the establishment of early-warning systems for emergency situations and national emergency telecommunication plans in developing countries, as requested, and within existing budgetary resources;

7 to cooperate and collaborate with stakeholders, including Member States, the private sector, non-governmental entities, the research community and other entities within the United Nations system, including WMO and UNESCO/IOC, on the development of oceanic sensing technologies, as they contribute to the achievement of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular in relation to near-to-far field tsunami and earthquake early warning and in seismic monitoring,

instructs the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to continue to support studies through the relevant ITU study groups concerning the technical and operational implementation of solutions and the identification of best practices on public policies on emergency telecommunications at the local, national and regional levels in order to enhance disaster early warning, prevention, preparedness, relief and recovery, including response to health-related emergencies, taking into account technical and technological developments;

2 to conduct training programmes, workshops and capacity building, including consideration of the roles and participation of academia and other stakeholders, for trainers of relevant organizations and entities, especially in developing countries, on technical and operational aspects of networks and their use for monitoring and management in emergency and disaster situations, including health-related emergencies;

3 to support the development of robust, comprehensive, all-hazards emergency and disaster prediction, detection, early-warning, mitigation, response, relief and recovery systems that also take into account the specific needs of persons with disabilities, children, older persons, displaced persons and the illiterate, at the local, national, regional and international levels, including monitoring and management systems involving the use of telecommunications/ICTs (e.g. remote sensing), in collaboration with other international agencies, in order to support coordination at the regional and global level;

4 to promote implementation by appropriate alerting authorities of the international standard for all-media public warning, in concert with ITU guidelines developed through the relevant ITU study groups for application to all disaster and emergency situations;

5 to continue to collaborate with organizations that are working in the area of standards for emergency telecommunications/ICTs and for communication of alert and warning information, in order to study the appropriate inclusion of such standards in ITU's work and their dissemination, in particular in developing countries;

6 to analyse ongoing work in all Sectors of ITU, regional entities and other expert organizations, and promote joint activities to avoid duplication of efforts and resources in the development, use and interworking of public and private telecommunications/ICTs, including radiocommunication and satellite systems, in times of emergencies and disaster-relief operations in response to natural disasters;

7 to assist Member States in enhancing and strengthening the use of all available communication systems, including satellite, amateur radio and broadcasting services, in the event of the disruption of conventional power supply or telecommunication networks;

8 to assist Member States, particularly developing countries, in the use of telecommunications/ICTs to support the exchange of timely information on emergencies, including health-related emergencies, and to develop feasibility studies, project-management tools and support to respond to and address emergencies, including health-related emergencies,

encourages Member States

1 in emergency and disaster-relief situations, to satisfy temporary needs for radio-frequency spectrum in addition to what may be normally provided for in agreements with the administrations concerned, while seeking international assistance for spectrum coordination and management, in accordance with the legal framework in force in each country;

2 to work in close collaboration with the Secretary-General, the Directors of the Bureaux and other Member States, while collaborating with the emergency telecommunication/ICT coordination/cluster mechanisms of the United Nations, in the development and dissemination of tools, procedures and best practices for the effective coordination and operation of telecommunications/ICTs in disaster situations;

3 to facilitate the use by emergency organizations of both existing and new technologies, systems and applications (satellite and terrestrial), to the extent practicable, in order to satisfy interoperability requirements and to further the goals of public protection and disaster relief;

4 to contribute actively to the development of oceanic sensing technologies, including the work of the JTF SMART cable systems;

5 to develop and support national and regional centres of excellence for research, pre-planning, equipment pre-positioning and deployment of telecommunication/ICT resources for humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief coordination;

6 to adopt and promote policies that encourage public and private operators to invest in the development and building of telecommunications/ICTs, including radiocommunication and satellite systems, for early-warning systems and the management of emergency and disaster situations, including health-related emergencies;

7 to consider the development of comprehensive disaster risk-management frameworks;

8 to take appropriate measures to ensure that all operators inform local and roaming users, in a timely manner and at no cost, of the numbers in use to contact emergency services;

9 to explore the possibility of introducing a globally harmonized emergency number to supplement existing domestic emergency numbers, taking into account the relevant ITU-T recommendations, and to develop plans for preparedness, disaster recovery and continuity of activities that provide essential government information systems with the necessary redundancy and resilience;

10 to work towards their accession to the Tampere Convention as a matter of priority;

11 to cooperate and offer all possible assistance and support to consumers, humanitarian-oriented organizations and industry involved in ICTs, including for disease tracking and natural and man-made disaster and emergency response, rescue and recovery operations;

12 to promote regional, subregional, multilateral and bilateral projects and programmes to address the need to use ICTs as a tool to support responses to different types of disasters, so that life-saving infrastructure and information can be provided to local communities, especially in local languages;

13 to participate in the ITU Network of Volunteers for Emergency Telecommunications;

14 to contribute to the Global Emergency Fund for Rapid Response,

urges Member States Parties to the Tampere Convention

to take all practical steps for the application of the Tampere Convention and to work closely with the operational coordinator as provided for therein.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 137 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Deployment of future networks in developing countries

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 139 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) to bridge the digital divide and build an inclusive information society;

b) Resolution 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on bridging the digital divide;

c) Resolution 92 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), on enhancing the standardization activities in the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) related to non-radio aspects of international mobile telecommunications (IMT);

d) Resolution 93 (Hammamet, 2016) of WTSA, on interconnection of 4G, IMT-2020 networks and beyond;

e) Resolution 43 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of WTDC, on assistance in implementing IMT and future networks;

f) Resolution 23 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of WTDC, on Internet access and availability for developing countries[1] and charging principles for international Internet connection,

considering

a) that, as stated in § 22 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles adopted by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a well-developed information and communication network infrastructure and applications, adapted to regional, national and local conditions, easily accessible and affordable, and making greater use of broadband and other innovative technologies, where possible, can accelerate the social and economic progress of countries, and the well-being of all individuals, communities and peoples, and that this is covered by WSIS Action Line C2, expanded to include Action Line C6;

b) that the existence, at the national, regional, interregional and global levels, of coherent telecommunication networks and services for the development of national, regional and international economies is a very important element in the improvement of the social, economic and financial situation of Member States;

c) Resolution 44 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on bridging the standardization gap between developing and developed countries;

d) Resolution 17 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on implementation of and cooperation on approved regional initiatives at the national, regional, interregional and global levels;

e) that many countries have begun to implement national, regional and international strategies for realizing the vision of a digital economy, for which future networks should form the basis;

f) that IMT systems as well as other technologies contribute to bridging the digital divide and promote affordable broadband connectivity, in particular in developing countries,

noting

a) that developing countries are still being challenged by rapid change of technologies and service convergence trends;

b) the ongoing shortages of resources, experience and capacity building within developing countries in planning, deploying and operating networks, especially future networks;

c) that future networks drive substantial transformation in many development-related sectors, including health, education, financial inclusion and food security, making them a key accelerator towards achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals;

d) that promoting investment in broadband connectivity from a broad range of sectors can help achieve the full potential of these technologies and bring the world closer to the goal of an inclusive digital society accessible by all;

e) that fixed and mobile services are becoming progressively affordable in a large number of countries; however, the cost of transit or access to backhaul bandwidth remains a challenge for developing countries, particularly landlocked countries,

recalling further

a) the efforts and collaboration of the three Bureaux to continue enhancing work aimed at providing information and advice on subjects of importance to developing countries for the planning, organization, development and operation of their telecommunication systems;

b) that technical knowledge and experience of great value to the developing countries is also obtainable from the work of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), ITU-T and the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D);

c) that, in accordance with Resolution 143 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, the provisions in all ITU documents relating to developing countries shall be extended to apply adequately to countries with economies in transition, as well as the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries,

recognizing

a) that developing countries have limited human and financial resources to cope with the ever-increasing digital divide and standardization gap;

b) that the existing digital divide at various levels (including the digital divide between regions, countries and parts of countries, and between urban and rural areas) is likely to be aggravated further with the emergence of new technologies if developing countries are not able to fully introduce them cost-effectively and in a timely manner;

c) that the implementation of future networks can have a positive impact on the environment, in particular by helping to reduce the environmental effects of other sectors, such as transport, agriculture, etc.;

d) that one of the most important expected outcomes of the timely introduction of future networks for developing countries is the reduction of operating costs associated with network infrastructure,

taking into account

a) that it is imperative for countries, especially developing countries and many developed countries, that have already invested heavily in their existing telecommunication networks, to facilitate a smooth transition from existing networks to future networks;

b) that future networks are potential tools to meet the new challenges facing the telecommunication industry, and that future networks deployment and standards-development activities are essential for developing countries, especially for ensuring equal access to modern telecommunication services for urban populations and populations in rural and remote areas;

c) that many developing countries that have invested significantly in the deployment of their existing telecommunication networks to provide advanced services are still seeking to recover their investment, making it difficult for them to effect a timely transition to future networks;

d) that the migration of existing telecommunication networks to future networks may affect points of interconnection, quality of service and other operational aspects, which may also have an effect on costs to the end user;

e) that countries can benefit from future networks, which can facilitate the delivery of a wide range of advanced telecommunication/ICT-based services and applications for building the information society and developing the digital economy, resolving difficult issues such as the development and implementation of systems for public protection and disaster relief, especially telecommunications for early warning and the dissemination of emergency information;

f) that the challenge, as perceived by WSIS, is to harness the potential of ICTs and ICT applications for promoting the development goals of the Millennium Declaration, namely the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and so forth;

g) that ITU-T Study Group 13 established a focus group entitled "Technologies for Network 2030";

h) that there is a need to enhance the affordability and availability of telecommunication/ICT equipment, taking into account the costs associated with deployment of future networks,

resolves to instruct the Directors of the three Bureaux, in line with the mandates of their respective Sectors

1 to continue and consolidate their efforts on future networks[2] deployment studies, standards development, training activities and the sharing of best practices on business model evolution and operational aspects, especially for those networks designed for rural areas and for bridging the digital divide and the development divide;

2 to coordinate studies and programmes within ITU-R on IMT-2020 and beyond and ITU-T Study Groups 11 and 13 on 2030 networks, and also within the Global Network Planning initiatives of ITU-D, and to coordinate ongoing work being carried out by study groups and the relevant programmes as defined in the Kigali Action Plan in order to assist the membership in deploying future networks effectively, especially in conducting a smooth migration from existing telecommunication infrastructures to future networks and in seeking appropriate solutions to expedite affordable deployment in rural and remote areas, taking into consideration the successes of several developing countries in migrating to and operating these networks, and benefiting from the experience of those countries,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to take appropriate action in order to seek support and financial provision sufficient for the implementation of this resolution, within available financial resources, including financial support through partnership agreements and through the involvement of regional and international financial organizations and institutions, equipment suppliers, operators and all partners providing complete or partial financing for the implementation of cooperation programmes to develop telecommunications/ICTs, including the approved regional initiatives under the Kigali Action Plan and Resolution 17 (Rev. Kigali, 2022);

2 to highlight the importance and benefits of future networks development and deployment to other United Nations specialized agencies and financial institutions;

3 to invite the relevant international organizations to provide information for dissemination to the Union on creating an enabling environment for the development and deployment of future networks, particularly policies which have an impact on affordability,

instructs the ITU Council

to consider the reports and proposals made by the Secretary-General and the three Bureaux relating to the implementation of this resolution, having regard to addressing the needs of developing countries,

invites all Member States and Sector Members

1 to undertake concrete actions, to support ITU's actions and to develop their own initiatives in order to implement this resolution;

2 to strengthen cooperation between developed and developing countries, and among developing countries themselves, in improving national, regional and international capabilities in the implementation of future networks, especially in regard to future networks planning, deployment, operation and maintenance, and the development of next-generation network (NGN)-based applications, especially for rural and remote areas, taking into consideration future developments to accelerate the digital economy;

3 to take actions to enhance the affordability and availability of telecommunication/ICT equipment associated with deployment of future networks,

invites regional and international financial organizations and agencies, equipment providers, operators and all potential partners

to consider the possibility of ensuring complete or partial financing to implement cooperation programmes for developing NGN and future networks, including the approved regional initiatives under the Kigali Action Plan and Resolution 17 (Rev. Kigali, 2022).

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] See the work of the ITU-T Study Group 13 Focus Group on future networks.

RESOLUTION 138 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Global Symposium for Regulators

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

Resolution 48 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, on cooperation among telecommunication regulators, which resolved, inter alia:

a) that ITU, and in particular the Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D), should continue to support regulatory reform and help members address regulatory challenges by facilitating information- and experience-sharing among the membership;

b) that the Telecommunication Development Bureau should continue to coordinate and facilitate joint activities relating to telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) policy and regulatory issues with regional and subregional regulatory organizations and associations;

c) that ITU-D should continue to further provide technical cooperation, regulatory exchange, capacity building and expert advice, with the support of the regional offices,

considering

a) the importance of maintaining the Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) as an environment in which regulatory bodies continue to share and exchange experiences;

b) the considerable success achieved by regulators through effective participation in the GSR since its inception in 2000, as well as in meetings of regional regulators, held in parallel with the GSR meeting or just before it, a success which also highlights the importance of enhancing regional cooperation among regulators from different countries and regions of the world;

c) the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, in respect of the responsibilities to be assumed by telecommunication/ICT sector regulators,

noting

the multiplicity of subjects and issues closely related to regulators and which have posed challenges to the international community, especially the developing countries[1], such as integration of services, interconnection, next-generation networks and universal access, in addition to current challenges such as roaming services, quality of service, the application and design of programmes to finance the deployment of ICT networks with funds from the universal service, and the protection of consumer rights,

resolves

that the GSR shall be established as a regular activity within the ITU-D work programme,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to hold the GSR annually, within the financial limits set by the Plenipotentiary Conference, in order to strengthen exchanges of experience among regulators on the most important regulatory subjects and issues, including ICTs, to support newly established regulators, and to encourage the holding of meetings for regional regulators in parallel with the annual meeting;

2 to rotate the holding of the GSR in different regions of the world, reflecting, to the extent possible, a balanced regional representation of participants, speakers and stakeholders;

3 to consult, in advance, Member States and relevant stakeholders on the topics for the annual GSR and the thematic priorities for the best-practice guidelines published by the GSR each year to ensure that its outcomes reflect the interests of all stakeholders and fully attract the participation of all countries;

4 to promote the participation of regional and subregional regulatory organizations and associations in the preparatory process as well as in the development of the best-practice guidelines published by the GSR each year.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 139 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies to bridge the digital divide and build an inclusive information society

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) the Preamble (No. 1) of the ITU Constitution, "fully recognizing the sovereign right of each State to regulate its telecommunication and having regard to the growing importance of telecommunication for the preservation of peace and the economic and social development of all States";

b) Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027;

c) Resolution 200 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the Connect 2030 Agenda for global telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT), including broadband, for sustainable development;

d) Resolution 16 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on special actions and measures for least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and countries with economies in transition;

e) Resolution 30 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on the role of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), taking into account the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

f) Resolution 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on bridging the digital divide;

g) Resolution 92 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), on enhancing the standardization activities in the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) related to non-radio aspects of international mobile telecommunications (IMT);

h) Resolution 44 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on bridging the standardization gap between developing[1] and developed countries;

i) Recommendation ITU-T D.53, on international aspects of universal service;

j) Resolution 23 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of WTDC, on Internet access and availability for developing countries and charging principles for international Internet connection;

k) Resolution 191 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on strategy for the coordination of efforts among the three Sectors of the Union,

recognizing

a) that the digital divide can be associated with a lack of connectivity to broadband networks and low utilization, in particular within developing countries;

b) that there is a need to enhance affordability and availability and promote investment in connectivity and relevant infrastructure, in particular in developing countries;

c) that a low utilization of broadband connectivity can be associated with some factors, including affordability, digital literacy and related skills;

d) that the social and economic underdevelopment of a large part of the world is one of the most serious problems affecting not only the countries concerned but also the international community as a whole;

e) that the benefits of the advancement in ICTs can create opportunities for digital services in developing countries, and enables digitalization of the infrastructure which underpins the economy, including the digital economy;

f) that the new technologies of telecommunication networks show potential for offering more efficient and economic telecommunication and ICT services and applications, particularly for unserved and/or underserved areas;

g) that WSIS highlighted that the ICT infrastructure is an essential foundation for an inclusive information society, and called for the commitment of all States to placing ICTs and ICT applications at the service of development;

h) that the WSIS+10 High-Level Event (Geneva, 2014), an expanded version of the WSIS Forum, held by ITU in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), recognizes in its WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of WSIS outcomes that, since the Tunis Phase of WSIS was held in 2005, the uses of ICTs have developed considerably and become a part of everyday life, accelerating social and economic growth, sustainable development, increasing transparency and accountability, where applicable, and offering new opportunities for both developed and developing countries to leverage the benefits of new technologies;

i) that, in turn, the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS beyond 2015 reaffirms that the objective of WSIS is to bridge the digital, technology and knowledge divides and create a people-centric, inclusive, open and development-oriented information society where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge;

j) that telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications are essential for political, economic, social and cultural development, that they play an important role in poverty alleviation, job creation, environmental protection and the prevention and mitigation of natural and other disasters (in addition to the importance of disaster prediction), and that they must be placed at the service of development in other sectors; and that, therefore, opportunities offered by new ICTs should be accelerated and fully exploited in order to foster digital inclusion towards sustainable development;

k) that, even prior to WSIS, in addition to ITU activities, various activities were being executed by many organizations and entities to bridge the digital divide;

l) that the use of ICTs enhances social, economic, cultural and environmental growth, contributes to sustainable development, encourages transparency and accountability, and offers new opportunities for developed and developing countries to take advantage of the benefits offered by new technologies;

m) that there is a need for affordable broadband and digital services in developing countries, which are enabled by the ICT revolution;

n) that Resolution 70/125 of the United Nations General Assembly, on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes, recognizes that speed, stability, affordability, language, local content and accessibility for persons with disabilities are now basic aspects of quality, and that a high-speed broadband connection is now a factor in facilitating sustainable development,

considering

a) that, even with all the developments described above and the improvement observed in some respects, in numerous developing countries telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications are still not affordable to the majority of people, particularly those living in rural or remote, unserved and underserved areas;

b) that each region, country and area must tackle its own specific issues regarding the digital divide, with emphasis on cooperation with others in order to benefit from experience gained;

c) that many countries may not have the necessary basic infrastructure, long-term plans, laws, regulations and such like in place for the development and management of telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications;

d) that LDCs, SIDS, LLDCs and countries with economies in transition still face particular problems in bridging the digital divide, including transit of telecommunication traffic through neighbouring countries in the case of LLDCs, and would benefit from special measures for the development of telecommunications/ICTs and to improve their connectivity;

e) that it is necessary to study and analyse the social, demographic, economic and technological context of the communities in which it is necessary to deploy telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services, as well as to implement plans for capacity building, training and digital skills development, in particular for persons with disabilities, persons with specific needs and indigenous peoples;

f) that implementing policies that promote access to telecommunication/ICT services in unserved and underserved areas has proven to be a crucial tool for bridging the digital divide;

g) that it is important to identify sustainable best practices to deploy high-speed broadband networks to help developing countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

h) that quality of broadband access will promote inclusion and support the vision of an information society;

i) that IMT systems as well as other technologies contribute to bridging the digital divide and promote affordable broadband connectivity, in particular in developing countries,

considering further

a) that telecommunication/ICT facilities, services and applications are not only the consequence of economic growth, but a prerequisite for social, cultural and environmental development, including economic growth;

b) that telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications are an integral part of the national, regional and international development process;

c) that a favourable environment, which includes the necessary policies, skills and technical capacities to use and develop technologies, is considered to be as important as infrastructure investments in telecommunications/ICTs;

d) that recent progress, and particularly the convergence of telecommunication, information, broadcasting and computer technologies and services, in some countries, are agents of change for the information and knowledge societies;

e) that there is a continuing need in most developing countries for investment in various development sectors, while giving priority to investment in the telecommunication/ICT sector, in view of the pressing need for telecommunications/ICTs as a basis for growth and development in other sectors;

f) that, in this situation, national digital e-strategies should be linked to overall development goals;

g) that it continues to be necessary to provide those responsible for developing standards with relevant and timely information on the role and general contribution of telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications to overall development plans;

h) that past studies undertaken at the initiative of the Union for assessing the benefits of telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications in the sector have had a salutary effect in other sectors and are a necessary condition for their development;

i) that the use of terrestrial and space services to give access to rural or remote areas without increasing connection costs due to distance and other geographic characteristics must be considered an extremely useful tool for bridging the digital divide;

j) that terrestrial and space broadband services make it possible to provide cost-effective communications solutions with great connectivity, speed and reliability in metropolitan, rural and even remote areas, becoming an essential engine for the economic and social development of countries and regions;

k) that the development of low-cost equipment is important for network deployment in unserved and/or underserved areas;

l) that the use of telecommunications/ICTs creates opportunities and benefits for the economy, including the digital economy;

m) that the sharing of telecommunication infrastructure could be an effective means of deploying telecommunication networks, in particular in unserved and/or underserved areas,

stressing

a) the important role played by telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications in the development of e-government, labour, agriculture, health, education, transport, industry, human rights, environmental protection, trade and transfer of information for social welfare, among others, and in the general economic and social progress of developing countries, especially for people living in rural, remote, unserved and underserved areas;

b) that telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and applications are central to achieving the goal of ensuring digital inclusion for all, enabling sustainable, ubiquitous and affordable access to information,

mindful

a) that some Member States have applied their national strategies and regulatory frameworks to help bridge the digital divide at the national level;

b) that various ITU Member States have developed national strategies and programmes to encourage investment in implementing projects to deploy telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and networks, especially in unserved and underserved areas,

appreciating

a) the various studies that have been carried out as part of the programme of technical cooperation and assistance activities of the Union;

b) that ITU, in keeping with its duties and mandate, is helping to bridge the digital divide at the national, regional and international levels by facilitating the connectivity of telecommunication/ICT networks and services, in order to follow up on and meet the key goals and objectives of WSIS,

resolves

1 that implementation of Resolution 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) should continue;

2 that the Union should continue to organize, sponsor and conduct necessary studies in order to highlight, in a different and changing context, the contribution of telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications to overall development, including promoting innovation;

3 that the Union should continue to act as a clearing-house mechanism for the exchange of information and expertise in this regard, within the implementation of the Kigali Action Plan and in partnership with other appropriate organizations, and implement initiatives, programmes and projects aimed at overcoming the digital divide, especially by enabling accessible and affordable connectivity, enabling digital literacy and skills development, and promoting connectivity to telecommunications/ICTs and ICT applications;

4 that the Inter-Sector Coordination Group on issues of mutual interest along with the Inter-Sectoral Coordination Task Force, in close collaboration with the Directors of the Bureaux, coordinate the work of the Sectors with respect to bridging the digital divide, including accessible and affordable connectivity, digital literacy and skills development;

5 that ITU, in cooperation with Member States and relevant organizations, continue its task of preparing adequate ICT reference indicators for measuring the digital divide, collecting statistical data, measuring the impact of ICTs and facilitating a comparative analysis of digital integration, which will continue to be a fundamental need in support of economic growth;

6 that ITU continue its work and activities to support Member States, upon request, in strengthening their regulatory and policy frameworks through sharing information on national programmes in respect of best regulatory practices for unserved and/or underserved areas within their territories;

7 that ITU facilitate and promote the development of high-speed broadband infrastructure, either by terrestrial or space-based solutions, including relevant programmes to extend access;

8 that ITU foster the development of activities that promote the planning and execution of strategies that allow the use of emerging technologies to improve access to telecommunications/ICTs,

continues to invite

the administrations and governments of Member States, agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, regional telecommunication organizations, financial institutions and providers of telecommunication equipment and services and ICTs to extend their support for the satisfactory implementation of this resolution,

continues to encourage

all agencies responsible for development aid and assistance, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), UNDP and regional and national development funds, as well as donor and recipient Member States of the Union, to continue to attach importance to ICTs in the development process and to accord high priority for resource allocation to this sector in a way that enables access to affordable financing in developing countries,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to bring this resolution to the attention of all interested parties including, in particular, UNDP, IBRD, the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), the United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination, and regional funds and national development funds for cooperation in implementing this resolution;

2 to take the measures necessary to carry out the tasks described in resolves 4 above;

3 to report annually to the ITU Council in consultation with the Directors of the three Bureaux on the progress made in the implementation of this resolution, including any impediments to furthering its objectives, and any recommendations for further action;

4 to arrange for wide dissemination of the findings resulting from the activities carried out in accordance with this resolution;

5 to further develop and deepen relationships within the United Nations system and with other international organizations relevant to this resolution, including UNESCO in relation to digital literacy and skills development, and UN-OHRLLS to address the needs of developing countries,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the three Bureaux, in line with the mandates of their respective Sectors

to work with the ITU membership to raise awareness and support information-sharing and capacity-building activities, in close coordination with other relevant standards-development organizations and forums, related to disaggregated, open and interoperable network technologies and solutions, such as Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN) and others, with the objective of promoting affordable connectivity and bridging the digital divide, in particular in developing countries, and encouraging competition, innovation and technology neutrality,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in coordination with the Directors of the other Bureaux, within their respective mandates

1 to ensure access to and increase the prominence of up-to-date repositories of best practice and expertise for bridging the digital divide so that all relevant resources are more easily available to the members of the Union and other stakeholders, for example on a dedicated area of the ITU website;

2 to continue to assist Member States and Sector Members in developing a policy and regulatory framework for ICTs and ICT applications that serves development;

3 to continue to assist Member States and Sector Members with strategies that expand access to telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, particularly for rural or remote or unserved and underserved areas;

4 to continue to assist Member States and Sector Members with strategies to improve digital literacy and skills, including by regularly updating the existing Digital Skills Toolkit;

5 to evaluate challenges to, and models for, affordable and sustainable systems for access to information in rural, remote or unserved and underserved areas, and to communications and ICT applications on the global network, based on studies of these models;

6 to review, compile and disseminate best practices and regulatory experiences on national and regional strategies employed to promote investment in telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services, affordable connectivity, digital literacy and skills development in unserved and/or underserved areas, utilizing possible means within countries and/or regions, which may include universal service funds in certain countries, where appropriate;

7 to support sharing national experiences and information, such as case studies, and support enabling environments for the use of affordable technologies for bridging the digital divide, such as current and emerging telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, including telecommunication/ICT complementary access networks and solutions;

8 to continue to conduct, within available resources, case studies concerning the development of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services, in particular within unserved and/or underserved areas, such as rural and remote areas, as far as possible;

9 to compile and disseminate guiding principles that bring together best practices for the sharing of telecommunication network infrastructure, as appropriate;

10 to promote and facilitate collaborative actions between the different Sectors of the Union to carry out studies, projects and interrelated activities identified in action plans of the Sectors, aiming to complement the development of national telecommunication networks;

11 to continue to support Member States by providing a database of experts in the required field, and to fund the necessary actions for bridging the digital divide for developing countries within the resources allocated under the financial plan;

12 to strengthen cooperation and coordination with the relevant international and regional organizations, in particular those of the developing countries, in activities related to bridging the digital divide;

13 to provide assistance on capacity building and training for individuals in digital skills and digital literacy, creating a culture of learning and collaboration, on how to navigate and extract benefit from the new industrial revolution, by building programmes or joint programmes in fields relevant to bridging the digital divide, in accordance with the SDGs and WSIS action lines, within the mandate of ITU,

instructs the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

to implement actions, in coordination with the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in order to support and share information about studies, tools and projects and, at the same time, promote joint activities aiming to build capacities for increasingly efficient use of the orbit/spectrum resource, with the purpose of expanding affordable access to broadband, including through space and terrestrial services and facilitating connectivity between networks, and between different zones, countries and regions, especially in developing countries,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to allocate adequate funds, within approved budgetary resources, for the implementation of this resolution;

2 to review the Secretary-General's reports and take appropriate measures to ensure the implementation of this resolution;

3 to submit a progress report on this resolution to the next plenipotentiary conference,

invites Member States

1 to continue providing relevant case studies and to share best practices in respect of effective policies and regulatory approaches with the relevant ITU-D study groups, taking into account the objectives of this resolution;

2 to conduct consultations with the beneficiaries of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure plans, programmes and investment, considering current differences stemming from the social conditions and dynamics of the population, so as to ensure suitable appropriation of ICTs;

3 to establish an enabling regulatory and policy environment that stimulates expansion of affordable connectivity and that promotes digital literacy and the adoption and deployment of new technologies, especially in unserved and underserved areas;

4 to consider facilitating an environment for sharing national experiences for bridging the digital divide, as appropriate, using affordable technologies, such as current and emerging telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, including telecommunication/ICT complementary access networks and solutions, according to national regulations;

5 to study the causes of the digital divide, and their impacts, that are prevalent at the national level, and to consider how to overcome these issues, including measures to enhance the affordability and availability of telecommunication/ICT equipment integral to bridging the digital divide, and to share information about their experiences with the relevant ITU-D study groups,

invites all Member States and Sector Members

1 to promote activities and share information on disaggregated, open and interoperable network technologies, such as Open RAN and others, with the objective of promoting affordable connectivity and bridging the digital divide, in particular in developing countries;

2 to foster an enabling environment for disaggregated, open and interoperable network technologies, such as Open RAN and others, and to promote reliable and interoperable broadband access at an affordable cost.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 140 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

ITU's role in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as in their follow-up and review processes

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 73 (Minneapolis, 1998) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, which achieved its aims in regard to the holding of both phases of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS);

b) the Geneva Declaration of Principles and the Geneva Plan of Action, adopted in 2003, and the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, adopted in 2005, all of which were endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA);

c) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes;

d) UNGA Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

e) the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of WSIS outcomes and the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS beyond 2015, which were adopted at the ITU-coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event (Geneva, 2014), based on the Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform process, together with other United Nations agencies and inclusive of all WSIS stakeholders, were endorsed by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) and were submitted to the UNGA overall review;

f) UNGA Resolution 75/1, on the declaration on the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, which contains the pledge "we will improve digital cooperation";

g) the annual UNGA resolutions on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development;

h) the annual resolutions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on assessment of the progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the WSIS outcomes, prepared by the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD);

i) Resolution 140 (Rev. Busan, 2014) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on ITU's role in implementing the WSIS outcomes and in the UNGA overall review of their implementation;

j) the opinions of the sixth World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum (WTPF-21);

k) the relevant resolutions and decisions of the Plenipotentiary Conference related to WSIS and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

l) the Kigali Declaration of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), which commits to accelerating the expansion of digital infrastructures and fully exploiting the opportunities provided by digital transformation for all stakeholders,

considering

a) that ITU plays a fundamental role in providing global perspectives on the development of the information society;

b) the role played by ITU in the successful organization of the two phases of WSIS and its coordination of the WSIS+10 High-Level Event;

c) that the core competencies of ITU in the field of ICTs – assistance in bridging the digital divide, international and regional cooperation, radio-frequency spectrum management, standards development and the dissemination of information – are of crucial importance for building the information society, as stated in § 64 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles;

d) that the Tunis Agenda stated that each United Nations agency should act according to its mandate and competencies, and pursuant to decisions of their respective governing bodies, and within existing approved resources (§ 102b);

e) the establishment of a United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS) by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the request of the Summit, with the main objective of coordinating substantive and policy issues facing the United Nations' implementation of the WSIS outcomes, and that ITU is a permanent member of UNGIS, and shares a rotating chairmanship thereof;

f) that ITU, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are playing lead facilitation roles in the multistakeholder implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action and Tunis Agenda, as called upon by WSIS;

g) that ITU is the moderator/facilitator for WSIS Action Lines C2 (Information and communication infrastructure), C4 (Capacity building), C5 (Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs) and C6 (Enabling environment) of the Tunis Agenda, and a partner for a number of other action lines, as identified by WSIS;

h) that Resolution 200 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference endorsed the high-level strategic goals and targets set out in the strategic plan for the Union and global broadband targets to implement the Connect 2030 Agenda;

i) that ITU is given specific responsibility for maintaining the WSIS stocktaking database (§ 120 of the Tunis Agenda);

j) that ITU is capable of providing expertise relevant to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as demonstrated during the WSIS process (§ 78 a) of the Tunis Agenda);

k) that ITU has, inter alia, specific responsibility to study and report on international Internet connectivity (§§ 27 and 50 of the Tunis Agenda);

l) that ITU has a specific responsibility to ensure rational, efficient and economic use of, and equitable access to, the radio-frequency spectrum by all countries, based on relevant international agreements (§ 96 of the Tunis Agenda);

m) that "building an inclusive development-oriented information society will require unremitting multi-stakeholder effort … Taking into account the multifaceted nature of building the Information Society, effective cooperation among governments, private sector, civil society and the United Nations and other international organizations, according to their roles and responsibilities and leveraging on their expertise, is essential" (§ 83 of the Tunis Agenda);

n) that the vision of an information society cannot be achieved without embracing the principle of inclusiveness in all efforts to promote and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

considering further

a) that ITU and other international organizations should continue to cooperate and coordinate their activities where necessary for the global good;

b) the need for ITU to evolve constantly in response to changes in the telecommunication/ICT environment and, in particular, in respect of evolving new and emerging digital technologies and new regulatory challenges in order to ensure that the unconnected are connected;

c) the needs of developing countries[1], including in the areas of harnessing ICTs for sustainable development and bridging the digital divide, building telecommunication/ICT infrastructure that enables the growth of the digital economy, strengthening confidence and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs and implementing the other WSIS goals;

d) the need for ITU to use its resources and expertise for implementation of the WSIS outcomes and achieving the SDGs;

e) the need to efficiently deploy the Union's human and financial resources in a manner consistent with the priorities of the membership and cognizant of budgetary constraints, and the need to avoid duplication among the Bureaux and the General Secretariat;

f) that the full involvement of the membership, including Sector Members, Associates and Academia, as well as other stakeholders, is critical to successful ITU implementation of relevant WSIS outcomes;

g) that the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027 set out in Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference contains a commitment to and priorities for implementation of the relevant WSIS outcomes and achievement of the SDGs;

h) that the ITU Council Working Group on WSIS and the SDGs (CWG-WSIS&SDG) has proven to be an effective mechanism for facilitating Member State inputs on the role of ITU in implementing WSIS outcomes and achievement of the SDGs;

i) that the ITU Secretary-General created the ITU WSIS/SDG Task Force, chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General, the role of which is to formulate strategies and coordinate ITU's policies and activities in relation to WSIS, taking into account the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

j) that the Council, at its 2016 session, resolved to use the WSIS framework as the foundation through which ITU helps achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, within ITU's mandate and within the resources allocated in the financial plan and biennial budget, noting the WSIS-SDG Matrix developed by United Nations agencies;

k) that the international community is invited to make voluntary contributions to the special trust fund set up by ITU to support activities relating to the implementation of WSIS outcomes;

l) that ITU is capable of providing expertise in the field of statistical work by developing ICT indicators, using appropriate indicators and benchmarking to track global progress, and measuring the digital divide (§§ 113-118 of the Tunis Agenda),

noting

a) the outcomes of the WSIS Forum, organized annually by ITU in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UNESCO and UNDP;

b) the recognition in UNGA Resolution 70/125 that the WSIS Forum has been a platform for discussion and sharing of best practices in the implementation of the WSIS outcomes by all stakeholders, and should continue to be held annually;

c) that the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, established at the invitation of the Secretary-General of ITU and the Director-General of UNESCO, re-evaluated and launched a new framework of targets for 2025 in support of "Connecting the Other Half" of the world's population, which aim to make broadband policy universal and to increase affordability and uptake in support of internationally agreed development goals, including the SDGs;

d) relevant Council resolutions on ITU's role in the implementation of the WSIS outcomes and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

e) the annual reports of the Secretary-General on ITU's contribution to implementation of the WSIS outcomes through CSTD to ECOSOC and the Council contribution to the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) on relevant ITU activities;

f) the relevant Sector resolutions on the role of the ITU Sectors in implementing the WSIS outcomes and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

g) the relevant results of the 2019-2022 sessions of the Council related to implementation of the WSIS outcomes and achieving the SDGs;

h) the outcomes of the WSIS Forum, CSTD, IGF and HLPF;

i) programmes, activities and regional activities established by WTDC-17 and WTDC-22 with the objective of bridging the digital divide,

taking into account

a) that WSIS acknowledged that multistakeholder participation is essential to the successful building of a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society;

b) the relevant work already accomplished and/or to be carried out by ITU and reported to the Council, including annual reports on the activities of Council working groups on issues relevant to WSIS and the SDGs,

recognizing

a) that in the nearly two decades since the WSIS outcomes, ICTs have fundamentally transformed the world;

b) that infrastructure which is developed through investment and competition will lead to greater global connectivity and underpin the use of telecommunications/ICTs in achieving the SDGs and WSIS action lines;

c) that greater connectivity narrows the digital divide for all citizens, but in particular for vulnerable groups in remote and rural underserved communities, as well as for women and children;

d) that all stakeholders play an important part in developing and deploying telecommunications/ICTs in a manner that supports achievement of the SDGs, and in support of WSIS action lines, including C8, C9 and C10;

e) that the UNGA outcome document on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes has substantial implications for the activities of ITU and calls for close alignment between the WSIS process and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, highlighting the cross-cutting contribution of ICTs to the SDGs and poverty eradication, and noting that access to ICTs has also become a development indicator and aspiration in and of itself;

f) that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has substantial implications for the activities of ITU;

g) that implementation of the WSIS outcomes will facilitate digital transformation and development of the digital economy and help achieve the SDGs, and the success of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will depend on increasing access to ICTs, connecting the unconnected and including the marginalized and vulnerable;

h) the importance of ITU's role and participation in UNGIS, as a permanent member, and sharing a rotating chairmanship;

i) ITU's commitment to implementation of the WSIS outcomes and achieving the SDGs, as one of the most important goals for the Union;

j) the essential role of telecommunications/ICTs to facilitate digital transformation and the development of the digital economy and help achieve the SDGs and other internationally agreed development goals[2];

k) that UNGA, in its Resolution 70/125, decided to hold a high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes in 2025;

l) that CWG-WSIS&SDG initiated discussions on the role of ITU in the WSIS+20 review process and its preparations;

m) the Secretary-General's report on the WSIS+20 roadmap on the role of ITU in the WSIS+20 review process and its preparations that was presented to this conference;

n) that the WSIS action lines are crucial for advancing the achievement of the SDGs; hence, it is important to continue the alignment of the WSIS process with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in accordance with the WSIS-SDG Matrix;

o) that the WSIS Forum, which has proven to be an efficient medium for discussion of multistakeholder implementation activities, information exchange, creation of knowledge and sharing of best practices, provides a platform for consideration of the 20 years of implementation of the WSIS action lines;

p) the commitment of the Chairman of the WSIS Forum 2022 to the WSIS process,

recognizing further

that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has not only highlighted the critical role of ICTs in the continued functioning of societies but has also brought to the fore the significant digital divide between and within countries,

resolves

1 that ITU's role regarding implementation of the WSIS outcomes and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development should focus on telecommunications/ICTs, in accordance with ITU's mandate;

2 that ITU should play a leading facilitating role in the implementation of the WSIS outcomes and the realization of the WSIS vision, along with UNESCO and UNDP, as stated in § 109 of the Tunis Agenda;

3 that ITU should continue to coordinate WSIS Forums, World Telecommunication and Information Society Day and WSIS Prizes and maintain the WSIS Stocktaking database, as well as continuing to coordinate and support the activities of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development;

4 that the WSIS Forum 2024 should be branded as WSIS+20 Forum High-level Event in Geneva and serve as a platform for the WSIS+20 review to provide multistakeholder discussions and to take stock of the achievements and key trends, challenges and opportunities since the Geneva Plan of Action;

5 that ITU should continue to play a lead facilitation role in the WSIS implementation process, as a moderator/facilitator for implementing WSIS Action Lines C2, C4, C5 and C6;

6 that ITU should allocate adequate resources to its activities, including WSIS staff and financial resources, to maintain effective implementation of the WSIS action lines and achieve the SDGs;

7 that ITU should continue its work on implementation of the WSIS outcomes and realization of the WSIS+10 Vision beyond 2015, carrying out those activities that come within its mandate and participating, together with other stakeholders, as appropriate;

8 that ITU should continue to use the WSIS framework as the foundation through which ITU helps achieve the SDGs, noting the WSIS-SDG Matrix developed by all United Nations WSIS action line facilitators, working through CWG-WSIS&SDG, including by:

i) updating its roadmaps for WSIS Action Lines C2, C4, C5 and C6 to take into account activities under way to also implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

ii) providing input, as appropriate, into the roadmaps/work plans for WSIS Action Lines C1, C3, C7, C8, C9 and C11, also related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

9 that ITU should leverage the WSIS framework to leave no one offline, despite the setbacks brought about by pandemics;

10 that ITU should continue to adapt itself, taking into account technological developments and its potential to contribute significantly to building an inclusive information society and to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

11 that there is a need to integrate the implementation of the Kigali Action Plan and, in particular, Resolution 30 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, and relevant resolutions of plenipotentiary conferences, with the multistakeholder implementation of the WSIS outcomes and achievement of the SDGs;

12 that ITU should continue to coordinate with the relevant United Nations organizations, where appropriate, to support the UNGA overall review of the WSIS outcomes in 2025 and to play an active role in the process according to ITU's WSIS+20 roadmap and the review process established by UNGA;

13 that the ITU Sectors, and in particular relevant study groups, should, when carrying out their activities, consider the work of CWG-WSIS&SDG[3] and other Council working groups on issues relevant to WSIS and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

14 that the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) shall give high priority to building information and communication infrastructure (WSIS Action Line C2), capacity building (WSIS Action Line C4), confidence and security in use of ICTs (WSIS Action Line C5), enabling environment (WSIS Action Line C6) and ICT applications (WSIS Action Line C7);

15 that ITU should submit a progress report concerning its implementation of the WSIS outcomes and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, noting the contribution of telecommunications/ICTs to digital transformation and the digital economy, to the plenipotentiary conference in 2026;

16 to continue ITU's work on implementation of the WSIS outcomes and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development using the WSIS-SDG Matrix;

17 that ITU should submit a report on the outcomes of the UNGA WSIS+20 overall review in 2025 to the Council and the plenipotentiary conference in 2026;

18 to continue to review the reporting and workplans of ITU, as a United Nations entity facilitating the implementation of the WSIS outcomes, to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to support ITU's role in implementing the WSIS outcomes and achievement of the SDGs;

2 to ensure that ITU activities related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are implemented through close alignment with the WSIS process and are conducted in accordance with its mandate, within established policies and procedures, and within the resources allocated in the financial plan and biennial budget;

3 to report annually to ECOSOC on progress made in implementation of the WSIS action lines for which ITU is the facilitator or co-facilitator, through CSTD, and to provide this report to CWG-WSIS&SDG;

4 to contribute annually on relevant ITU activities to HLPF, and provide the report to the Council through CWG-WSIS&SDG;

5 to provide annually to the Council a comprehensive report detailing the activities, actions and engagements that the Union is undertaking on these subjects, for consideration and decision;

6 to coordinate with relevant United Nations organizations, where appropriate, to implement ITU's WSIS+20 roadmap for the preparations for and conducting of the WSIS+20 review process and the WSIS process beyond 2025, consistent with UNGA's WSIS+20 preparatory process;

7 to invite UNGIS to align activities on developing the information society towards a knowledge society, based on results of the overall review of implementation of the WSIS outcomes and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

8 to continue to coordinate the WSIS Forum as a platform for discussion and sharing of best practices in the implementation of WSIS by all stakeholders, taking into consideration the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

9 to adjust the WSIS Stocktaking database and WSIS Prizes competitions in the light of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

10 to take into consideration the outputs of CWG-WSIS&SDG in WSIS/SDG Task Force activities;

11 to maintain the special WSIS trust fund to support ITU activities relating to facilitating ITU implementation of the WSIS outcomes through mechanisms including the establishment of partnerships and strategic alliances, and to invite the ITU membership to make voluntary contributions;

12 in accordance with ECOSOC Resolution 2022/15, to continue through existing processes to assess and report on a regular basis on the universal accessibility of nations to ICTs, with the aim of creating equitable opportunities for the growth of the ICT sectors of developing countries, as appropriate;

13 to emphasize the importance of allocating adequate resources to ITU's activities, including WSIS staff and financial resources, to maintain effective outcomes in the implementation of WSIS action lines for achieving the SDGs;

14 in accordance with UNGA Resolution 76/307, to engage actively on issues related to the mandate of ITU in the preparatory process of the United Nations Summit of the Future, to be held on 22-23 September 2024, in New York;

15 to engage actively in the preparatory process of the UNGA overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes, to be held in 2025;

16 to prepare and present a WSIS+20 report on ITU's contribution to the implementation of and follow-up to the WSIS outcomes and its role in achieving the SDGs (2015-2025) for submission to the 2025 session of CSTD and UNGA, and to submit this report to the 2025 session of the Council through CWG-WSIS&SDG;

17 to prepare a report on the UNGA overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes to the Council and to the plenipotentiary conference in 2026,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to take all necessary measures for ITU to fulfil its role, as outlined in resolves 1, 2, 3 and 4 above, in accordance with the appropriate roadmaps and coordinating through the WSIS/SDG Task Force, with the aim of avoiding duplication of work among the ITU Bureaux and the ITU General Secretariat;

2 to regularly update the roadmaps for ITU's activities within its mandate in regard to WSIS implementation taking into account the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to be presented to the Council via CWG-WSIS&SDG;

3 to strengthen, involving, among others, the ITU regional and area offices, coordination and collaboration at the regional level with the United Nations regional economic commissions and the United Nations Regional Development Group, as well as all United Nations agencies, in particular those acting as facilitator for WSIS action lines, and other relevant regional organizations, especially in the field of telecommunications/ICTs, with the aim of:

i) aligning WSIS and SDG processes and their implementation as requested by UNGA Resolution 70/125;

ii) implementing ICTs for SDG actions through the United Nations' "Delivering as One" approach;

iii) incorporating ICTs in the United Nations development assistance frameworks;

iv) developing partnerships for implementation of inter-agency and multistakeholder projects, advancing the implementation of WSIS action lines and advancing achievement of the SDGs;

v) highlighting the importance of advocacy for ICTs in national sustainable development plans;

vi) strengthening regional input to the WSIS Forum, WSIS Prizes and WSIS Stocktaking;

4 to continue to raise public awareness of the Union's mandate, role and activities and provide broader access to the Union's resources for the general public and other actors involved in the emerging information society;

5 to prepare and submit a progress report on the ITU activities for WSIS/SDG implementation to the next plenipotentiary conference in 2026,

instructs the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to ensure that concrete objectives and deadlines (using results-based management processes) for WSIS and SDG activities are developed and reflected in the operational plans of each Sector;

2 in close inter-Sectoral collaboration, to take into account the impact of ITU's work in telecommunications/ICTs related to digital transformation on the growth of the digital economy, in line with the WSIS framework, and provide assistance to the membership upon request;

3 to provide CWG-WSIS&SDG with a comprehensive summary of their Sector's activities on implementation of the WSIS outcomes and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including emerging trends;

4 in implementing the WSIS outcomes and achieving SDGs, within the mandate of their Sector, to pay special attention to the needs of developing countries;

5 to submit contributions to the relevant annual reports of the ITU Secretary-General on these activities,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

to follow, as soon as possible and in accordance with Resolution 30 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), a partnership approach in ITU-D activities related to its roles in the implementation of and follow-up to the WSIS outcomes and achieving the SDGs, with particular attention to the needs of developing countries, in accordance with the provisions of the ITU Constitution and ITU Convention, and to report annually, as appropriate, to the Council,

requests the ITU Council

1 to oversee, consider and discuss, as appropriate, ITU's work on implementation of the WSIS outcomes and achievement of the SDGs and related ITU activities, and, within the financial limits set by the Plenipotentiary Conference, to make resources available as appropriate;

2 to oversee ITU's adaptation to the information society, in line with resolves 7 above;

3 to maintain CWG-WSIS&SDG, in order to facilitate membership input and guidance on ITU's implementation of relevant WSIS outcomes and its activities to help achieve the SDGs;

4 to take into account the UNGA decisions relevant to the WSIS process, including the WSIS+20 overall review, and achieving the SDGs;

5 to provide to the UNGA WSIS+20 overall review a final report on ITU's role in implementation of the WSIS outcomes, in accordance with the review process established by UNGA;

6 to continue to report annually on relevant ITU activities to HLPF through the mechanisms established by UNGA Resolution 70/1;

7 to include the report of the Secretary-General in the documents sent to Member States in accordance with No. 81 of the Convention;

8 to consider the outcomes of the UNGA overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes and take appropriate actions;

9 to examine, with the involvement of the other facilitators/moderators and stakeholders, possible approaches to financing and maintaining a WSIS Forum website, available, wholly or in part, in at least the six official languages of the United Nations (ensuring equal functionality), to invite the secretariat to report to the Council annually on the progress made in this examination and to present a final report to the next plenipotentiary conference;

10 to review and improve, through CWG-WSIS&SDG:

i) the ITU activities related to implementation of the WSIS outcomes and achievement of the SDGs;

ii) the WSIS Prizes rules and guidelines to facilitate the participation of all stakeholders, using the six official languages of the Union, make them more effective and simpler and serve the interest of all stakeholders;

iii) promotion of the winners of WSIS Prizes throughout the United Nations activities related to WSIS and the SDGs,

invites Member States, Sector Members, Associates and Academia

1 to participate actively in implementing the WSIS outcomes and achieving the SDGs, contribute to the WSIS Forum and WSIS Stocktaking database maintained by ITU and WSIS Prizes, and participate actively in the activities of CWG-WSIS&SDG and in ITU's further adaptation in order to build an inclusive information society and achieve the SDGs;

2 to participate actively in ITU WSIS implementation activities to support achieving the SDGs, including those related to digital transformation, which fosters sustainable growth of the digital economy;

3 to support, through relevant United Nations processes, the synergies and institutional linkages between WSIS and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, taking into account the WSIS-SDG Matrix, so as to continue strengthening the impact of ICTs for sustainable development and their contribution towards development of the digital economy;

4 to make voluntary contributions to the special trust fund set up by ITU to support activities relating to the implementation of WSIS outcomes;

5 to continue to contribute information on their activities to the public WSIS Stocktaking database maintained by ITU;

6 to contribute to and closely collaborate with the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development as an international, multistakeholder initiative to improve the availability and quality of ICT data and indicators, particularly in developing countries;

7 to submit contributions and actively participate in ITU's preparations for the review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes;

8 to participate in and support the UNGA WSIS+20 overall review in 2025,

expresses

its warmest thanks and deepest gratitude to the Governments of Switzerland and Tunisia for having hosted the two phases of the Summit in close collaboration with ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD and other relevant United Nations agencies.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] Buenos Aires Declaration, 2017.

[3] See requests the ITU Council 3 below.

RESOLUTION 146 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Periodic review of the International Telecommunication Regulations

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Article 25 of the ITU Constitution, on world conferences on international telecommunications (WCIT);

b) No. 48 in Article 3 of the ITU Convention, on other conferences and assemblies;

c) that recognizing e) of Resolution 4 (Dubai, 2012) of WCIT, on periodic review of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) states that "the ITRs consist of high-level guiding principles that should not require frequent amendment, but in the fast-moving sector of telecommunications/ICTs may need to be periodically reviewed";

d) the final report of the Expert Group on the ITRs (EG-ITR),

resolves

to continue consideration of issues relating to the ITRs, including their review,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to reconvene an EG-ITR, open to the ITU Member States and Sector Members, with terms of reference and working methods established by the ITU Council;

2 to submit the report of EG-ITR on the outcome of the review to the Council for consideration, publication and subsequent submission to the 2026 plenipotentiary conference,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to review and revise, at its 2023 session, the terms of reference for EG-ITR referred to in instructs the Secretary-General 1 above;

2 to examine the reports of EG-ITR at its annual sessions and submit the final report of EG-ITR to the 2026 plenipotentiary conference with the Council's comments,

instructs the Directors of the Bureaux

1 each within their field of competence, with advice from the relevant advisory group, to contribute to the activities of EG-ITR, recognizing that the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector has most of the work relevant to the ITRs;

2 to submit the results of their work to EG-ITR;

3 to consider providing fellowships, where resources are available, for developing[1] and least developed countries according to the list established by the United Nations, in order to widen their participation in the expert group,

invites Member States and Sector Members

to participate in and contribute to the activities of EG-ITR,

invites the 2026 plenipotentiary conference

to consider the EG-ITR report and take necessary action, as appropriate.

RESOLUTION 148 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Tasks and functions of the Deputy Secretary-General

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) that Resolution 108 (Marrakesh, 2002) of the Plenipotentiary Conference called upon the ITU Council to establish a working group open to participation by Member States, charged with:

i) examining the functioning of the Coordination Committee, including the tasks of the Deputy Secretary-General and the role of the other elected officials;

ii) submitting to the Council a report containing, in particular, the draft texts that could be necessary in the event of amendment of the ITU Constitution or ITU Convention and which could be used by Member States in preparing their proposals in that regard to the next plenipotentiary conference;

b) that the tasks and functions of the Deputy Secretary-General are not expressly enumerated in the basic instruments of the Union,

noting

that the Council, at its 2003 session, established a working group to consider this matter,

further noting

a) that the Secretary-General is responsible for the overall management of the resources of the Union;

b) that the Secretary-General should partially delegate the management functions of the Union to the Deputy Secretary-General,

having examined

the report of the Council Working Group on Resolution 108, which was submitted to the Council at its ordinary session in 2005,

recognizing

the need to make optimal use of the position of the Deputy Secretary-General in the management of the Union,

resolves

that, in the interests of greater transparency and efficiency in the management of the Union, the tasks of the Deputy Secretary-General, consistent with the basic instruments, should be set out in order to create clear operational and management responsibilities,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to prepare specific directives on the tasks delegated to the Deputy Secretary-General, in accordance with Article 11 of the Constitution and Article 5 of the Convention, and submit them to the next ordinary session of the Council for its consideration, as appropriate;

2 to issue clear and specific directives on the tasks delegated to the Deputy Secretary-General, and make them available to the membership of the Union, as well as to the staff of ITU,

further instructs the Secretary-General

to communicate any changes to the directives on the tasks delegated to the Deputy Secretary-General in accordance with instructs the Secretary-General above.

RESOLUTION 150 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Approval of the accounts of the Union for the years 2018-2021

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) No. 53 of the ITU Constitution;

b) the report of the ITU Council to this conference in Document PP-22/54, relating to the financial management of the Union during the years 2018-2021, and the report of the Administration and Management Committee of this conference (Document PP-22/157),

resolves

to give its final approval of the accounts of the Union for the years 2018-2021.

RESOLUTION 151 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Improvement of results-based management in ITU

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) Decision 5 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which indicates the resource limitations for the period 2024-2027 and specifies goals and objectives in regard to improving the efficiency of ITU activities;

b) Resolution 48 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which resolves that human resources management and development in ITU should continue to be compatible with the mission, values, goals and activities of the Union and the United Nations common system;

c) Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which sets out strategic goals and objectives for the Union in a results-based management (RBM) framework;

d) Resolution 191 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, which instructs the Secretary-General to continue enhancing a coordination and cooperation strategy for effective and efficient efforts in areas of mutual interest to the three ITU Sectors and the General Secretariat, in order to avoid duplication of effort and optimize the use of resources of the Union;

e) resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and reports of the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) setting out the paradigm for and approach to management reform within the United Nations, in particular UNGA Resolution 72/266 B, on shifting the management paradigm in the United Nations, and the United Nations Secretary-General's report (Document A/72/492), on shifting the management paradigm in the United Nations: ensuring a better future for all, which sets the objective of decentralizing by bringing decision-making closer to the point of delivery; trusting and empowering managers; ensuring accountability and transparency; reducing duplicative structures and overlapping mandates; increasing support for the field; and reforming the planning and budget processes,

noting

a) that ITU must, using accumulated experience, identify and apply the most efficient organizational management methods in the new and constantly changing conditions in the field of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) and in society;

b) that the concept of RBM includes the development of indicators to monitor and assess progress and achievement of expected results of activities as well as to increase transparency and accountability of the Union as a whole,

recognizing

a) that continued implementation of results-based budgeting (RBB) and RBM at ITU, in connection with the increasing complexity of the content and links between processes carried out within the Union, entails further culture change with the aim of evaluating results achieved, and not only monitoring the performance of functions, and staff involvement at all levels to apply the concepts and terminology of RBM to planning, management and reporting;

b) that RBM requires a strategy linked to changing the way United Nations system agencies operate, with improving performance (achieving specific results) as the central orientation;

c) that improvements in the RBM system require a constant process of planning, programming, RBB, contract management, monitoring and evaluation; delegation of authority and accountability; and using staff performance indicators;

d) that linkage of the strategic, financial and operational plans of the Union is an integral part of RBM and that effective monitoring mechanisms are needed to ensure that the ITU Council can monitor progress in this area,

recognizing further

the need to implement JIU recommendations endorsed by the Council, as contained in JIU Reports 2016/1: Review of management and administration in ITU and 2019/4: Review of change management in United Nations system organizations, and other relevant JIU documents, taking into account the value of RBM in the United Nations system,

emphasizing

a) that the purpose of RBM and RBB is to increase the effectiveness of activities, both of individual staff members and of the Union as a whole; and to carry out more effective monitoring of decision-making and use of resources;

b) that RBM and RBB help to ensure that high-priority ITU activities are adequately resourced in order to efficiently achieve planned results,

resolves to instruct the Secretary-General and the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to continue to improve processes and methodologies associated with the full implementation of RBM and RBB at the levels of processing and implementation, including improvements in the presentation of the biennial budgets on an ongoing basis;

2 to continue to develop a comprehensive ITU results framework to support implementation of the strategic, financial and operational plans and budget and increase the capability of the Union's membership to assess progress in the achievement of ITU goals, and for this purpose to:

i) set out the activities of the Union, the objectives of those activities and the associated resources and results;

ii) monitor implementation of the interlinked plans using a comprehensive performance-monitoring framework to enable ITU to evaluate progress;

iii) continually improve the efficiency of all activities by eliminating duplication, taking into account complementarity between the activities of ITU and those of other relevant international and regional telecommunication/ICT organizations in accordance with the mandate of ITU;

iv) ensure transparency of reporting by publishing detailed information, including all costs incurred in the use or deployment of financial and human resources (external or internal);

v) further develop the risk-management system at the ITU level, in the context of RBM, including continuing to work on mitigation measures to ensure that contributions from the ITU membership and other financial resources are used to best advantage;

vi) monitor the status of the components of the new ITU Accountability Framework, endorsed by the Council at its 2022 session, and evaluate their efficiency and efficacy with a view to further improving the framework; and identify improved accountability methods and incorporate them into the framework if they are approved by the Council;

3 to prepare their coordinated and consolidated operational plans reflecting their linkages with the strategic and financial plans of the Union as set out, respectively, in Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) and Decision 5 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022), for annual review by the Council Working Group on financial and human resources and the Sector advisory groups and for approval by the Council;

4 to provide to conferences and assemblies the necessary information from all new financial and planning mechanisms available so as to enable them to estimate the financial implications of decisions taken at conferences and assemblies, and to assist Member States in preparing cost estimates for any proposals to all conferences and assemblies of the Union, taking into account the provisions of Article 34 of the ITU Convention;

5 to make steady progress in increasing the capacity, skill level and participation of ITU staff in RBM in accordance with Resolution 48 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022), and reflect the relevant results in the report on staff issues;

6 to make appropriate proposals relating to RBM and RBB for consideration by the Council, with a view to introducing changes in the ITU Financial Regulations and Financial Rules, taking into account the views of Member States and the recommendations of the Sector advisory groups, as well as of the internal and external auditors and the Independent Management Advisory Committee;

7 to ensure, as part of the Coordination Committee's standing activities, coherence and avoidance of duplication among the operational plans and biennial budgets, for review by the Council, while identifying particular measures and elements to be included;

8 to monitor on a yearly basis implementation of resolutions of the Plenipotentiary Conference following the 2022 plenipotentiary conference and to prepare an annual report to the Council, within the framework of the annual report on implementation of the strategic plan and activities of the Union (ITU Annual Progress Report),

instructs the Secretary-General

to report annually to the Council on the implementation of this resolution,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to continue to take appropriate action to ensure further development and appropriate implementation of RBM and RBB at ITU;

2 to examine and, if necessary, approve the improved accountability methods identified pursuant to resolves to instruct the Secretary-General and the Directors of the three Bureaux 2 vi) above for incorporation into the new ITU Accountability Framework, endorsed by the Council at its 2022 session, with a view to further improving the framework;

3 to monitor the implementation of this resolution at each subsequent session of the Council and to report to the next plenipotentiary conference,

encourages Member States

to liaise with the secretariat at an early stage in developing proposals that have financial implications so that the work plan and associated resource requirements can be identified and, to the greatest extent practicable, included in such proposals.

RESOLUTION 154 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Use of the six official languages of the Union on an equal footing

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

referring to

a) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 76/268, on multilingualism;

b) Article 29 of the ITU Constitution and Article 35 of the ITU Convention, on the official languages of the Union;

c) Resolution 66 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on documents and publications of the Union;

d) Resolution 165 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on deadlines for the submission of proposals and procedures for the registration of participants for conferences and assemblies of the Union;

e) Resolution 168 (Guadalajara, 2010) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on translation of ITU recommendations;

f) Decision 5 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on revenue and expenses for the Union;

g) ITU Council Resolution 1372 (2015, last amended 2019), on the Council Working Group on languages (CWG-LANG);

h) Council Resolution 1386 (2017), on the ITU Coordination Committee for Terminology (ITU CCT);

i) relevant resolutions of the ITU Sectors on languages;

j) Decision 11 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference,

reaffirming

a) that UNGA, in Resolution 76/268, recognized that multilingualism, as a core value of the Organization, contributes to the achievement of the goals of the United Nations, as set out in Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations;

b) the fundamental principle of equal treatment of the six official languages, as enshrined in Resolution 115 (Marrakesh, 2002) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on use of the six official and working languages of the Union on an equal footing,

noting with satisfaction and appreciation

a) the progress made in regard to alignment of working methods and optimization of staffing levels in all the official languages, linguistic unification of databases for terminology and definitions, and centralizing editing functions;

b) ITU's active participation in the International Annual Meeting on Language Arrangements, Documentation and Publications (IAMLADP);

c) the development of the ITU database for telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) terminology and definitions in all the official languages of the Union;

d) the work accomplished by ITU CCT on the agreement and adoption of terms and definitions in the field of telecommunications/ICTs in all six official languages of the Union,

recognizing

a) that multilingualism is also important for ITU;

b) that translation and interpretation are essential elements of the work of the Union that enable a common understanding among the entire ITU membership on the important issues under discussion;

c) the importance of maintaining and improving the multilingual content of services required by the universal character of United Nations system organizations, as called for in United Nations Joint Inspection Unit Report 2020/6: Multilingualism in the United Nations system;

d) the work accomplished by CWG-LANG, as well as the work by the secretariat to implement the working group's recommendations as agreed by the Council, in particular with regard to the unification of linguistic databases for terminology and definitions, the centralization of editing functions, and the integration of the terminology database for all six official languages of the Union, as well as harmonizing and unifying working procedures in the six language services;

e) that websites in the six official languages of ITU are important tools for the membership, the media, educational institutions and the general public,

recognizing further

a) the budget constraints facing the Union, and the importance of ensuring that ITU's work on the use of the languages of the Union on an equal footing is considered in conjunction with the budget so as to achieve an efficient allocation of expenses;

b) that expenses on interpretation, translation and text processing in respect of all the official languages of the Union for the years 2024-2027 shall not exceed the figure specified in the appropriate part of Decision 5 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022);

c) that the Council, in Resolution 1386, resolved that ITU CCT should include the Coordination Committee for Vocabulary in the ITU Radiocommunication Sector and the Standardization Committee for Vocabulary in the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector, functioning in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Radiocommunication Assembly and the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, and representatives of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector, in close collaboration with the ITU secretariat,

resolves

1 to continue to take all necessary measures to ensure use of the six official languages of the Union on an equal footing and to provide interpretation and the translation of ITU documentation, although some work in ITU (for example working parties, regional conferences) might not require the use of all official languages;

2 that ITU CCT, which is composed of experts who are proficient in various official languages and who are designated by the interested membership, the study groups of the Sectors and the ITU secretariat, shall be responsible for coordinating ITU terminology work and for developing and supporting the vocabulary of telecommunications and ICTs;

3 that ITU CCT, in close collaboration with the language sections of the General Secretariat, shall examine proposals submitted by the study groups and working groups of the Council in English, and approve translations in the other official languages, if necessary;

4 that when selecting terms and preparing definitions, study groups, and after them ITU CCT, shall take into account the established use of terms and existing definitions in ITU, in particular those already included in the online database of terms and definitions of ITU; in cases where several terms are proposed with similar definitions or concepts, a single term and definition should be selected that will be acceptable for all study groups concerned,

instructs the Secretary-General, in close collaboration with the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to present annually to the Council and to CWG-LANG a report containing:

i) evolution of the budget for translation of documents to the six official languages of the Union since the most recent plenipotentiary conference, taking into consideration variations in the volumes of translation services provided in each year;

ii) procedures adopted by other international organizations inside and outside the United Nations system and benchmark studies on their costs of translation;

iii) initiatives undertaken by the General Secretariat and the three Bureaux to increase efficiencies and cost savings in the implementation of this resolution and comparison with the evolution of the budget since the most recent plenipotentiary conference;

iv) alternative translation procedures feasible to be adopted by ITU, in particular the use of innovative technologies, and their advantages and disadvantages;

v) progress made on the implementation of measures and principles for translation and interpretation adopted by the Council;

2 to publish all contributions submitted to the ITU secretariat for any ITU event in their original language on the respective event website as soon as possible, but in any case not later than three working days after they were received, and even before their translation into the other official languages of the Union;

3 to intensify work on harmonization of the websites of the ITU Sectors and the General Secretariat in all the official languages of the Union to ensure clarity and ease of navigation and to achieve the image of "One ITU";

4 to support the incorporation of multilingualism in communications and knowledge exchange, paying particular attention to multilingual content on official websites and social media accounts around the world;

5 to provide timely updates of the pages of the ITU website in all six languages of the Union;

6 to provide all necessary information and support to ITU CCT;

7 to collect all new terms and definitions proposed by ITU study groups in consultation with ITU CCT, enter them in ITU's online database for such terms and definitions, and improve the search facilities of the database based upon time ranges;

8 to monitor the quality of interpretation and translation and the associated expenditures;

9 to continue to translate ITU policy documents and other documents providing guidance on intellectual property rights in ITU;

10 to continue to explore all possible options for the provision of interpretation and translation of existing ITU documentation to promote the use of the six official languages of the Union on an equal footing during official meetings of ITU;

11 to continue to collaborate with interested Member States and, to the extent practicable, to refine the translation of terminology and definitions in all six official languages,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to continue to analyse the adoption by ITU of alternative translation procedures, taking into account their financial implications and leveraging the benefits of innovative technologies in order to reduce translation and typing expenses in the budget of the Union, while maintaining or improving the current quality of translation and the correct use of technical telecommunication terminology;

2 to continue to analyse, including through the use of appropriate indicators, application of the updated measures and principles for interpretation and translation adopted by the Council at its 2014 session, taking into consideration the financial constraints, and bearing in mind the ultimate objective of full implementation of treatment of the six official languages on an equal footing;

3 to monitor implementation of the Policy Framework on Multilingualism in ITU;

4 to pursue and monitor appropriate operational measures, such as:

i) to continue review of ITU documentation and publication services with a view to eliminating any duplication and to creating synergies;

ii) to facilitate the timely and simultaneous delivery of high-quality and efficient language services (interpretation, documentation, publications and public-information materials) in the six languages, in support of the Union's strategic goals;

iii) to support optimum levels of staffing, including core staff, temporary assistance and outsourcing, while ensuring the required high quality of interpretation and translation;

iv) to continue implementation of judicious and efficient use of ICTs in language and publications activities, taking into consideration experience gained by other international organizations and best practices;

v) to continue to explore and implement all possible measures to reduce the size and volume of documents (page-limits, executive summaries, material in annexes or hyperlinks), and achieve greener meetings, when justified, without affecting the quality and content of the documents to be translated or to be published, and bearing clearly in mind the need to comply with the United Nations system objective of multilingualism;

vi) as a matter of priority, to take, to the extent practicable, all necessary measures for equitable use of all official languages on the ITU website in terms of multilingual content and user-friendliness;

5 to monitor the work carried out by the ITU secretariat in regard to:

i) merging all existing databases for terminology and definitions into a centralized system, with proper measures for its maintenance, expansion and updating;

ii) completion and maintenance of the ITU database for telecommunication/ICT terminology and definitions for all languages;

iii) providing all language service units with the necessary qualified staff and tools to meet their requirements in each language;

iv) enhancing ITU's image and the effectiveness of its public-information work, making use of all official languages of the Union, in, among other things, publishing ITU News, creating ITU websites, organizing Internet broadcasting and archiving of recordings, and issuing documents of a public-information nature, including announcements of ITU Telecom events, e-flashes and such like;

6 to maintain CWG-LANG, in order to monitor progress and report to the Council, including making recommendations, as appropriate, on the implementation of this resolution, working in close collaboration with ITU CCT and the Council Working Group on financial and human resources;

7 to review, in collaboration with the Sector advisory groups, the types of material to be included in output documents and translated;

8 to continue to consider measures to reduce, without sacrificing quality, the cost and volume of documentation as a standing item, in particular for conferences and assemblies;

9 to report to the next plenipotentiary conference on the implementation of this resolution,

instructs the Sector advisory groups

to review annually the use of all official languages of the Union on an equal footing in ITU publications and on ITU websites,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to ensure that the different language versions of documents and publications are utilized, downloaded and purchased by the corresponding language communities, for the sake of maximizing their benefit and cost-effectiveness;

2 to submit their contributions and inputs sufficiently early before the beginning of conferences, assemblies and meetings of the Union, respecting deadlines for the submission of contributions that require translation, and to contain their size and volume to the greatest extent;

3 to continue to cooperate in the refinement of the official language translation of terminology and definitions at the request of ITU CCT.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 157 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Strengthening of the project execution and project monitoring functions in ITU

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) No. 118 of the ITU Constitution outlining the Union's dual responsibility as a United Nations specialized agency and executing agency for implementing projects under the United Nations development system or other funding arrangements so as to facilitate and enhance telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) development by offering, organizing and coordinating technical cooperation and assistance activities;

b) Resolution 135 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on participation of the Union in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in other programmes of the United Nations system and in other funding arrangements, which invited the ITU Council to take all necessary steps to ensure maximum efficiency of the Union's participation in UNDP and other funding arrangements;

c) Resolution 52 (Rev. Dubai, 2014) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on strengthening the executing agency role of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D), which emphasized the importance of establishing partnerships between the public and private sectors as an efficient means of implementing sustainable ITU projects, and of utilizing locally available expertise in executing ITU projects on a regional or country-wide basis;

d) Resolution 17 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on implementation of and cooperation on approved regional initiatives at the national, regional, interregional and global levels;

e) Annex 2 to Decision 5 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on measures for improving ITU's efficiency and reducing its expenses, which highlights the importance of coordination with regional organizations with a view to sharing the available resources and minimizing the costs of participation,

recognizing

a) that, in order to fulfil its role as executing agency for development projects, ITU requires the funding needed for their implementation;

b) that there continues to be a lack of funding from UNDP and other international financial institutions for project implementation;

c) that greater interaction with Member States, Sector Members, financial institutions and regional and international organizations needs to be promoted in order to find other ways to fund the implementation of these projects;

d) the importance of promoting public-private partnerships, among others, to ensure affordable, equitable and universal access to telecommunications/ICTs,

noting

a) that the sustainability of the role of ITU-D in the implementation of technical cooperation projects with developing countries[1] and the establishment of business/client relationships is dependent on the creation and maintenance of a level of expertise within the secretariat to permit the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) to manage projects effectively and in a timely and efficient manner; to this effect, the enhancement of training capabilities in the Union, as foreseen in Resolution 48 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, should contribute toward the sustainability of the requisite expertise to enhance the project-execution function;

b) that the strengthening of project-execution and management expertise in BDT will also require the improvement of skills in the area of resource mobilization and financing;

c) the Union's implementation of results-based budgeting and results-based management to ensure that activities being carried out have adequate resources available to achieve planned results;

d) that the effectiveness of the ITU's project-execution role would be enhanced through closer collaboration and coordination with expert organizations at the regional and international levels;

e) that regional/national data collection feeds into ITU's monitoring and evaluation function and, through a feedback mechanism, can help strengthen data quality analysis and use,

resolves to instruct the Secretary-General, in close collaboration with the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to implement a strategy aimed at strengthening the project-execution function, taking into account the experience of and lessons learned by ITU-D, identifying suitable methods of implementation, possible means of funding and strategic partners for the implementation of regional initiatives;

2 to continue reviewing best practices within the United Nations system and within organizations external to the United Nations in the area of technical cooperation, with a view to promoting such practices when offering, organizing and coordinating technical cooperation and assistance activities, consistent with No. 118 of the Constitution;

3 to ensure that priorities and ways of financing are agreed, prior to the implementation and execution of initiatives, fostering a participatory and inclusive process with Member States and regional organizations;

4 to ensure that the requisite expertise in the areas of project management and execution as well as resource mobilization and financing is identified;

5 to encourage projects from all sources, taking into account achievement of the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027, as adopted in Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, fostering the participation of the public, regional organizations, the private sector and academia;

6 to focus on the implementation of larger-scale projects, while carefully considering delivery of smaller-scale projects;

7 to ensure, where applicable, that a minimum support cost of 7 per cent, associated with the execution of projects under UNDP or other funding arrangements, is set as the target to be recovered, while allowing some degree of flexibility for negotiation during the funding discussion for projects initiated by ITU, taking into account § 14 of Annex 2 to the ITU Financial Regulations and Financial Rules;

8 to continue to examine the percentage of support-cost resources in respect of such projects, with the aim of increasing them in order to exploit them to improve the implementation function;

9 to recruit qualified staff internally and/or externally, if necessary, within the financial limits set by plenipotentiary conferences, or under support-cost resources in respect of such projects, in order to strengthen, and ensure continuity as well as sustainability in, the execution of the Union's responsibility for organizing and coordinating technical cooperation and assistance activities;

10 to promote close collaboration with the Directors of the Radiocommunication and Telecommunication Standardization Bureaux for the implementation of regional initiatives;

11 to prepare a detailed annual report to the Council on progress achieved in fulfilling the functions specified in No. 118 of the Constitution and in implementing this resolution, including recommendations on how to improve programme/project execution in ITU;

12 to inform the Council on a regular basis about ongoing ITU programmes and projects, including details on objectives, outputs, funding and donors;

13 to enhance the existing ITU-D projects online database to include all ITU Sectors and the General Secretariat, so as to enable improved monitoring throughout project cycles, especially in regard to objectives achieved and cost analysis, and to grant open access to the database for all stakeholders;

14 to examine how information on programmes could also be shared with the membership in order to increase the transparency and financial sustainability of the Union;

15 to clearly indicate ITU programme/project costs in all relevant budget-related reports;

16 to implement ITU project guidelines to ensure project assets are recorded and monitored properly,

further resolves

to strengthen the project-execution function, consistent with No. 118 of the Constitution, when providing technical cooperation and assistance and when executing projects by:

i) collaborating and partnering with relevant expert organizations at the regional and international levels, particularly in those areas where ITU would benefit from specialized expertise;

ii) utilizing local and regional experts, regardless of age, when offering and coordinating technical cooperation and assistance activities in order to maximize resources and ensure continuity beyond the duration of the project;

iii) making available to the ITU membership any relevant materials from a technical cooperation or assistance activity so that they may be utilized for future efforts,

instructs the ITU Council

to foster a participatory and inclusive process with the Member States and regional organizations in order to ensure that priorities and possible forms of funding are agreed upon prior to implementation and execution of initiatives.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 162 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Independent management advisory committee

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

United Nations Joint Inspection Unit Report 2006/2: Oversight lacunae in the United Nations system, in particular recommendation 1 thereof on the establishment of an independent external oversight board,

reaffirming

its commitment to efficient, accountable and transparent management of the Union,

recognizing

a) that the establishment of an independent management advisory committee contributes to effective oversight and governance of an organization;

b) that an independent management advisory committee is a governance tool and does not duplicate the financial audit functions of either the internal or the external auditor;

c) that the established practice among international institutions is that an independent management advisory committee serves in an expert advisory capacity and assists the governing body and the management of the agency in fulfilling their oversight and governance responsibilities;

d) the valuable contribution of the Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC) in assisting the ITU Council and the Secretary-General in fulfilling their governance responsibilities, including ensuring the effectiveness of ITU's internal control systems, risk management and governance processes,

considering

the recommendation of the representatives of internal audit services of the United Nations organizations and multilateral financial institutions on the establishment of effective and independent audit committees,

noting

IMAC's annual reports to the Council, including its recommendations,

resolves

to establish IMAC on an ongoing basis according to the terms of reference contained in the annex to this resolution, and review and amend, if necessary, its terms of reference,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to consider IMAC's annual reports and its recommendations and take appropriate action;

2 to review the status of implementation of the IMAC recommendations;

3 to appoint the six independent experts as members of IMAC according to its terms of reference, taking into account equitable representation of the six regions,

instructs the Secretary-General

to publish, without delay, and provide public access to, the IMAC reports as presented to the Council, on a publicly accessible website,

instructs the Secretary-General, in collaboration with the Directors of the Bureaux

to engage with the auditors to perform satisfactory audit procedures in line with their terms of reference, including on the adequacy of the implementation of internal controls that have already been put in place,

invites the ITU Council

to report to the 2026 plenipotentiary conference on IMAC's activities and on the implementation of this resolution.

ANNEX TO RESOLUTION 162 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Terms of reference for the ITU Independent Management
Advisory Committee

Purpose

1 The Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC), as a subsidiary body of the ITU Council, serves in an expert advisory capacity and assists the Council and the Secretary-General in effectively fulfilling their governance responsibilities, including ensuring the functioning of ITU's internal control systems, risk management and governance processes, including human resources management. IMAC must assist in enhancing transparency, strengthening accountability and the governance functions of the Council and the Secretary-General.

2 IMAC will provide advice to the Council and ITU management, on:

a) ways of improving the quality and the level of financial reporting, governance, risk management, including long-term liabilities, monitoring and internal controls in ITU;

b) the actions taken by ITU management on audit recommendations;

c) ensuring the independence, effectiveness and objectivity of the internal and external audit functions; and

d) how to strengthen communication among all stakeholders, the external and internal auditors, the Council and ITU management.

Responsibilities

3 The responsibilities of IMAC are:

a) Internal audit function: To advise the Council on the staffing, resources and performance of the internal audit function and the appropriateness of the independence of the internal audit function in reviewing the scope of internal audit plans and work programmes, and to strengthen the effectiveness and independence of internal audit, ensuring that the resources available to the function are commensurate with its responsibilities.

b) Risk management and internal controls: To advise the Council on the effectiveness of ITU's internal control systems, including ITU's risk-management and governance practices; advise the Council on risk-management and internal-control considerations; advise on internal controls and enterprise risk management; advise on deficiencies, irregularities and risk exposure owing to weaknesses in the internal control system; and advise on information technology (IT) and IT security best practices.

c) Financial statements: To advise the Council on issues arising from the audited financial statements of ITU, letters to management and other reports produced by the external auditor and review of changes to the ITU Financial Regulations and Financial Rules.

d) Accounting: To advise the Council on the appropriateness of accounting policies and disclosure practices and assess changes and risks in those policies.

e) External audit: To advise the Council on the scope and approach of the external auditor's work by highlighting emerging risks from the external auditor's reports, reviewing the adequacy of the management response to the observations and recommendations issued and assisting in avoiding any overlaps between internal and external audit. IMAC may provide advice on the appointment of the external auditor, including the costs and scope of the services to be provided.

f) Evaluation: To review and advise the Council on the staffing, resources and performance of ITU's evaluation function.

g) Ethics: To review and advise on the ethics function and ITU's code of ethics, policy against fraud, corruption and other proscribed practices; and whistleblowing arrangements.

h) Investigation: To review the independence and mandate of the internal investigation function; review its budget and staffing requirements; review its overall performance, investigation policies and guidelines; and issue related recommendations.

i) Fraud prevention: To review and advise the Council on the systems established and measures taken by ITU to prevent fraud.

j) Coordination of oversight activities: To strengthen communication and cooperation among stakeholders, external and internal auditors, management and the Council.

Authority

4 IMAC shall have all the necessary authority to fulfil its responsibilities, including free and unrestricted access to any information, records or staff (including the internal audit function) and the external auditor, or any business contracted by ITU.

5 The Head of the ITU internal audit function and the external auditor will have unrestricted and confidential access to IMAC, and vice versa.

6 These terms of reference (ToR) are to be reviewed periodically, as appropriate, by IMAC, and any proposed amendment submitted to the Council for approval.

7 IMAC, as an advisory body, has no management powers, executive authority or operational responsibilities.

Composition

8 IMAC shall comprise six independent expert members serving in their personal capacity.

9 Professional competence, integrity and ethics shall be of paramount consideration in the selection of members.

10 No more than one member of IMAC shall be a national of the same ITU Member State.

11 To the greatest extent possible:

a) no more than one member of IMAC shall be from the same geographical region; and

b) membership of IMAC shall be balanced, with individuals from developed and developing countries[1], in terms of public- and private-sector experience, and in terms of gender.

12 At least one member shall be selected on the basis of his/her qualifications and experience as a senior oversight professional or senior financial manager, preferably in the United Nations system or in another international organization, to the greatest extent possible.

13 To undertake their role effectively, members of IMAC should collectively possess knowledge, skills and senior-level experience in the following areas:

a) finance, audit and compliance;

b) organization governance and accountability structure, including risk management;

c) law;

d) senior-level management;

e) the organization, structure and functioning of the United Nations and/or other intergovernmental organizations;

f) a general understanding of the telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) industry; and

g) IT and IT security best practices and data-protection auditing expertise.

14 Members should ideally have or acquire rapidly a good understanding of ITU's objectives, governance structure, the relevant regulations and rules, and its organizational culture and control environment.

Independence

15 Since the role of IMAC is to provide objective advice, members shall remain independent of the ITU secretariat, the Council and the Plenipotentiary Conference, and shall be free of any real or perceived conflict of interest.

16 Members of IMAC shall:

a) not hold a position or engage in any activity that could impair their independence from ITU or from companies that maintain a business relationship with ITU;

b) not currently be, or have been within the five years prior to appointment on IMAC, employed or engaged in any capacity by ITU, a Sector Member, an Associate or a Member State delegation, or have an immediate family member (as defined by the ITU Staff Regulations and Staff Rules) working for or having a contractual relationship with ITU, a Sector Member, an Associate or a Member State delegation;

c) be independent of the United Nations Panel of External Auditors and the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit; and

d) not be eligible for any employment with ITU for at least five years immediately following the last day of their tenure on IMAC.

17 IMAC members shall serve in their personal capacity and shall not seek or accept instructions in regard to their performance on IMAC from any government or other authority internal or external to ITU.

18 Members of IMAC shall sign an annual declaration and statement of private, financial and other interests (Appendix A to these ToR). The Chairman of IMAC shall provide the completed and signed declaration and statement to the Chairman of the Council promptly after a member commences his/her term on IMAC, and thereafter on an annual basis.

Selection, appointment and term

19 The process for selection of members of IMAC is set out in Appendix B to these ToR. The process shall involve a selection panel comprising representatives of the Council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution.

20 The selection panel shall relay its recommendations to the Council. Members of IMAC shall be appointed by the Council.

21 Members of IMAC are appointed to serve for a term of four years, renewable for a second and final term of four years, which need not be consecutive. To ensure continuity of membership, the initial appointment of two of its five members shall be for one term of four years only, decided by the drawing of lots at IMAC's first meeting. The Chairman shall be selected by IMAC members from amongst their number and shall serve in this capacity for a term of two years.

22 A member of IMAC may resign his/her membership by notice in writing to the Chairman of the Council. A special appointment for the remainder of that member's term shall be made by the Chairman of the Council in accordance with the provisions set out in Appendix B to these ToR to cater for such a vacancy.

23 An appointment to IMAC may only be revoked by the Council, under conditions to be established by the Council.

24 New members of IMAC should undertake formal induction training to become familiar with the culture and objectives of ITU, as well as its operational activities.

Meetings

25 IMAC shall meet at least twice in an ITU financial year. The exact number of meetings per year will depend on the agreed workload for IMAC and the most appropriate timing for consideration of specific matters.

26 Subject to these ToR, IMAC will establish its own rules of procedure to assist its members in executing their responsibilities. The IMAC rules of procedure shall be communicated to the Council for its information.

27 The quorum for the committee is three members. As members serve in a personal capacity, alternates are not allowed.

28 The Secretary-General, the External Auditor, the Chief of the Financial Resources Management Department, the Chief of the Human Resources Management Department, the Head of the internal audit function and the Ethics Officer, or their representatives, shall attend meetings when invited by IMAC. Other ITU officials with functions relevant to the items on the agenda may likewise be invited.

29 If necessary, IMAC has the ability to obtain independent counsel or have recourse to other outside experts in order to advise the committee.

30 All confidential documents and information submitted to or obtained by IMAC remain confidential.

Reporting

31 The Chairman of IMAC will submit its findings to the Chairman of the Council and the Secretary-General after each meeting, and will present a comprehensive annual report, both in writing and in person, for consideration by the Council at its annual session.

32 The Chairman of IMAC may inform the Chairman of the Council, in between Council sessions, of a serious governance issue.

33 IMAC will conduct a self-assessment, on a yearly basis, based on best practice, and report on the results to the Council.

Administrative arrangements

34 Members of IMAC will provide services pro bono. In accordance with the procedures applying to appointed staff of ITU, members of IMAC:

a) shall receive a daily subsistence allowance; and

b) those not resident in the Canton of Geneva or neighbouring France shall be entitled to reimbursement of travel expenses, to attend IMAC sessions.

35 The ITU secretariat will provide secretariat support to IMAC.

APPENDIX A

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC)
Declaration & Statement of Private, Financial
and Other Interests Form

1 Details

_________________________________________________________________________
Name

2 Private, financial or other Interests (tick appropriate box)

□ I have no personal, financial or other interests that could or could be seen to influence the decisions or actions I am taking or the advice I am giving in the course of my duties as a member of IMAC.

□ I have personal, financial or other interests that could or could be seen to influence the decisions or actions I am taking or the advice I am giving in the course of my duties as a member of IMAC.

□ I have no personal, financial or other interests that could or could be seen to influence the decisions or actions I am taking or the advice I am giving in the course of my duties as a member of IMAC. However, I have decided to provide my current personal, financial or other interests.

3 Private, financial or other Interests of family members* (tick appropriate box)

□ To my knowledge, no member of my immediate family has personal, financial or other interests that could or could be seen to influence the decisions or actions I am taking or the advice I am giving in the course of my duties as a member of IMAC.

□ A member of my immediate family has personal, financial or other interests that could or could be seen to influence the decisions or actions I am taking or the advice I am giving in the course of my duties as a member of IMAC.

□ To my knowledge, no member of my immediate family has personal, financial or other interests that could or could be seen to influence the decisions or actions I am taking or the advice I am giving in the course of my duties as a member of IMAC. However, I have decided to provide my immediate family's current financial or other interests.

(* Note: for the purposes of this declaration, 'family member' has the same meaning as DEFINED IN the ITU STAFF REGULATIONS and staff Rules).

________________
Signature

________________
Name

________________
Date

Declaration & Statement of Private, Financial
and Other Interests Form
(Appendix A, page 2/4)

4 Disclosure of relevant private, financial or other interests

If you ticked the first box at Item 2 and the first box at Item 3, skip this step and go to Item 5.

Please list your and/or your immediate family member's personal, financial or other interests that could, or could be seen to, influence the decisions or actions you take or the advice you provide in the course of your official duties. Please also state the reasons why you think these interests could or could be seen to influence the decisions or actions you take or the advice you provide in the course of your official duties.

The types of interests you may need to disclose include real-estate investments, shareholdings, trusts or nominee companies, company directorships or partnerships, relationships with lobbyists, other significant sources of income, significant liabilities, gifts, private business, employment, voluntary, social or personal relationships.

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

________________
Signature

________________
Name

________________
Date

Declaration & Statement of Private, Financial
and Other Interests Form
(Appendix A, page 3/4)

5 Declaration

I declare that:

• As a member of the Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC), I am aware of my responsibilities under its Terms of Reference:

– to disclose, and take reasonable steps to avoid, any conflict of interest (real or apparent) in connection with my membership of IMAC; and

– not to make improper use of (a) inside information or (b) my duties, status, power or authority, in order to gain, or seek to gain, a benefit or advantage for myself or for any other person.

I declare that:

• I have read the IMAC Terms of Reference and understood the requirement for me to disclose any private, financial or other interests that could or could be seen to influence the decisions I am taking or the advice I am giving in the course of my duties as a member of IMAC.

• I undertake to immediately inform the Chairman of IMAC (who shall inform the Chairman of the Council) of any changes to my personal circumstances or work responsibilities that could affect the contents of this disclosure and to provide an amended disclosure/s using this pro forma.

• I undertake to disclose any private, financial or other interests of my immediate family that I am aware of, should circumstances arise in which I consider that they could or could be seen to influence the decisions I am taking or the advice I am giving in the course of my official duties.

• I understand that this would require the consent of the family member to the collection by ITU of personal information and a declaration that he/she is aware of the purpose for which the personal information has been collected, the legislative requirements authorizing the collection and the third parties to whom the personal information may be disclosed, and consents.

________________
Signature

________________
Name

________________
Date

Declaration & Statement of Private, Financial
and Other Interests Form
(Appendix A, page 4/4)

6 Declaration of consent by immediate family member to disclosure of their personal, financial and other interests

If you ticked the first box at Item 3, skip this step and go to Step 7.

This declaration is to be completed by the immediate family member/s of the IMAC member where the IMAC member considers that the personal, financial and other interests of the family member/s could or could be seen to influence the decisions or actions he/she is taking or the advice he/she is giving in the course of his/her membership of IMAC.

Family member name ____________________________________________________

Relationship to IMAC member _____________________________________________

IMAC member name ____________________________________________________

________________
Signature

________________
Name

________________
Date

7 Submit this form

Once completed and signed, this form should be sent to the Chairman of the ITU Council.

APPENDIX B

Proposed process for selection of members of the
Independent Management Advisory Committee

When a vacancy on the Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC) occurs, it shall be filled in accordance with the process set out below:

a) The Secretary-General:

i) shall invite ITU Member States to nominate individuals who are deemed to possess exceptional qualifications and experience;

ii) may place in international, reputable magazines and/or newspapers, and on the Internet, a call for expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced individuals,

to serve on IMAC.

A Member State nominating an individual under subparagraph a) i) shall provide the same information that the Secretary-General requests of applicants responding to the expression of interest under subparagraph a)ii), and within the same time-frame.

b) A selection panel shall be formed comprising six ITU Council members representing the Americas, Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Africa, Asia and Australasia and the Arab States.

c) The selection panel shall, taking into account the IMAC terms of reference (ToR) and the confidential nature of the selection process, review and consider the applications received and create a shortlist of candidates whom it may wish to interview. The selection panel will be assisted, as required, by the ITU secretariat.

d) The selection panel shall then propose to the Council a list of the best-qualified candidates, equal to the number of vacancies on IMAC. In the event a vote is taken by the selection panel on whether (a) candidate(s) shall be included in the list of candidates to be proposed to the Council and ends in an equal number of votes, the Chairman of the Council shall have the deciding vote.

The information to be provided by the selection panel to the Council shall consist of each candidate's name, gender, nationality, qualifications and professional experience. The selection panel shall provide a report to the Council on the candidates recommended for appointment to IMAC.

e) The Council shall consider the recommendation to appoint the individuals to IMAC.

f) The selection panel will also create and retain a pool of suitably qualified candidates for consideration by the Council if required in order to fill a vacancy arising for any reason (e.g. resignation, incapacity) during a term of IMAC.

g) In order to observe the principle of rotation, the positions should be re-advertised every four years, if considered appropriate by the Council, using the selection process set out in this appendix. The pool of suitably qualified candidates referred to in subparagraph f) should also be refreshed using the same selection process.

APPENDIX C

Proposed collective professional requirements for members of the Independent Management Advisory Committee

a) Expertise and experience in finance, accounting, risk management and auditing.

b) Knowledge of the mandate, culture and legal framework of ITU and its external environment.

c) Expertise in telecommunication/information and communication technology and information technology security best practices and data-protection auditing expertise.

d) Ethics and compliance expertise.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 167 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Strengthening and developing ITU capabilities for fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation, and the electronic means to advance the work of the Union

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) the enabling environment thematic priority, identified in the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027, seeking a policy and regulatory environment conducive to sustainable telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) development that encourages innovation and investment in infrastructure and ICTs and that increases adoption of telecommunications/ICTs to reduce the digital divide and promote a more inclusive and equal society;

b) the rapid technological change in the field of telecommunications and the associated policy, regulatory and infrastructure adaptations required at the national, regional and global levels;

c) the consequent need for the widest possible engagement of the ITU membership from around the world to address these matters in the work of the Union;

d) that developments in technologies and facilities for the holding of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation and the further development of electronic working methods (EWM) will enable more open, faster and easier collaboration between participants in the activities of ITU;

e) that ITU has been gaining experience in the holding of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation,

recalling

a) Resolution 64 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on non-discriminatory access to telecommunication/ICT facilities, services and applications, including applied research and transfer of technology, and e-meetings, on mutually agreed terms;

b) Resolution 66 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on documents and publications of the Union, regarding the electronic availability of documents;

c) Resolution 123 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on bridging the standardization gap between developed and developing countries[1];

d) Resolution 175 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

e) Resolution 32 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on strengthening EWM for the work of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and the implementation of EWM capabilities and associated arrangements in the work of ITU-T,

recognizing

a) that remote participation has been producing significant benefits for the Union's membership, by reducing travel costs, and has facilitated wider participation, particularly from developing countries;

b) that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to the holding of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation through the use of existing technology platforms, which have shown encouraging results in serving the aims of the Union;

c) that numerous ITU meetings are already available as audio and video webcasts and that use of videoconferencing, audio conference calls, real-time captioning and web-based collaboration tools for remote participation in certain types of meetings have been advanced in meetings of the Sectors and the General Secretariat;

d) the budgetary difficulty that delegates from many countries, and in particular developing countries, have in travelling to participate in face-to-face ITU meetings;

e) that the current status of interactive remote participation allows "remote intervention" rather than "remote participation", insofar as a remote participant cannot take part in decision-making;

f) that the regional offices are an extension of ITU as a whole and, therefore, EWM will serve to build up the effectiveness of the Union's activities, including project implementation;

g) that the expected role of the regional offices is essential in order to fully comply with the basic mandates of the Union and, to this end, it is necessary that these offices be able to rely on affordable means of communication (videoconferencing), such as those that can be accessed over the web, to hold fully virtual meetings or physical meetings with remote participation with the Member States,

recognizing further

a) the annual reports by the Secretary-General to the ITU Council on the implementation of this resolution;

b) the report from the 2022 session of the Council to this conference;

c) the financial, legal, procedural and technical difficulties of providing remote participation to all, particularly with respect to:

– the difference in time zones among regions and in relation to Geneva, and particularly with the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions;

– the costs of infrastructure, broadband, equipment, software applications and staff, especially in developing countries;

– the different rights and legal status of physically present and remote participants;

– the limitation in terms of formal procedures available to remote participants in comparison with physically present participants;

– the telecommunication infrastructure limitations in some countries due to unstable or inadequate connections;

– increased accessibility for people with disabilities and specific needs;

d) the need to clarify the roles, rights and procedures for participation and decision-making in fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation,

noting

a) that the existence of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation, with well-documented rules and procedures, will help ITU in widening the involvement of potential stakeholders, such as both member and non-member experts, particularly from developing countries, who are unable to participate in face-to-face meetings;

b) that EWM have made important contributions to facilitating the work of Sector groups, such as rapporteur groups, and of Council working groups, and that work, such as the development of texts, has been progressed in various parts of the Union through electronic communications;

c) that different modes of participation are suitable for different types of meetings;

d) that the work of the three Sectors is distinct, and that each of the Sectors has its own working methods and procedures;

e) that managing fully virtual meetings from the regional offices can facilitate regional coordination, in order to promote greater participation by Member States in the work of the study groups of the three Sectors;

f) that there needs to be a coordinated and harmonized approach to the technology used,

emphasizing

a) that there is a need for procedures to ensure fair and equitable participation by all;

b) that fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation can contribute to bridging the digital divide;

c) that the implementation of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation is beneficial to ITU's role in leading coordination on ICTs and on accessibility,

resolves

1 that ITU should continue to develop its facilities and capabilities to organize and conduct fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation by electronic means for the meetings of the Union;

2 that ITU should develop high-level guidance for the management and governance of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation;

3 that the Union continue to develop EWM, within budget availability, for the participation of persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, which may include, inter alia, captioning for persons with hearing impairments, audioconferencing for persons with the visual impairments and webconferencing for persons with restricted mobility, as well as solutions and facilities to address other similar challenges;

4 that the Union further study the impact of remote participation on existing rules of procedure, especially regarding decision-making in different types of meetings;

5 that ITU should provide facilities and capabilities for EWM at ITU meetings, workshops and training courses, particularly to assist developing countries that have bandwidth limitations and other constraints;

6 to encourage remote participation of developing countries in meetings, workshops and training by providing simplified facilities and guidelines, and by waiving, within the appropriations that the Council is empowered to authorize, any expenses for those participants, other than the local call or Internet connectivity charges,

instructs the Secretary-General, in consultation and collaboration with the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to implement the adopted high-level guidance for the management and governance of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation considering the legal, technical, security and financial implications;

2 to involve the advisory groups in the further evaluation of the use of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation, including the legal aspects;

3 to report to the Council on an ongoing basis on the developments made with regard to fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation, in order to assess progress in their use within ITU;

4 to report to the Council on the feasibility of extending the use of the official languages of the Union[2] in fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation,

instructs the Secretary-General

to share information about developments and progress made with regard to fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation with the United Nations and other specialized agencies, for their consideration,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to study and develop high-level guidance for the management and governance of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation, taking into account Annex 1 to this resolution;

2 to consider the financial requirements to implement this resolution and allocate the necessary financial resources, within the limits of the resources available and consistent with the financial and strategic plans;

3 to report and provide recommendations to the plenipotentiary conference in 2026.

ANNEX 1 TO RESOLUTION 167 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Issues to be considered for the management and governance of fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation

1 Review current applicable policies and practices for fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation.

2 Establish general high-level guidelines for fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation, including but not limited to:

– Rights of different categories of members participating remotely in terms of decision-making in different types of meetings;

– Interpretation services;

– Technology neutrality, to the greatest extent possible, and cost effectiveness, in order to allow as broad participation as possible, satisfying the necessary security requirements;

– Adequate notice of meetings with a clear statement as to the type of meeting, e.g. physical meeting, fully virtual meeting or physical meeting with remote participation;

– Whether fully virtual and/or remote participants have the opportunity to engage in offline discussions (e.g. ad hoc sessions);

– Practical measures to support equitable opportunities for participation, in particular for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

– Flexibility in the length and timing of meetings bearing in mind the time zones of participants;

– Training, as appropriate, for ITU meeting organizers, regional office staff, chairmen, rapporteurs, editors and delegates, with particular attention to chairing and effectively managing remote participation;

– Collection of statistics regarding trends in remote participation across all Sectors.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] Resolution 154 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of the Plenipotentiary Conference.

RESOLUTION 169 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Admission of academia to participate in the work of the Union

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 71 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, on strengthening cooperation between Member States, Sector Members, Associates and Academia[1] of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) and the evolving role of the private sector in ITU-D;

b) Outcome T.2-2 in Resolution 71 (Rev. Busan, 2014) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on the strategic plan for the Union for 2016-2019, which highlights the need to attract new members from industry and academia to participate in the work of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector,

considering

a) that the trial period for the participation of academia in the Union has proven to benefit the work of the Sectors, particularly as academia address the research, study and follow-up of developments in modern technology within ITU's field of competence, while having a perspective and future vision allowing modern technologies and applications to be addressed in a timely manner;

b) that the intellectual and scientific contributions of these bodies far outweigh their financial contributions;

c) that these entities also contribute to disseminating information about the activities of the Union in academic fields related to telecommunications/information and communication technologies around the world;

d) that the ITU Kaleidoscope event, held annually since 2008, is an ITU initiative to strengthen cooperation with academia that has been highly successful, and has addressed many topics, including innovations for digital inclusion, new emerging technologies and building sustainable communities,

recognizing

the outcomes of the ITU Secretary-General's Academia Consultation (Bangkok, 13 November 2016), which provided a platform to have an open discussion with academia and other stakeholders on three topics: a new electronic ITU journal/magazine; an Academia Advisory Board to the Secretary-General; and a platform/consultation mechanism to strengthen cooperation between ITU and academia,

noting

that a comprehensive analysis of the current methodologies for the participation of Sector Members, Associates and Academia has been initiated in ITU pursuant to relevant resolutions of the Plenipotentiary Conference: Resolution 158 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010), Resolution 158 (Rev. Busan, 2014) and Resolution 187 (Busan, 2014),

resolves

1 to admit academia to participate in the work of the Union, pursuant to the provisions of this resolution, without the need for any amendment to Articles 2 and 3 of the ITU Constitution and Article 19 of the ITU Convention or any other provision of the Convention;

2 to set the level of the financial contribution for participation in the Union at one-sixteenth of the value of the Sector Member contributory unit in the case of organizations from developed countries, and one-thirty second of the value of the Sector Member contributory unit in the case of organizations from developing countries[2] for defraying Union expenses, and to apply this level of financial contribution to Academia that are already participating in the Union as well as those which join in the future;

3 that payment of the level of financial contribution specified in resolves 2 entitles Academia to participate in the work of all three Sectors, including their advisory groups;

4 that Academia also be invited to participate in other global and regional conferences, workshops and activities of the Union, with the exception of plenipotentiary conferences, world radiocommunication conferences, world conferences on international telecommunications and the ITU Council, in conformity with the rules of procedure of the respective Sectors, and taking into account the outcome of the review pursuant to Resolution 187 (Busan, 2014);

5 that Academia should not have a role in decision-making, including the adoption of resolutions or recommendations regardless of the approval procedure;

6 that Academia shall be allowed to participate and make their proposals and interventions remotely, as appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of Resolution 167 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on strengthening and developing ITU capabilities for fully virtual meetings and physical meetings with remote participation, and the electronic means to advance the work of the Union;

7 that a representative of Academia may serve as rapporteur, vice-rapporteur or associate rapporteur in accordance with the established rules of procedure of the respective Sectors;

8 that acceptance of applications for the participation of academia shall be conditional on the support of the Member States of the Union to which the bodies belong, on the condition that this shall not constitute an alternative for those bodies currently listed with the Union as Sector Members or Associates,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to add any additional conditions, remedial measures or detailed procedures to this resolution, if it deems appropriate;

2 to review the financial contributions and the conditions for admission and participation and report to the next plenipotentiary conference,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

to continue to organize the ITU Kaleidoscope event annually on a rotational basis, to the greatest extent possible,

instructs the Radiocommunication Assembly, the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly and the World Telecommunication Development Conference

to mandate their respective Sector advisory groups to continue to study whether there is a need for any additional measures and/or arrangements to facilitate such participation that are not covered by relevant resolutions or recommendations of the above-mentioned assemblies and conference, and adopt such modalities, if they deem it necessary or required, and report the results through the Directors of the Bureaux to the Council,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to take necessary and appropriate action in order to implement this resolution;

2 to continue their successful efforts to explore and recommend, taking into account the advice of the Council, various mechanisms such as the use of voluntary financial and in-kind contributions from Member States and other stakeholders to encourage increased participation of academia;

3 to encourage the participation of academia in various open events and activities organized or co-organized by ITU, such as ITU Telecom World, ITU Kaleidoscope, World Summit on the Information Society forums and other workshops and forums;

4 to encourage the participation of academia in the development of technical work in the Union,

invites ITU Member States

1 to consider including members of academia in official delegations to major conferences of ITU;

2 to inform their academia of this resolution, and encourage and support them to participate in the Union.

[1] This includes colleges, institutes, universities and their associated research establishments concerned with the development of telecommunications/ICTs.

[2] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 170 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Admission of Sector Members from developing countries to
participate in the work of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector
and the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

Resolution 74 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly,

considering

a) that participation in the work of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) and the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) of Sector Members[1] from the category of developing countries[2] with an annual per capita income of less than USD 2 000 according to the United Nations Development Programme classification will benefit the work of both Sectors as well as the countries they represent, helping to close the standardization gap which still exists between the developed and developing countries within the two Sectors, especially in relation to this category of developing countries;

b) that allowing them to participate with focused engagement in the work of either of the two Sectors on favourable financial terms in respect of each Sector will encourage them to join these two Sectors, according to their needs,

resolves

1 to continue to allow Sector Members from the category of developing countries mentioned above to participate in the work of ITU-R and ITU-T pursuant to the provisions of this resolution;

2 to set the level of financial contribution for such participation at one-sixteenth of the value of a contributory unit for Sector Members for defraying Union expenses;

3 that acceptance of applications for participation shall be conditional on the support of the Member State to which the Sector Member belongs, on fulfilment of the criterion in footnote 1 to this resolution by each applicant for membership;

4 to facilitate the necessary support to admitted members for their effective participation and engagement, to reap the benefits of ITU membership,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to add any additional conditions or detailed procedures that may be required;

2 to submit a report on this participation to the next plenipotentiary conference on the basis of an evaluation carried out by the Council Working Group on financial and human resources, with the assistance of the ITU secretariat, so as to enable the Plenipotentiary Conference to make a final decision on such participation in the light of the report and the proposals therein.

[1] Such Sector Members shall not be subsidiaries of a multinational corporation whose executive headquarters is based in a developed country, and shall be limited to Sector Members which are from developing countries classified by the United Nations Development Programme as low-income countries with an annual per capita income not exceeding USD 2 000 and which have not yet joined either or both Sectors.

[2] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 175 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Telecommunication/information and communication technology
accessibility for persons with disabilities
and persons with specific needs

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution ITU-R 67-1 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) of the ITU Radiocommunication Assembly, on telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

b) Resolution 70 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, and the studies, initiatives and events on this issue undertaken by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and its study groups, in collaboration with the Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human Factors (JCA-AHF);

c) Article 12 of the International Telecommunication Regulations, adopted by the World Conference on International Telecommunications (Dubai, 2012), which states that Member States should promote access for persons with disabilities to international telecommunication services, taking into account the relevant ITU-T recommendations;

d) the outcome document of the High-Level Meeting on Disability and Development convened by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the level of Heads of State and Government on 23 September 2013, under the theme "The ICT Opportunity for a Disability-Inclusive Development Framework", which stresses the need for inclusive development in which persons with disabilities are both agents and beneficiaries;

e) Goal 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals, in line with which all people, including persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, should have equivalent access to and use of ICTs;

f) that the Intersector Rapporteur Group on Audiovisual Media Accessibility, between the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) and ITU-T, is working on broadcasting and Internet television in order to include audio description for persons with visual impairments and captioning/subtitles for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as to include other persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs in accessing remote Internet participation;

g) the Phuket Declaration on Tsunami Preparedness for Persons with Disabilities (Phuket, 2007), which emphasizes the need for inclusive emergency warning and disaster management systems using telecommunication/ICT facilities based on open, non-proprietary, global standards;

h) Resolution 58 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

i) the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) special initiative work carried out through studies conducted within ITU-D Study Group 1 and the ITU-D initiative on the development of an e-accessibility toolkit for persons with disabilities, in collaboration and partnership with the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict);

j) the Kigali Declaration (WTDC-22),

recognizing

a) the ongoing work of ITU-R, ITU-T and ITU-D on telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, including JCA-AHF;

b) technical papers addressing:

– use cases for assisting persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs using mobile applications;

– guidelines for accessible meetings;

– guidelines for supporting remote participation in meetings for all;

– Telecommunication Accessibility Checklist;

as well as Recommendation ITU-T F.791, on accessibility terms and definitions;

c) that the strategic plan for the Union for 2020-2023 includes inter-Sectoral objective I.3: "Enhance telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs" and related outcomes and outputs;

d) the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), calling for special attention to be given to persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

e) that, during the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the WSIS outcomes, it was recognized that special attention must be paid to solving the specific issues presented by ICTs for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

f) § 13 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles and § 18 of the Tunis Commitment, reaffirming the commitment to providing equitable and affordable access to ICTs, especially for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

g) the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in 2019;

h) various regional and national efforts to develop or revise accessibility guidelines and standards for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs applicable to telecommunications/ICTs;

i) ITU's accessibility policy for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, adopted by the ITU Council in 2013;

j) that webcasting using accessible webpages and documents, as well as the use of captioning and audio description in audiovisual content, and the use of sign-language interpretation, are invaluable tools which benefit persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs,

considering

a) that the World Health Organization estimates that there are 1 billion persons living with varying degrees of physical, sensory or cognitive disabilities in the world, meaning 15 per cent of the world's population, and 80 per cent of them live in developing countries[1];

b) that ICTs can provide opportunities and benefits for women and girls with disabilities to overcome exclusion on the basis of their gender and disability;

c) that Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), on accessibility, which entered into force on 3 May 2008, requires States Parties to take appropriate measures, including:

i) 2.(g) To promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet;

ii) 2.(h) To promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an early stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost;

d) that the United Nations Human Rights Council established the Special Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to allow identification of the barriers and obstacles that persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs still have to overcome to achieve their full, effective participation in society, the mandate of which will be to work in close coordination with all mechanisms and entities of the United Nations system, regional mechanisms, civil society and organizations of and for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, and which will incorporate the perspectives of gender, international cooperation and capacity building in all its activities, in accordance with the principles of CRPD;

e) the importance of cooperation between governments, the private sector, civil society and relevant organizations to provide possibilities for telecommunications/ICTs that align with the principles of universal design, equitable access, functional equivalence and affordability;

f) that it is necessary for governments and multiple stakeholders to pay attention to the outcomes in the report jointly prepared by G3ict and Disabled People's International, given that the accessibility of the information infrastructure, considered an essential area of ICT accessibility that has an enormous impact on the greatest number of users, falls short of the level of progress called for by the provisions of CRPD in terms of general compliance on the part of the countries that have ratified it,

noting

that JCA-AHF was set up for the purposes of awareness-raising, advice, assistance, collaboration, coordination and networking, its historical precedence, and its role to communicate, cooperate and collaborate with all the Sectors on the work of accessibility to prevent duplication of work,

resolves

1 to involve persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs in the work of ITU, taking into account their experiences and expertise, so that they may collaborate in the adoption of a comprehensive action plan in order to extend access to telecommunications/ICTs, in collaboration with external entities and bodies concerned with this topic;

2 to foster dialogue and communication between persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs (with means of interpretation when necessary) and those who prepare public policies and statistics on telecommunication/ICT users, in order to obtain better information and knowledge about which data to collect and analyse at the national level using international standards and methods;

3 to promote cooperation with regional and global organizations and institutions that deal with accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, in order to include telecommunication/ICT accessibility in their agendas and take into account its cross-cutting nature with other topics;

4 to maximize use of accessible webcasting facilities, captioning (including transcripts of the captioning) and sign language and, if possible, within the financial and technical limitations of the Union, provide these services in all six official languages of the Union both during and after the conclusion of any session when convening conferences, assemblies and meetings of the Union as articulated in Chapter II, Section 12 "Setting up of committees" of the General Rules of conferences, assemblies and meetings of the Union;

5 to build on and consolidate past accomplishments by providing the necessary financial and human resources for the effective and sustained integration of ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs into development activities, within budgetary constraints,

instructs the Secretary-General

to bring Resolution 58 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) to the attention of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in an effort to promote increased coordination and cooperation for development policies, programmes and projects for achieving ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, in line with principles of equitable access, functional equivalence, affordability and universal design, and fully enhancing the available tools, guidelines and standards, to eliminate obstacles and discrimination,

instructs the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to coordinate accessibility-related activities between ITU-R, ITU-T and ITU-D, taking into account JCA-AHF and in collaboration with other relevant organizations and entities where appropriate, in order to avoid duplication and to ensure that the needs of persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs are taken into account;

2 to consider the financial implications for ITU of providing, within the available resources, information in accessible formats and through ICTs, as well as access to ITU facilities, services and programmes for participants with visual, hearing or motor disabilities and persons with specific needs, mainly through the inclusion of captioning at meetings, sign-language interpretation, access to information through the ITU website in print and adapted formats, and physical access to ITU buildings and meeting facilities, and to facilitate the adoption of accessible ITU recruitment practices and employment;

3 pursuant to UNGA Resolution 61/106, to consider accessibility standards and guidelines whenever undertaking renovations or changing the use of space at a facility, so that accessibility features are maintained and additional barriers are not inadvertently introduced;

4 to consult and actively involve persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs and their representative organizations in the venue selection process for ITU conferences and events, to ensure that selected sites are accessible and enable inclusive participation;

5 to encourage and promote representation by persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs so as to ensure that their experiences and opinions are taken into account when developing and progressing ITU work;

6 to consider expanding the fellowship programme in order to enable delegates with disabilities and delegates with specific needs, within existing budgetary constraints, to participate in the work of ITU;

7 to identify, document and disseminate examples of best practices for accessibility in the field of telecommunications/ICTs among ITU Member States and Sector Members;

8 to work collaboratively on accessibility-related activities with ITU-R, ITU-T and ITU-D, taking into account JCA-AHF, in particular concerning awareness and mainstreaming of telecommunication/ICT accessibility standards, and in developing programmes that enable developing countries to introduce services that allow persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs to utilize telecommunication/ICT services effectively;

9 to work collaboratively and cooperatively with other relevant regional and global organizations and entities, in particular in the interest of ensuring that ongoing work in the field of accessibility is taken into account;

10 to work collaboratively and cooperatively with disability organizations in all regions to ensure that the needs of persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs are taken into account;

11 to direct the regional offices, within their available resources, to organize regional competitions for the development of assistive technologies to enable persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, having due regard to differences in culture and language and taking into account the presence of developers with disabilities;

12 to make use of and share information regarding the ways in which ICTs can empower persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, for example guidelines, tools and information sources prepared by ITU and other relevant organizations such as G3ict which are of benefit to the work of ITU and the membership;

13 to encourage the regional offices, within their available resources, to cooperate with stakeholders concerned to promote the development of new technologies that empower persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

14 to consider and implement improvements to organizational culture and relevant internal systems to ensure that persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs are provided with equal opportunities in the recruitment and retention process;

15 to continue to support measures designed to build the capacities of ITU staff to understand and champion accessibility and disability inclusion through activities such as workshops and management training;

16 to submit a report annually to the Council and to the next plenipotentiary conference on measures taken to implement this resolution;

17 to promote the collection and analysis of statistical data on disabilities and telecommunication/ICT accessibility that Member States can consider when preparing and designing their own public policies to promote accessibility,

invites Member States

1 to develop, within their national legal frameworks, guidelines or other mechanisms to enhance the accessibility, compatibility and usability of telecommunication/ICT services, products and terminals, and to offer support to regional initiatives related to this issue;

2 to encourage observation of the annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities through telecommunication/ICT activities related to accessibility,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to encourage the participation of persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs in the work of ITU, including in the composition of delegations to ITU conferences and assemblies and study group meetings;

2 to introduce appropriate telecommunication/ICT services and to encourage the development of applications for telecommunication devices and products in order to enable persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs to utilize these services on an equal basis with others, and to promote international cooperation in this regard;

3 to promote the development of learning opportunities in order to train persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs to use ICTs for their social and economic development, including through train-the-trainer courses and distance learning;

4 to participate actively in accessibility-related activities/studies in ITU-R, ITU-T and ITU-D, and JCA-AHF, including participating actively in the work of the study groups concerned, and to include and promote representation by persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs so as to ensure that their experiences and opinions are taken into account;

5 to foster coordination and consensus on ensuring that persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs have access to telecommunication/ICT services;

6 to share good and best practices implemented in favour of telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

7 to take into account considering c) ii) and e) above, and the benefits of cost affordability for equipment and services for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, including universal design;

8 to encourage the international community to make voluntary contributions to the special trust fund set up by ITU to support activities relating to the implementation of this resolution.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 176 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Measurement and assessment concerns related to human exposure to electromagnetic fields

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 72 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on measurement and assessment concerns related to human exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF);

b) Resolution 62 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, on assessment and measurement of human exposure to EMF;

c) relevant resolutions and recommendations of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector and ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector;

d) that there is ongoing work in the three Sectors relating to human exposure to EMF, and that liaison and collaboration between the Sectors and with other expert organizations are important, in order to avoid duplication of effort,

considering

a) that the World Health Organization (WHO) has the specialized health expertise and competence to assess the impact of radio waves on the human body;

b) that WHO recommends exposure limits from international organizations such as the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP);

c) that ITU has expertise in a mechanism to verify compliance with levels of radio signals by calculating and measuring field strength and power density of these signals;

d) the high cost of equipment used for measuring and assessing human exposure to EMF;

e) that the considerable development in the use of the radio-frequency spectrum has resulted in an increase in the sources of EMF emissions in any given geographic area;

f) the urgent need for regulatory bodies in many developing countries[1] to obtain information on measurement and assessment methodologies in regard to human exposure to radio-frequency and EMF energy, in order to establish national regulations to protect their citizens;

g) that people, without adequate and accurate information, public awareness and/or appropriate regulation, particularly in developing countries, may have concerns about the effect of EMF on their health, which may result in their opposing the deployment of radio installations in their vicinity and demanding additional restrictions, without a scientific and technical basis, that negatively affect the necessary and timely deployment of wireless infrastructure;

h) that guidelines on limits of exposure to EMF have been established by ICNIRP[2], the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)[3] and the International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission, and that many administrations have adopted national regulations based on these guidelines; however, there is a need to harmonize EMF guidelines for regulators and policy-makers to help them formulate national standards;

i) that most developing countries do not have the necessary tools to measure and evaluate the impact of radio waves on the human body,

resolves to instruct the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to collect and disseminate information concerning exposure to EMF, including on EMF measurement methodologies, consumer information and frequently asked questions, in order to assist national administrations, particularly in developing countries, to develop appropriate national regulations;

2 to work closely with all relevant organizations engaged on this topic and to leverage their output in the implementation of this resolution, as well as Resolution 72 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) and Resolution 62 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), in order to continue and enhance the technical assistance provided to Member States;

3 to continue to cooperate with WHO, ICNIRP, IEEE and other relevant international organizations on guidelines and limits for human exposure to EMF, and to raise awareness and disseminate information to the ITU membership and the public with regard to human exposure to EMF from radiocommunication and non-radiocommunication sources that have an influence on total EMF exposure;

4 to regularly update the ITU portal on EMF activities and public information,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in collaboration with the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau and the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to conduct regional or international seminars and workshops in order to identify the needs of developing countries and build human capacity in regard to measurement of EMF related to human exposure to these fields;

2 to encourage Member States in the various regions to cooperate in sharing expertise and resources and identify a focal point or regional cooperation mechanism, including, if required, a regional centre, so as to assist all Member States in the region in measurement and training;

3 to encourage relevant organizations to continue undertaking necessary scientific studies to investigate possible health effects of EMF radiation on the human body;

4 to formulate necessary measures and guidelines in order to help mitigate possible health effects of EMF radiation on the human body;

5 to encourage Member States to conduct periodic reviews to ensure that ITU recommendations and other relevant international standards related to exposure to EMF are followed,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, in collaboration with the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau and the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

to participate in the Electromagnetic Field Project, conducted by WHO, as part of collaborative efforts with other international organizations to encourage the development of international standards for EMF exposure,

instructs the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to prepare a report on the implementation of this resolution for submission to the ITU Council at each annual session for evaluation;

2 to provide a report to the next plenipotentiary conference on measures taken to implement this resolution,

invites Member States

1 to take the appropriate measures to ascertain compliance with guidelines produced by ITU and other relevant international organizations with respect to exposure to EMF;

2 to implement subregional cooperation mechanisms for acquisition of the requisite equipment to measure EMF;

3 to raise public awareness of the health effects of human exposure to non-ionizing EMF, by conducting awareness-raising campaigns, holding workshops, publishing brochures and providing online information on the subject.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields (up to 300 GHz). Health Physics 74(4): 494-522; 1998; ICNIRP Guidelines for limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields (100 kHz to 300 GHz). Health Physics 118(5): 483-524; 2020.

[3] IEEE Std C95.1™-2005, IEEE standard for safety levels with respect to human exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields, 3 kHz to 300 GHz.

RESOLUTION 177 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Conformance and interoperability

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recognizing

a) Resolution 197 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on facilitating the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart sustainable cities and communities (SSC&C), and Resolution 200 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the Connect 2030 Agenda for global telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT), including broadband, for sustainable development;

b) Resolution 76 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), on studies related to conformance and interoperability (C&I) testing, assistance to developing countries[1], and a possible future ITU Mark programme, Resolution 96 (Hammamet, 2016) of WTSA, on ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) studies for combating counterfeit telecommunication/ICT devices, and Resolution 98 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on enhancing the standardization of IoT and SSC&C for global development;

c) Resolution 47 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on enhancement of knowledge and effective application of ITU recommendations in developing countries, including C&I testing of systems manufactured on the basis of ITU recommendations;

d) Resolution ITU-R 62-2 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) of the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA), on studies related to testing for conformance with ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) recommendations and interoperability of radiocommunication equipment and systems;

e) the progress reports made by the Directors of the ITU Bureaux to the ITU Council and to this conference;

f) that interoperability of international telecommunication networks is one of the main goals in the strategic plan for the Union,

noting

a) the work carried out under study Question 4/2 of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector, on assistance to developing countries for implementing C&I programmes;

b) the work carried out by ITU-T Study Group 11 on C&I programmes, including on the Conformity Assessment Steering Committee (CASC);

c) that several ITU-T study groups are engaged in pilot projects for conformity with ITU-T recommendations;

d) that ITU-T has an informative and voluntary Product Conformity Database and is progressively populating it with details of ICT equipment having undergone testing for conformity with ITU-T recommendations;

e) that the ITU C&I Portal website is continually updated;

f) that technologies such as IoT, International Mobile Telecommunications 2020 and beyond, etc. have increasing requirements for C&I testing, and that C&I testing could facilitate the interoperability of telecommunication/ICT devices;

g) that CASC, in collaboration with other certification bodies is working on the establishment of a joint certification scheme for assessing ICT equipment for conformity with ITU-T recommendations,

recognizing further

a) that C&I procedures are used to protect consumers and networks and to prevent radio equipment interference;

b) that widespread C&I of telecommunication/ICT equipment and systems through the implementation of relevant programmes and information-sharing, policies and decisions can increase market opportunities and reliability and encourage global integration and trade;

c) that technical training and institutional capacity building for testing and conformity assessment are among the essential tools for many ITU members to develop their own capacity and to promote global connectivity;

d) that many ITU members may also benefit from using the conformity assessment that many existing regional and national standards bodies already provide for conformity assessment, through mechanisms of collaboration with such organizations;

e) that existing international approaches to conformity assessment provide a robust and well-functioning infrastructure that is already being used by developing countries;

f) that a decision concerning the implementation of an ITU Mark would be postponed until Pillar 1 (conformity assessment) of the Action Plan for the C&I Programme has reached a more mature stage of development (the Council, 2012 session);

g) that micro, small and medium enterprises in ITU Member States contribute greatly to the economy through access to affordable and interoperable technologies;

h) that CASC has developed a procedure for the recognition of ITU experts, as well as a procedure for recognizing testing laboratories capable of testing according to ITU-T recommendations;

i) that key outcomes of Pillar 1 of the Action Plan for the C&I Programme, namely, a product conformity database, a living list of suitable ITU-T recommendations on key technologies for C&I testing, a list of pilot projects for conformity assessment against ITU-T recommendations and a reference table of ITU-T recommendations under C&I testing in the industry, have shown good progress;

j) that criteria for assessing the maturity of Pillar 1 (conformity assessment) of the Action Plan for the C&I Programme and the definition of ITU Mark and its implications are required;

k) that ITU, being an international standardization body, can address the impediments to harmonization, interoperability and growth of worldwide telecommunications through the C&I Programme,

considering

a) the Action Plan for the C&I Programme, as revised by the Council at its 2013 session, which contains four pillars, namely: 1) conformity assessment, 2) interoperability events, 3) capacity building, and 4) assistance in the establishment of test centres and C&I programmes in developing countries;

b) that some countries, especially developing countries, have not yet acquired the capacity to test equipment and provide assurance to consumers in their countries;

c) that conformity assessment of telecommunication/ICT equipment can reduce interference among communication systems, promotes interoperability of equipment from different manufacturers and increases confidence in the quality of products;

d) the importance of C&I to businesses, including to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and young developers, when designing, developing and marketing telecommunication/ICT equipment;

e) that, along with ITU-T recommendations, there are a number of specifications for C&I testing developed by other conformity assessment bodies and standards-development organizations (SDOs), forums and consortia;

f) that conformance testing alone does not guarantee interoperability of devices, but provides assurance that the equipment tested conforms to the specified standards;

g) that the conformity assessment process, which includes but is not limited to certification, testing and inspection, may help in combating counterfeit ICT devices;

h) that the costs of establishing laboratories for the implementation of conformity and interoperability programmes are high in terms of both capital and operating costs;

i) that conformity and interoperability laboratories require regular updates due to the rapid development of technologies, equipment and terminals;

j) that ITU standardization resources are limited, and it is beneficial if regional and national accreditation and certification bodies and accredited testing laboratories conduct the C&I testing, with the involvement of the ITU C&I Programme,

resolves

1 to endorse the objectives of WTSA Resolution 76 (Rev. Geneva, 2022), RA Resolution ITU-R 62-2 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) and WTDC Resolution 47 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), and the Action Plan for the C&I Programme reviewed by the Council;

2 that this programme of work continue to be implemented, including the informative pilot conformity database and its development into a fully functioning database, in consultation with each region, taking into consideration a) the outcome and effect that the pilot conformity database may have on Member States, Sector Members and stakeholders (e.g. other SDOs), b) the impact the database will have on bridging the standardization gap as relevant to each region, c) the potential liability issues for ITU and for Member States, Sector Members and stakeholders, and taking into account the results of regional ITU conformity and interoperability consultations;

3 to assist developing countries in establishing regional or subregional conformity and interoperability centres suitable to perform conformity and interoperability testing as appropriate and according to their needs and encourage cooperation with governmental and non-governmental, national and regional organizations, public-private partnerships and international conformity assessment bodies;

4 to facilitate cooperation between ITU, Member States, Sector Members and relevant entities to lower the cost of establishing conformity and interoperability assessment centres (such as the use of virtual laboratories for remote testing) at the national, subregional and regional levels,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to continue implementation of the Action Plan for the C&I Programme endorsed by the Council, including, in collaboration with the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), the recommendations on human capacity building and assistance in the establishment of test facilities in developing countries;

2 to continue to carry out pilot projects for conformity to ITU-T recommendations to increase the probability of interoperability in accordance with the Action Plan for the C&I Programme;

3 to enhance and improve standards-setting processes in order to improve interoperability through conformity;

4 to continuously update the Action Plan for the C&I Programme for the long-term implementation of this resolution;

5 to provide the Council with progress reports, including the results of studies, relating to the implementation of this resolution;

6 in cooperation with the Director of BDT, to implement the Action Plan for the C&I Programme agreed by the Council at its 2012 session and revised by the Council at its 2013 session;

7 to develop the criteria for assessing the maturity of Pillar 1 of the Action Plan for the C&I Programme mentioned in recognizing further j) above and report to the Council;

8 to define the ITU Mark concept and its implications for ITU and its membership,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in close collaboration with the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

1 to advance the implementation of Resolution 47 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) and the relevant parts of the Action Plan for the C&I Programme, and to report to the Council;

2 to assist Member States in addressing their concerns with respect to non-compliant equipment;

3 to continue providing on-the-job capacity-building activities, in collaboration with recognized institutions and benefiting from the ITU Academy ecosystem, including activities related to preventing radiocommunication interference caused or received by ICT equipment;

4 under Pillars 3 and 4 of the Action Plan for the C&I Programme:

a) to raise awareness of the applicability of C&I programmes to certain IoT devices;

b) to provide capacity building on technical regulations and compliance testing to support developers, including SMEs and youth, as they design their telecommunication/ICT equipment, to enable them to access local, regional and global markets;

5 to use ITU seed money allocated for projects and encourage donor agencies to fund annual capacity-building and training programmes in testing centres adopted as ITU centres of excellence;

6 to assist developing countries in building their capacity and identifying regional and subregional ICT testing centres in developing countries as ITU centres of excellence, as appropriate, in collaboration with the other Bureaux, so as to be able to perform conformance testing and interoperability testing of equipment and systems, relevant to their needs, in accordance with the relevant recommendations, including the development or recognition of conformity assessment bodies, as appropriate;

7 to assist Member States in enhancing their capabilities for conformance assessment and testing and to provide experts for developing countries;

8 to promote collaboration with regional C&I bodies, especially with respect to technical conformance assessment,

invites the ITU Council

1 to consider the reports of the Directors of the three Bureaux and to take all necessary measures so as to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of this resolution;

2 to report to the next plenipotentiary conference on the progress made with respect to this resolution;

3 to consider, after Pillar 1 of the Action Plan for the C&I Programme has reached a more mature stage of development, the possible introduction of an ITU Mark, taking into account the technical, financial and legal implications;

4 to continue supporting the implementation of ITU's testing laboratories recognition procedure and make the list of recognized testing laboratories accessible for ITU members,

invites the membership

1 to populate the pilot conformity database with details of products tested to applicable ITU-T recommendations in accredited test laboratories (first, second or third party), or by accredited certification bodies, or according to procedures adopted by an SDO or forum qualified in accordance with Recommendation ITU-T A.5;

2 to participate in ITU-facilitated interoperability events and in the work of the ITU study groups related to conformity and interoperability issues;

3 to take an active role in building developing countries' capacity in conformity and interoperability testing, including on-the-job training, particularly as part of any supply contract for telecommunication equipment, services and systems to these countries;

4 to support the establishment of regional conformity testing facilities, or facilitate the use of existing laboratory infrastructures, particularly in developing countries;

5 to participate in ITU assessment studies to promote the establishment of harmonized conformity and interoperability frameworks in the regions,

invites organizations qualified in accordance with Recommendation ITU-T A.5

1 to participate in the ITU pilot conformity database activities and, sharing links on a mutual basis, to enrich its extent by referring to more recommendations and standards within a product, and to allow for more exposure of vendors' products and widen the portfolio of selection to the users;

2 to participate in developing countries' capacity-building programmes and activities facilitated by the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and BDT, in particular offering opportunities for developing-country experts, particularly from operators, to gain on-the-job experience,

invites Member States

1 to contribute to the implementation of this resolution;

2 to encourage national and regional testing entities to assist ITU in implementing this resolution;

3 to adopt conformity-assessment regimes and procedures based on applicable ITU-T recommendations, leading to better quality of service/quality of experience, and to higher probability of interoperability of equipment, services and systems;

4 to work together to combat counterfeit equipment using nationally and/or regionally established conformance assessment systems;

5 to contribute to the next RA in 2023 in order for it to consider and take appropriate actions as deemed necessary with respect to C&I.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 179 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

ITU's role in child online protection

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recognizing

a) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which addresses various aspects of child online protection in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDGs 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 16;

b) Resolution 175 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs;

c) Resolution 67 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on the role of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) in child online protection;

d) Resolution 45 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on mechanisms for enhancing cooperation on cybersecurity, including countering and combating spam;

e) other relevant ITU documents,

considering

a) that the Internet plays a very important role in the provision of education for children, enriching the curriculum and helping to bridge language and other barriers between the children of all nations;

b) that the Internet has become a major platform for many different kinds of educational, cultural and entertainment activities for children;

c) that children are among the most active participants online;

d) that parents, guardians, educators and communities who have responsibility for children's activities may need guidance on mediation approaches on how to protect children online;

e) that child online protection initiatives always consider the empowerment of the child online and have due regard to an equal balancing of children's right to be protected from harm and their civil and political rights, as well as their access to online opportunities;

f) that there is an urgent need and global demand for the protection of children from exploitation and exposure to danger and deception when using the Internet or ICTs;

g) the growing development, diversification and spread of access to ICTs worldwide, in particular the Internet, and the increasingly widespread use thereof by children, at times with no mediation, control or guidance;

h) that, in order to address the issue of cybersecurity for children, it is critical that proactive measures be employed in order to protect children online at national, regional or international level;

i) the requirement for international cooperation and continued application of a multistakeholder approach in order to promote social responsibility in the ICT sector so as to effectively make use of the variety of tools available to build confidence in the use of ICT networks and services, reducing the risks for children;

j) that child online protection is a subject of valid international global interest and is listed in the priorities of the world community's global agenda;

k) that child online protection involves a national, regional and international collaborative network, in conjunction with other United Nations agencies and partners, for action to promote the online protection of children by providing guidance on safe online behaviour and appropriate practical tools,

recalling

a) the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by UNGA on 20 November 1989 and recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and all relevant United Nations resolutions regarding child protection and child online protection;

b) that, within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the States Parties undertook to protect the child from all forms of exploitation and sexual abuse, and for that purpose, in particular, to take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; b) the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; c) the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials (Article 34);

c) that, pursuant to Article 10 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (New York, 2000) on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, the States Parties shall take all necessary steps to strengthen international cooperation by multilateral, regional and bilateral arrangements for the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution and punishment of those responsible for acts involving the sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography and child sex tourism; and shall also promote international cooperation and coordination between their authorities, national and international non-governmental organizations and international organizations;

d) United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 20/8, adopted on 5 July 2012, which stresses that "the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online";

e) that the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), in the Tunis Commitment of 2005 (§ 24), recognized the role of ICTs in the protection of children and in enhancing the development of children, urging Member States to strengthen action to protect children from abuse and defend their rights in the context of ICTs, emphasizing that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration; accordingly, the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (§ 90 q)) set forth the commitment to using ICTs as a tool to achieve the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including the SDGs set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the WSIS action lines, by, inter alia, incorporating regulatory, self-regulatory and other effective policies and frameworks to protect children and young people from abuse and exploitation through ICTs into national plans of action and e-strategies;

f) ITU Council Resolution 1305 (Modified 2019), which invites Member States to recognize the topic of protecting children and young people from abuse and exploitation as one of the international Internet-related public policy matters;

g) Council Resolution 1306 (Modified 2015), which sets out the mandate of the Council Working Group on child online protection (CWG-COP), with the participation of Member States and Sector Members and the contribution and participation of all relevant stakeholders;

h) that, during the 2012 WSIS Forum, held in Geneva, a meeting was held with associates of the Child Online Protection (COP) initiative, at which it was agreed to work closely with the Family Online Safety Institute and the Internet Watch Foundation to provide necessary assistance to Member States,

recalling further

a) that ITU is the moderator/facilitator for WSIS Action Line C5 (Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs);

b) that the COP initiative was presented to the High-Level Segment of the Council in 2008, where it was endorsed by the Heads of State, ministers and heads of international organizations globally;

c) that ITU, in collaboration with its COP members, has created four sets of guidelines for the protection of children in cyberspace, namely: guidelines for children, for parents and educators, for industry, and for policy-makers, and continues to revise and update these guidelines to ensure consistency with industry trends and practices;

d) that Recommendation ITU T E.1100 of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), on specification of an international numbering resource for use in the provisioning of international help lines, provides alternative numbering resources to overcome the technical difficulties that have made it impossible to establish a single globally harmonized national number, as provided for in Supplement 5 to Recommendation ITU-T E.164 (11/2009), and that the contributions that the different ITU-T study groups can make are very important in identifying practical solutions and tools to facilitate access to child online protection hotlines worldwide,

taking into account

a) the discussions and online consultations conducted by CWG-COP, and other ITU activities;

b) the existing technological, physical, managerial and organizational tools, at the global, regional and national levels, to protect children online, along with innovative applications to make it easier for children to communicate with child online protection helplines, and the need to continue this work aiming to find available solutions and disseminate them to governments and other stakeholders;

c) the need to protect data being collected to produce statistics and indicators on child online protection;

d) the activities undertaken by ITU in the area of child online protection at the national, regional and international levels, recognizing other multistakeholder activities;

e) the call of the world's youth at the BYND2015 Global Youth Summit (San José, Costa Rica, 2013) for Member States to develop policies to make online communities safe and secure;

f) the many activities of governments, national, regional and international non-governmental organizations and industry organizations that are promoting the exchange of best practices on child online protection;

g) the increase in the use of the Internet, especially by children and the COP activities carried out by ITU during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic;

h) the importance of education and skills to empower children, parents and educators, policy-makers and industry to achieve child online protection,

resolves

1 to continue the COP initiative as a platform to raise awareness and share best practices on child online safety issues;

2 to continue providing assistance and support to Member States, especially developing countries[1], in developing and implementing roadmaps for the COP initiative;

3 to continue to coordinate the COP initiative, in cooperation with relevant stakeholders;

4 to promote collaboration between all stakeholders involved in child online protection, based on the work done in this area, in order to benefit Member States;

5 to support and enhance regional and subregional cooperation mechanisms between Member States and other stakeholders in child online protection;

6 to continue efforts, together with relevant international organizations, to support Member States, upon request, to engage in capacity building and awareness raising on child online protection for parents, guardians, educators, policy-makers and communities, as well as relevant representatives of the public and private sectors,

requests the ITU Council

1 to continue the work of CWG-COP, in order to facilitate the membership's input and guidance on ITU's role in child online protection, and to serve as a platform for discussion and exchange of best practices;

2 to facilitate the contribution and participation of all relevant stakeholders in the work of CWG-COP to ensure maximum collaboration in implementing this resolution;

3 to encourage CWG-COP to liaise with the Council Working Group on international Internet-related public policy issues (CWG-Internet), as appropriate, in order to contribute in a mutually beneficial manner to fulfilment of work under the respective mandates of these Council working groups on the relevant issues;

4 to encourage CWG-COP to liaise with ITU-D Study Group 2, sharing the outputs of CWG-COP meetings, to benefit the discussion of the relevant study question;

5 to encourage CWG-COP to conduct online consultations with youth to listen to their views and opinions on different matters related to child online protection, prior to and during its meeting;

6 to continue to make output documents related to child online protection issues publicly accessible without password protection,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to continue identifying those activities that are carried out by other United Nations organizations in this domain and to coordinate with them appropriately, with the objective of establishing partnerships to maximize and synergize efforts in this important area;

2 to coordinate ITU efforts with other United Nations agencies and entities concerned with this issue, in order to contribute to existing global repositories with useful information, statistics and tools concerning child online protection;

3 to maintain and promote the online repository of resources on child online protection efforts;

4 to continue the coordination of ITU activities with other similar initiatives being undertaken at the national, regional and international levels, in order to eliminate possible overlaps;

5 to bring this resolution to the attention of other COP members and of the United Nations Secretary-General, with the aim of increasing the engagement of the United Nations system in child online protection;

6 to submit a progress report on the implementation of this resolution to the next plenipotentiary conference;

7 to continue to disseminate the documents and reports of CWG-COP to all international organizations and stakeholders involved in such matters, so that they can collaborate fully;

8 to encourage Member States, Sector Members and relevant United Nations agencies to share best practices on issues of child online protection with CWG-COP,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to continue to coordinate those activities that relate to the implementation of child online protection with respect to the effective application of resolves 1, 2 and 3 above, in order to avoid overlapping among the activities of the ITU Bureaux and the General Secretariat;

2 to continue enhancing the COP initiative page on the ITU website to make it more informative for all users, within the available resources;

3 to assist Member States in developing and implementing policies, strategies and standards to enhance the protection of children online,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to report to CWG-COP, as appropriate, on child online protection activities;

2 to collaborate closely with CWG-COP and CWG-Internet and to gain the best possible outputs through the work on the relevant ITU-D study questions and the regional initiatives relevant to protecting children online, while avoiding duplication of effort;

3 to consider the outputs of CWG-COP meetings in the deliverables of the relevant study questions;

4 to coordinate with other similar initiatives being undertaken at the national, regional and international level with the objective of establishing partnerships to maximize efforts in this important area;

5 to assist developing countries in drawing the greatest possible attention to child online protection;

6 to update, as appropriate, the child online protection guidelines created by ITU, in collaboration with COP initiative partners, taking into consideration technology developments in the telecommunication/ICT industry, including guidelines on children with disabilities and children with specific needs, and to disseminate them through the ITU regional offices and relevant entities in the six official languages;

7 to disseminate methodological frameworks for data production and statistics on child online protection with the purpose of maximizing data comparison among countries and capacity development for voluntary data production;

8 to consider the needs of children with disabilities and children with specific needs in current and future awareness campaigns undertaken in coordination with the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and in cooperation with relevant stakeholders and interested countries;

9 to continue to assist Member States, in particular developing countries, in developing their national child online protection strategies in collaboration with stakeholders;

10 to continue promoting training programmes for all stakeholders, including working with COP initiative partners,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to encourage the ITU-T study groups, within the framework of their specific competencies, and considering new technological developments, to continue to explore practical solutions and tools that facilitate access to child online protection hotlines worldwide;

2 to encourage the ITU-T study groups, within the framework of their specific competencies, and considering new technological developments, to seek appropriate solutions to help governments, organizations and educators protect children online (including children with disabilities and children with specific needs);

3 to promote cooperation among the ITU-T study groups, and to liaise with the other Sectors as appropriate;

4 to continue to work with Member States, upon request, on the allocation of a telephone number on a regional basis for child online protection;

5 to assist ITU-T study groups in their various activities related to child online protection, to be performed, as appropriate, in collaboration with other relevant bodies,

invites Member States

1 to join and continue participating actively in CWG-COP and in the related ITU activities, for the purposes of a comprehensive discussion and exchange of best-practice information on legal, technical, organizational and procedural issues, as well as capacity building and international cooperation for protecting children online;

2 to develop information, to educate and to create consumer-awareness campaigns aimed at all stakeholders, in order to make children aware of the risks that may be encountered online and of measures to protect against such risks;

3 to work together to develop awareness campaigns and seek to invest in periodic digital skills training for all stakeholders, to ensure the protection of children online, taking into account the evolving nature of online risks and threats;

4 to consider how to improve the number of responses from young people to the CWG-COP youth consultations;

5 to exchange information on the current state of legislative, organizational and technical measures in the area of child online protection;

6 to support the collection and analysis of data and the production of statistics, disaggregated by sex and age, where possible, on child online protection that will contribute to public policy design and implementation, enabling comparisons between countries and encouraging data production by national statistical offices and other data producers;

7 to consider establishing frameworks and strategies for national child online protection and their incorporation into national cybersecurity strategies, as appropriate, taking into account the ITU guidelines on child online protection;

8 to foster the allocation of resources to run child online protection hotlines;

9 to foster the allocation of specific numbers to service communications dedicated to child online protection;

10 to promote the use of parental or other safety tools that are available and accessible for parents, guardians, educators and communities;

11 to involve communities and civil-society organizations in child online protection initiatives, socialization and campaigns;

12 to establish mechanisms for collaboration among government offices and institutions working on this issue to gather statistical information on access of children to the Internet,

invites Sector Members

1 to participate actively in CWG-COP and in other ITU activities, with the aim of informing the ITU membership about technological tools for protecting children online;

2 to develop solutions and practical tools to help protect children online and facilitate communication between children and child online protection hotlines;

3 to collaborate, within their respective areas of competence, in the dissemination of public policies and initiatives that are implemented for child online protection;

4 to work on developing different programmes and tools to increase awareness among parents, guardians, educators and communities;

5 to inform Member States about modern technological solutions for child online protection, taking into account the best practices of the sector and of other relevant stakeholders,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to exchange information on practical methods of identifying and introducing the most effective technologies to contribute to more effective child online protection;

2 to apply Recommendation ITU-T E.1100 as appropriate;

3 to foster and contribute to consultations on child online protection issues with all stakeholders.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 180 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Promoting deployment of Internet Protocol version 6

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

b) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS);

c) the WSIS+10 Statement on the implementation of WSIS outcomes and the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS beyond 2015, which were adopted at the ITU-coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event (Geneva, 2014), based on the Multistakeholder Preparatory Platform process, together with other United Nations agencies and inclusive of all WSIS stakeholders, were endorsed by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) and were submitted to the UNGA overall review;

d) Resolution 64 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and facilitating the transition to and deployment of IP version 6 (IPv6);

e) Opinion 3 (Geneva, 2013) of the World Telecommunication/Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy Forum, on supporting capacity building for the deployment of IPv6;

f) Resolution 63 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, on IP address allocation and encouraging the deployment of IPv6 in the developing countries[1];

g) Resolution 101 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on IP-based networks;

h) Resolution 102 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on ITU's role with regard to international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet and the management of Internet resources, including domain names and addresses;

i) the results of the ITU IPv6 Group, which were endorsed by the ITU Council at its 2012 session,

considering further

a) that the Internet has become a leading factor in social and economic development and a vital tool for communication and technological innovation, creating a major paradigm shift in the telecommunication/ICT sector;

b) that fostering an enabling environment facilitates the deployment of IPv6 and growth of the Internet;

c) that, in view of the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses and in order to ensure the stability, growth and development of the Internet, every effort should be made by all stakeholders to encourage and facilitate the deployment of IPv6;

d) that in the deployment of IPv6, it is important to pay attention to the normal functioning of IPv4-based technologies;

e) that many developing countries are experiencing some challenges in this process,

noting

a) the progress towards deployment of IPv6 that has been made over the last few years;

b) the importance of providing assistance from experts, including technical experts, in IPv4 and IPv6 deployment to those Member States and Sector Members that request it;

c) the support and best practices which are available to Member States and Sector Members from ITU and relevant organizations (e.g. the regional Internet registries (RIRs), network operator groups and the Internet Society);

d) the ongoing coordination between ITU and relevant organizations on IPv6 capacity building in order to respond to the needs of Member States and Sector Members;

e) that not enough network operators and end users are actually using IPv6;

f) that IPv6 traffic is growing gradually;

g) that the deployment of IPv6 can happen in parallel with the continued use of IPv4, and should ultimately lead to a complete transition from IPv4 to IPv6;

h) that governments play an important part as catalysts for the deployment of IPv6;

i) that the private sector plays an important role in the investment in and deployment of the Internet;

j) that academia produce practical tools, usage guidelines and resources to solve IPv6 development problems;

k) that, in addition to governments, other stakeholders, including Internet organizations responsible for the IPv6 protocol, IPv6 address allocation and assignment, and the design and manufacturing of hardware and software, including for the Domain Name System (DNS), that are compatible with IPv6, have important roles to play in facilitating the transition to, and deployment of, IPv6,

recognizing

a) that IP addresses are fundamental resources needed for the development of IP-based telecommunication/ICT networks and for the world economy and prosperity;

b) that IPv6 deployment gives an opportunity for the development of ICTs, and that its deployment is the best way to avoid the scarcity of IPv4 addresses and the consequences that exhaustion of IPv4 addresses may entail, including high costs and slowdown in the growth of telecommunication/ICT infrastructures;

c) that IPv6 can provide an environment which supports the continued growth of, and connectivity of users to, the Internet globally;

d) that accelerating deployment of IPv6 is necessary in order to respond to global needs in this regard;

e) that the involvement and cooperation of all stakeholders is crucial for success in this process;

f) that technical experts are providing assistance regarding IPv6, and progress has been made;

g) that capacity building and the sharing of best practices are fundamental to further progress;

h) that there are countries that still need expert assistance regarding IPv6,

resolves

1 to explore ways and means, in accordance with the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, for greater reciprocal collaboration and coordination between ITU and relevant organizations[2] involved in the development of IP-based networks and the future Internet in the context of emerging telecommunications/ICTs, through cooperation agreements, as appropriate, in order to increase the role of ITU in Internet governance, and to foster greater participation by Member States in Internet governance, so as to ensure maximum benefits to the global community through affordable international connectivity;

2 to step up the exchange of IPv6 experiences and information with all stakeholders, with the aim of creating opportunities for collaborative efforts and ensuring that feedback enriches ongoing efforts on this matter;

3 to collaborate closely with the relevant international recognized partners, including the Internet community (e.g. RIRs, the Internet Engineering Task Force and others), in order to encourage the deployment of IPv6 through capacity building;

4 to support those Member States which, in accordance with the existing allocation policies, require and request assistance in management, allocation and capacity building in the deployment of IPv6 resources, including support from relevant organizations, pursuant to relevant resolutions;

5 to continue the studies of IP address allocation and use, both for IPv4 addresses and for IPv6 addresses, in cooperation with other relevant stakeholders, based on their respective roles,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in coordination with the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to undertake and facilitate activities under resolves above in order that the relevant study groups of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector and of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector can carry out the work of promoting the deployment of IPv6;

2 while assisting those Member States that require support in the management and allocation of IPv6 resources, to monitor the current allocation mechanisms (including the equitable distribution of addresses) for ITU Member States or Sector Members, and to identify and point out any underlying flaws in the current allocation mechanisms;

3 to communicate proposals for improvements to existing policies and best-practice advice, if identified under the studies above, in accordance with the existing policy development process;

4 to develop statistics on progress made in IPv6 deployment, based on information that may be compiled regionally through collaboration with regional organizations, including RIRs;

5 in coordination and collaboration with other regional organizations and stakeholders, to collect and disseminate best practices on coordination efforts undertaken by governments, industry and other stakeholders at the national level to facilitate IPv6 deployment,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to continue to promote specific initiatives at the national level, which foster interaction with governmental, private and academic entities and civil society for the purposes of the exchange of information and coordination necessary for the deployment of IPv6 in their respective countries;

2 to encourage, with support from the ITU regional offices, RIRs and other regional organizations in coordinating research, dissemination and training actions with participation by governments, industry and the academic community in order to facilitate the deployment of IPv6 within the countries and in the region, and to coordinate initiatives between regions to promote its deployment worldwide;

3 to develop national policies to promote the technological update of legacy systems in order to ensure that the public services provided using IP and the communications infrastructure and relevant applications of the Member States are compatible with IPv6;

4 to encourage IP-based telecommunication/ICT services and infrastructure to support IPv6;

5 to foster multistakeholder coordination and develop communication mechanisms to share best practices in IPv6 deployment;

6 to encourage manufacturers and software developers to supply to the market fully-featured ICT equipment, applications and customer premises equipment that supports IPv6 in addition to IPv4;

7 to raise awareness among information service providers on the importance of making their services available over IPv6;

8 to encourage industry and academia participation in IPv6 deployment and capacity-building activities, for both the commercial and public sectors;

9 to encourage government agencies and private-sector organizations to ensure that their websites and services support IPv6,

instructs the Secretary-General

to submit to the Council and disseminate, as appropriate, one or more progress reports to the ITU membership and the Internet community, on the implementation of this resolution.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] Including, but not limited to, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the regional Internet registries (RIRs), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), on the basis of reciprocity.

RESOLUTION 182 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Role of telecommunications/information and communication
technologies in regard to climate change and
the protection of the environment

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recognizing

a) the fundamental contribution that the approval of Resolution 35 (Kyoto, 1994) of the Plenipotentiary Conference made to initiating ITU's activities in the area of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) for environmental protection and sustainable development;

b) Resolution 136 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the use of telecommunications/ICTs for humanitarian assistance and for monitoring and management in emergency and disaster situations, including health-related emergencies, for early warning, prevention, mitigation and relief;

c) Resolution 646 (Rev.WRC-19) of the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), on public protection and disaster relief;

d) Resolution 673 (Rev.WRC-12) of WRC, on the importance of Earth observation radiocommunication applications;

e) Resolution 750 (Rev.WRC-19) of WRC, on compatibility between the Earth exploration-satellite service (passive) and relevant active services;

f) Resolution ITU-R 60-2 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) of the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA), on reduction of energy consumption for environmental protection and mitigating climate change by use of ICT/radiocommunication technologies and systems;

g) Resolution 73 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), on ICTs, environment, climate change and circular economy;

h) Resolution 66 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on ICT, environment, climate change and circular economy;

i) Resolution 34 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on the role of telecommunications/ICT in disaster preparedness, early warning, rescue, mitigation, relief and response;

j) Resolution 54 (Rev. Dubai, 2014) of WTDC, on ICT applications;

k) Resolution 1307 adopted by the ITU Council at its 2009 session, on ICTs and climate change;

l) the outcomes of ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Study Group 5 in relation to electromagnetic fields, environment, climate action, sustainable digitalization and circular economy;

m) the outcomes of ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Study Group 7 in relation to Earth observation and climate;

n) the outcomes of ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) Study Group 2 in relation to the environment and climate change;

o) the Luxor Call to Action on Building a Water Resource Efficient Green Economy, adopted at the ITU Workshop on ICT as an Enabler for Smart Water Management held in Luxor, Egypt, in April 2013;

p) Resolution 79 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of WTSA, on the role of telecommunications/ICTs in handling and controlling e-waste from telecommunication and information technology equipment and methods of treating it;

q) Resolution 1353 adopted by the Council at its 2012 session, which recognizes that telecommunications and ICTs are essential components for developed and developing countries[1] in achieving sustainable development, and instructs the Secretary-General, in collaboration with the Directors of the Bureaux, to identify new activities to be undertaken by ITU to support developing countries in achieving sustainable development through telecommunications and ICTs;

r) the 10th open consultation of the Council Working Group on international Internet-related public policy issues, which focused on the environmental impacts and benefits of the Internet and during which the participating stakeholders expressed strong interest in the impact of telecommunications/ICTs on climate change and the environment;

s) the outcomes of conferences under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in particular the Paris Agreement of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP), which sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting at that time global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C, and the Glasgow Climate Pact of COP26, which reiterates the urgency of scaling up action to limit the impact of climate change;

t) that limiting global warming requires rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 and to net zero by 2050, as well as deep reductions in other GHG,

recognizing further

a) the importance of international collaboration on innovative climate action, including technological advancement, across all actors of society, sectors and regions, in contributing to progress towards the goals of the UNFCCC conferences;

b) § 20 of Action Line C7 (E-environment) of the Geneva Plan of Action of the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, 2003), calling for the establishment of monitoring systems using ICTs to forecast and monitor the impact of natural and man-made disasters, particularly in developing countries;

c) the Nairobi Declaration on the Environmentally Sound Management of Electrical and Electronic Waste, and the adoption by the ninth Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention of the Work Plan for the Environmentally Sound Management of E-waste, focusing on the needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition;

d) the outcome document adopted by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro, 2012), entitled "The Future We Want", reflecting the renewed commitment to advancing sustainable development and achieving environmental sustainability,

considering

a) the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the reports of its working groups, which aim to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information regarding climate change, in particular the report of Working Group III, in its sixth edition in 2022, which calculated that that global GHG emissions had continued to grow at high absolute rates, albeit with a decline from 2.1 per cent per year between 2000 and 2009 to 1.3 per cent per year between 2010 and 2019, and the report of Working Group II, in its sixth edition in 2022, which concluded that climate-resilient development prospects will be increasingly limited if current GHG emissions do not rapidly decline, especially if 1.5°C global warming is exceeded in the near term;

b) that climate change is acknowledged as a potential threat to all countries, having an effect on global warming, changing weather patterns, rising sea levels, desertification and shrinking ice cover, and other long-term effects, such that it needs a global response, and that telecommunications/ICTs can contribute to that response;

c) that the impact of climate-change effects will be severe for developing and least developed countries that are less prepared for climate change and its consequences, and that these countries could be exposed to incalculable dangers and considerable losses, including the consequences of rising sea levels for many of their coastal areas,

considering further

a) that telecommunications/ICTs play an important and significant role in protecting the environment and in promoting innovative and sustainable development activities presenting relatively low risk to the environment, through varied activities in monitoring, observing, detecting, responding to and mitigating the various threats associated with climate change and in disaster prediction and relief, and that the use of telecommunications/ICTS can help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals;

b) that there is growing research considering the environmental impact of telecommunications/ICTs; however, it is still difficult to estimate the total net effect of ICTs on climate change, including both positive and negative aspects;

c) the role ITU can play in assisting Member States in the use of ICTs for monitoring, observing, detecting, responding to and mitigating the various threats associated with climate change and for disaster prediction and relief, and through the consideration of telecommunication/ICT solutions for efficient water-resource and e-waste management, and that the strategic plan for the Union gives clear priority to combating climate change using ICTs;

d) that, since telecommunications/ICTs also contribute to climate change through GHG and other emissions, the necessary priority must be given to reducing GHG emissions and energy consumption;

e) that other environmental impacts associated with use of ICTs are worth considering, in particular the amount of raw material and natural resources (fossil energy sources and minerals) needed by manufacturers of devices and network equipment that could be mitigated through equipment design and measures to extend the lifespan of digital equipment;

f) that the use of telecommunications/ICTs can have an enabling effect in reducing GHG emissions generated by other sectors of the economy, through the use of telecommunications/ICTs in ways that replace services or increase efficiency in the sectors concerned, although there is the risk that this positive effect might be offset by an increase in the use of telecommunications or "rebound effect" in the sectors concerned;

g) the decarbonization trajectory for the ICT sector developed jointly by ITU-T, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), stipulating a 45-per-cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and the associated recommendation defining net zero;

h) that remote-sensing applications on board satellites and other radiocommunication systems are important tools for climate monitoring, environmental observation, disaster prediction, detection of illegal deforestation, tracking the extent, pace and acceleration of climate change, and detection and mitigation of the negative effects of climate change;

i) that other technologies are currently being developed and deployed for climate monitoring, including, but not limited to, oceanic sensing technology, which may be deployed through or using submarine cables, including the Science Monitoring and Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) initiative, for better knowledge of climate evolution;

j) the Our 2050 World campaign, backed by the United Nations' Race to Zero campaign, which advances the London Declaration, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization, which commits signatories to embed climate considerations in all standards to accelerate the achievement of climate goals,

aware

that developing countries face additional challenges in addressing the effects of climate change, including natural disasters related to climate change, and in establishing new telecommunication/ICT facilities in their national networks, whence the need for ITU to provide guidance and assistance, which will vary from one region to another and between countries,

bearing in mind

a) that 195 countries have ratified the UNFCCC Protocol and have committed to reduce their GHG emission levels to targets that are mainly set below their 1990 levels;

b) that the countries that have submitted plans in response to the Copenhagen Accord have specified which steps they are prepared to take to reduce their carbon intensity in the current decade,

noting

a) that the current ITU-T Study Group 5 is the lead ITU-T study group on climate change, electromagnetic compatibility, resistibility and lightning protection, soft error caused by particle radiations, human exposure to electromagnetic field, circular economy and e-waste management;

b) that there are other international bodies that are working on climate-change issues, including UNFCCC, and that ITU should collaborate, within its mandate, with those entities;

c) that the development and deployment of telecommunications/ICTs has resulted in innovative outcomes, including, but not limited to, better energy management, recognition of the contribution of the entire lifecycle of telecommunications/ICTs on climate change, and the benefits that accrue from the comprehensive deployment of telecommunications/ICTs,

resolves

that ITU, within its mandate and in collaboration with other organizations, address the causes and effects of climate change through the following:

1 to continue and further develop ITU activities on telecommunications/ICTs and climate change, and disaster-management planning, in order to contribute to the wider global efforts being made by Member States and the United Nations to contribute to further preventing and combating the effects of climate change;

2 to encourage improvement of the energy efficiency of telecommunications/ICTs in order to reduce the GHG emissions produced by the telecommunication/ICT sector and use of raw materials and natural resources (fossil energy sources and minerals);

3 to encourage the telecommunication/ICT sector to pursue minimum emission reductions over the decade (2020-2030), in accordance with the Paris Agreement trajectories, and to adopt SBTi guidance[2] in the short term and net-zero targets in the long term, and to report publicly on their efforts;

4 to encourage the telecommunication/ICT sector to contribute to an annual reduction in GHG emissions, through its own improvement of energy efficiency, and through working with its suppliers, and in the use of ICTs in other parts of the economy;

5 to promote awareness of the environmental issues associated with telecommunication/ICT equipment design, energy efficiency and circular economy;

6 to include, as a priority, assistance for telecommunication/ICT services and technologies to least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states;

7 to strengthen human and institutional capacity in developing countries such as those mentioned in resolves 6 above in utilizing telecommunications/ICTs to adapt to climate change and increase disaster-management preparedness;

8 to promote the benefits that accrue to the environment and society from the use of sustainable telecommunication/ICT equipment and services in bridging the standardization gap;

9 to encourage reduction of GHG emissions through the adoption of renewable energy supply in the telecommunication/ICT sector;

10 to support the use of telecommunications/ICTs in implementing smart grid, which helps reduce the waste of energy in transmission and distribution and regulate peak energy demand from consumers;

11 to continue working towards supporting smart sustainable cities and communities (SSC&C), and promote circular economy principles in the face of increasing urbanization and the use of the ICT sector in harnessing digital technologies to combat climate change;

12 to support work towards identifying the environmental protection requirements of digital technologies and towards developing strategic frameworks for assessing their environmental impacts,

instructs the Secretary-General, in collaboration with the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to continue liaising with appropriate organizations in activities related to climate change, in order to avoid duplication of work and optimize the use of resources;

2 to continue taking appropriate measures within the Union in order to contribute to the reduction of the carbon footprint (e.g. paperless meetings, videoconferences, etc.) and leverage insights regarding the efficiency of online practices developed during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic;

3 to report annually to the Council and to the next plenipotentiary conference on the progress made by ITU on implementation of this resolution;

4 to re-submit this resolution and other appropriate outcomes of ITU activities to meetings of relevant organizations, including UNFCCC, in order to reiterate the Union's commitment to sustainable global growth; and to ensure recognition of the importance of telecommunications/ICTs in mitigation and adaptation efforts as well as the critical role of ITU in this regard;

5 to continue to implement the set of principles and the theory of change set out in the United Nations' 2020-2030 Strategy for sustainability management in the United Nations system, providing a framework for environmental and social sustainability for all functions of the United Nations;

6 to cooperate with United Nations entities and others in activities related to climate change, working towards a progressive and measurable reduction in energy consumption and GHG emissions throughout the lifecycle of telecommunication/ICT equipment;

7 to report on the extent to which the telecommunication/ICT sector has contributed to the reduction of GHG and other emissions in other sectors through a reduction of their energy consumption based on methods and baselines agreed within ITU;

8 to encourage Member States in the various regions to cooperate in sharing expertise and resources and identify a regional cooperation mechanism[3], including through support from ITU regional offices, so as to assist all Member States in the region in measurement and training;

9 to continue to cooperate and collaborate with other entities within the United Nations in formulating future international efforts to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular in relation to climate-change monitoring;

10 to assist Member States, in particular developing countries, in infrastructure development and capacity building, as well as with assistance from the ITU regional offices, within the available budget of the Union, in energy-efficiency measurement and development of guidelines for efficient e-waste disposal;

11 to encourage the use of renewable energy technologies and systems, and to study and disseminate best practices in the field of renewable energy;

12 to support Member States, particularly developing countries, in adapting to and mitigating the impact of climate change in a number of areas, including smart water management, e-waste management and treatment methods and the use of ICTs in disaster prediction, early warning, mitigation and relief;

13 to leverage the ITU ICT Development Fund to assist developing and least developed countries to use telecommunications/ICTs for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change impact,

instructs the Directors of the three Bureaux, within the purview of their mandates

1 to continue promoting the benefits of using telecommunications/ICTs for monitoring, mitigating and adapting to climate change;

2 to help in the promotion of best practices and guidelines:

i) to improve the energy efficiency of telecommunication/ICT equipment;

ii) to measure the carbon footprint of the telecommunication/ICT industry;

iii) to monitor water resources through the use of telecommunications/ICTs;

iv) to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change through the use of telecommunications/ICTs;

v) to adapt telecommunications/ICTs to the effects of climate change;

vi) to enable telecommunications/ICTs to contribute to disaster prediction, early warning, mitigation and relief efforts;

vii) to promote the use and evaluate the potential of new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs to mitigate the effects of climate change and to reduce GHG emissions;

3 to support the development of peer-reviewed reports on ICTs, the environment and climate change, taking into consideration relevant studies, in particular the ongoing work of ITU-T Study Group 5 and ITU-D Study Groups 1 and 2 related to, inter alia, ICTs and climate change, and to assist affected countries with utilizing relevant applications for disaster preparedness, mitigation and response, and management of telecommunication/ICT waste;

4 to organize, in close collaboration among all three Bureaux, and within the budgetary limits of the Union, workshops and seminars to assist developing countries, by raising awareness and identifying their particular needs and challenges regarding the use of telecommunications/ICTs to address environment and climate-change issues, including e-waste collection, dismantling, refurbishment and recycling, as well as sustainable and smart management of water;

5 to conduct further studies on the impact of the use of new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs in the reduction of GHG emissions and on their role in mitigation of and adaptation to the effects of climate change,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

to ensure that ITU organizes seminars and training courses in developing countries at the regional level for the purpose of raising awareness and identifying key issues in order to generate best-practice guidelines in the area of environmental protection,

instructs the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

1 to ensure the widespread use of radiocommunications for mitigation of the negative effects of climate change and natural and man-made disasters by:

i) urging the ITU-R study groups to accelerate their work, particularly in the areas of disaster prediction, detection, mitigation and relief;

ii) continuing the development of new technologies to support or supplement advanced public protection and disaster relief applications;

2 to highlight the importance of using effective measures to monitor, predict, alert and mitigate the effects of natural disasters through coordinated and effective use of the radio-frequency spectrum,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to share the outputs of ITU-T Study Group 5 on ICTs and climate change and any other related study groups, in collaboration with other bodies, in the development and enhancement of methodologies to assess:

i) the level of energy efficiency in the telecommunication/ICT sector and the application of telecommunications/ICTs in non-ICT sectors;

ii) the complete-lifecycle GHG emissions over the entire value chain, and other environmental impacts of telecommunication/ICT equipment, in collaboration with other relevant bodies, in order to establish best practice in the sector against an agreed set of methods for quantifying such emissions, to enable the benefits of reuse, refurbishment and recycling to be quantified in order to help achieve reductions in GHG emissions both in the telecommunication/ICT sector and in the use of ICTs in other sectors;

2 to cooperate with United Nations entities and others in activities related to climate change, working towards a progressive and measurable reduction in energy consumption and GHG emissions throughout the lifecycle of telecommunication/ICT equipment;

3 to conduct work on implementing the outcomes of ITU's activities on the development of energy-saving and e-waste standards;

4 to continue the work within ITU-T aimed at bridging the gap in environmental sustainability, in particular in developing countries, and gauge the needs of the developing countries in the field of telecommunications/ICTs, the environment and climate change,

invites Member States, Sector Members and Associates

1 to continue to contribute actively to work within ITU's sphere of activities, together with other bodies, and in all international, regional and national platforms on the topic of telecommunications/ICTs and climate change, and to exchange best practices with regard to law and regulation in the area of environmental protection and management of natural resources;

2 to continue or initiate public and private programmes that include telecommunications/ICTs and climate change, giving due consideration to relevant ITU initiatives;

3 to take necessary measures to reduce negative effects of climate change by developing and using more energy-efficient ICT devices, applications and networks, as well as more efficient energy supply solutions, and through the application of telecommunications/ICTs in other fields supporting the agreed aligned trajectories towards net zero;

4 to promote recycling, reuse of telecommunication/ICT equipment and efficient disposal of e-waste from telecommunications/ICTs;

5 to promote energy-supply efficiency, including through smart grids, and increase the use of renewable sources;

6 to consider promoting the ability of end users to make informed decisions regarding telecommunications/ICTs through the publication of environmental information on the impact of devices, services and certain uses;

7 to consider encouraging telecommunication/ICT companies to share relevant information in order to assess their environmental impact on the entire value chain, and to provide assistance where appropriate;

8 to continue to support the work of ITU-R in remote sensing (active and passive) for environmental observation and other radiocommunication systems that can be used to support climate and water-resource monitoring, disaster prediction, alerting and response, in accordance with relevant WRC and RA resolutions;

9 to integrate the use of telecommunications/ICTs as an enabling tool in combating the effects of climate change into national adaptation and mitigation plans;

10 to incorporate environmental indicators, conditions and standards into their national telecommunications/ICT plans;

11 to conduct work in their countries on improving access to, and expanding the use of, alternative energy sources in the telecommunication/ICT sector;

12 to promote the introduction of ecological innovations in the telecommunication/ICT sector;

13 to adopt and implement ITU recommendations to tackle environmental challenges such as climate-change adaptation and mitigation, as well as e-waste, and to promote SSC&C;

14 to cooperate to maximize the enabling effects of telecommunications/ICTs for combating climate change and protecting the environment, while reducing their environmental footprint as much as possible;

15 to increase investments in emerging telecommunications/ICTs to contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions and adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, and to provide improved e-waste solutions;

16 to consider increasing financing for telecommunications/ICTs to assist in adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change and natural disasters.

RESOLUTION 184 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Facilitating digital inclusion initiatives for indigenous peoples

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) that Resolution 46 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) recognizes the importance of issues of concern to indigenous peoples worldwide in the determination of priority activities for the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D), and requests the Secretary-General to bring the continuous assistance provided by the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) to indigenous peoples through its activities to the attention of the next plenipotentiary conference, with a view to providing appropriate financial and human resources for the relevant actions and projects to be implemented in the telecommunication sector;

b) that Resolution 46 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) resolves to support digital inclusion of indigenous peoples in general, and in particular their participation in workshops, seminars, forums and training on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for social and economic development, and instructs the Director of BDT to carry out the necessary actions to reinforce the implementation of the Kigali Action Plan as it relates to indigenous peoples, establishing collaboration mechanisms with the Member States, other relevant regional and international organizations and cooperation agencies;

c) that the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society establishes, as a priority, the achievement of its goals with respect to indigenous peoples and communities;

d) that Article 16 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides the following: "Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-indigenous media without discrimination";

e) that the first Report of the State of the World's Indigenous Peoples (2010) contains alarming statistical data on the state of these peoples in the areas of health, human rights, education and employment, among other aspects, placing them in a situation similar to that of least developed countries (LDCs), despite the fact that some of these peoples are found in areas within the territory of developed countries;

f) the ITU rules for awarding fellowships,

recalling

a) that Article 41 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides that "The organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations shall contribute to the full realization of the provisions of this Declaration through the mobilization, inter alia, of financial cooperation and technical assistance";

b) the commitment by ITU and its Member States to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,

observing

that, in the implementation of projects for indigenous peoples, difficulties have been encountered in allocating fellowships to these peoples,

resolves

1 to adapt the rules governing the ITU fellowships to the existing ITU-D initiatives for digital inclusion, extend the provision of ITU fellowships to indigenous peoples, taking into account equitable geographical distribution, and designate other mechanisms for sharing information to enable indigenous peoples to access relevant information, considering that their special situation is equivalent to that of LDCs, so they can attend workshops, seminars, events or other types of capacity-building events organized by ITU for these specific groups towards facilitating their digital inclusion;

2 to establish collaboration and validation mechanisms with the administrations and any other relevant organization within the United Nations system, as well as with any regional and national organizations dealing with indigenous peoples, in order to facilitate the implementation of Resolution 46 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) and better identify indigenous participants in ITU events as potential beneficiaries of the said fellowships,

instructs the Secretary-General

to inform the Council on the implementation of this resolution,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

to take the necessary measures to fully implement Resolution 46 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), regarding the participation of indigenous peoples in workshops, seminars, forums and training on ICTs,

invites Member States

to promote and design mechanisms for sharing information and enable the participation of indigenous peoples in ITU workshops, seminars and events, and thus facilitate their digital inclusion.

RESOLUTION 186 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Strengthening the role of ITU with regard to transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space activities

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

Resolution 76/55, on transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space activities, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 6 December 2021, together with the associated report in Document A/76/444,

noting

Resolution 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, on bridging the digital divide,

considering

a) that ITU Member States rely, inter alia, on reliable space radiocommunication services, such as the Earth exploration-satellite service, radiocommunication satellite services, the radionavigation-satellite service and the space research service;

b) that a strategic goal of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is to ensure interference-free operations of radiocommunication systems by implementing the Radio Regulations and regional agreements, as well as updating these instruments in an efficient and timely manner through the processes of world and regional radiocommunication conferences;

c) that the world and regional radiocommunication seminars are an effective way to provide knowledge on the current regulatory framework for international radio-frequency spectrum management, ITU-R recommendations and best practices regarding the use of spectrum for both terrestrial and space services;

d) that the Radiocommunication Bureau is publishing the information received from administrations related to implementation of the due diligence procedure pursuant to Resolution 49 (Rev.WRC-19) of the World Radiocommunication Conference, and the information received from administrations related to the bringing into use of satellite frequency assignments,

taking into account

Articles 15 and 16 of the Radio Regulations,

resolves

to encourage the dissemination of information, capacity building and the sharing of best practices in the use and development of radiocommunication satellite networks/systems, with the objectives of, inter alia, bridging the digital divide and enhancing the reliability and availability of the above-mentioned satellite networks/systems,

invites the ITU Council

to consider and review any proposed cooperation agreements on the use of satellite-monitoring facilities consistent with the objectives of this resolution, in the light of their strategic and financial implications, within the budgetary limitations of the Union,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

to encourage all Member States to consider these matters in the context of Resolution 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022),

instructs the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

1 to promote access to information, upon request by administrations concerned, related to satellite-monitoring facilities, in order to address cases of harmful interference in accordance with Article 15 of the Radio Regulations, through cooperation agreements referred to under invites the ITU Council above, within the budgetary limitations of the Union, in order to implement the objectives of this resolution;

2 to make available to administrations information related to satellite-monitoring facilities;

3 to continue taking action to maintain a database on cases of harmful interference reported in accordance with relevant provisions of the Radio Regulations, in consultation with Member States concerned;

4 to continue the efforts to disseminate information and assist ITU Member States in the application of coordination and notification provisions through ITU world and regional radiocommunication seminars, workshops, ITU-R publications, software and databases;

5 to improve the ease of access to, and transparency of, the information in the Master International Frequency Register published on the ITU website on satellite frequency assignments subject to this resolution;

6 to coordinate activities, where necessary, with the Directors of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and the Telecommunication Development Bureau;

7 to report on the implementation of this resolution as appropriate,

invites Member States and Sector Members

to participate in the activities related to the implementation of this resolution, such as involvement in ITU radiocommunication seminars, sharing of best practices, and cooperation agreements on the use of satellite-monitoring facilities in order to address cases of harmful interference in accordance with Article 15 of the Radio Regulations.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] https://sciencebasedtargets.org/sectors/ict and Recommendation ITU-T L.1470 and L.1471.

[3] To be formalized by the relevant regional meetings.

RESOLUTION 188 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Combating counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/information
and communication technology devices

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 177 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on conformance and interoperability (C&I);

b) Resolution 47 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on enhancement of knowledge and effective application of ITU recommendations in developing countries[1], including C&I testing of systems manufactured on the basis of ITU recommendations;

c) Resolution 79 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on the role of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) in combating and dealing with counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices;

d) Resolution 182 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the role of telecommunications/ICTs in regard to climate change and protection of the environment;

e) Resolution 76 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on studies related to C&I testing, assistance to developing countries, and a possible future ITU Mark programme,

recognizing

a) the noticeable growing sale and circulation of counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices in the markets, which have a negative impact on governments, manufacturers, vendors and consumers;

b) that counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices may have a negative impact on security and quality of service for users;

c) that counterfeit telecommunication/ICT devices often contain illegal and unacceptable levels of hazardous substances, threatening consumers and the environment;

d) that several countries have introduced some awareness-raising campaigns, practices and regulations in their markets in order to limit and deter counterfeit products and devices, which have had a positive impact, and that developing countries may benefit from these experiences;

e) that Recommendation ITU-T X.1255 of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), which is based on the digital object architecture, provides a framework for discovery of identity-management information;

f) that unique telecommunication/ICT device identifiers adopted by Member States and industry have demonstrated that they can limit and deter the use of counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices;

g) that industry initiatives have been created to establish collaboration between operators, manufacturers and consumers in combating counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices;

h) that Member States, industry and other stakeholders face significant and different challenges in finding effective solutions to combat counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices, given the innovative and creative ways used by persons engaged in this illicit activity to evade enforcement/legal measures and the different environments in which they operate;

i) that ITU's Conformity and Interoperability and Bridging Standardization Gap programmes are intended to help by bringing clarity to standardization processes and product conformity with international standards;

j) that providing interoperability, safety and reliability of telecommunication/ICT devices should be a key objective of ITU recommendations;

k) that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Criminal Police Organization, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and other international organizations may provide relevant support to Member States in combating counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices;

l) that adopting solutions based on international standards and practices may facilitate the identification of counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices,

considering

a) that, in general, telecommunication/ICT devices that do not comply with a country's applicable national conformity processes and regulatory requirements or other applicable legal requirements should be considered unauthorized for sale and/or activation on telecommunication networks of that country;

b) that ITU and other relevant stakeholders have key roles to play in fostering coordination between the parties concerned in order to study the impact of counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices and the mechanism for limiting their use and to identify ways of dealing with them internationally and regionally;

c) the importance of maintaining user connectivity,

aware

a) that governments play an important role in combating the manufacture and international trade of counterfeit telecommunication/ICT devices by formulating appropriate strategies, policies and legislation;

b) that related work and studies in relevant ITU-T and ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) study groups could assist in combating and dealing with counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices, in particular ITU-T Study Groups 5, 11, 17 and 20 and ITU-D Study Group 2;

c) that tampered telecommunication/ICT devices, especially when replicating a legitimate unique identifier, may diminish the effectiveness of solutions adopted by the Member States and industry to address counterfeiting;

d) that there is currently cooperation with other standards-development organizations (SDOs), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Health Organization and WCO on matters related to counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices;

e) that in promoting and adopting solutions there is a need to share best practice and build cooperation, confidence and trust among all stakeholders;

f) that industry plays an important role in combating counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices by cooperating and sharing information with relevant stakeholders to identify and deter the use and proliferation of these devices,

resolves

to explore all ways and means to combat counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices in order to protect ITU members and other stakeholders from their negative impacts,

instructs the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to assist Member States, particularly developing countries, in addressing their concerns with respect to counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices, including conformity assessment systems, through information-sharing, seminars and workshops on best practices, existing solutions and support, at the regional or global level;

2 to assist all the membership, considering relevant ITU-T recommendations, and collaborate with other telecommunication/ICT SDOs and regional and international organizations related to combating counterfeiting, in taking the necessary actions to prevent and detect the tampering (unauthorized changing) and/or replication of unique telecommunication/ICT device identifiers;

3 to encourage the membership to implement solutions to mitigate the challenges emerging from counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in collaboration with the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to assist Member States, especially developing countries, in developing a framework for restricting the use and proliferation of counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices;

2 to facilitate cooperation at the regional level and between regions on combating counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices;

3 to submit a report to the ITU Council on activities related to this resolution and recommended actions for its consideration and endorsement,

invites Member States

1 to take all necessary measures to combat counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices and to review and update their regulations, if necessary;

2 to cooperate and exchange expertise among themselves in this area;

3 to support and encourage participation in industry programmes combating counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices;

4 to work in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders, such as, WTO, WIPO and WCO, on activities relating to combating counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices, including restricting the trading, export/import and circulation of these telecommunication/ICT devices internationally,

invites all the membership

1 to participate actively in ITU studies relating to combating counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices in the relevant ITU-T and ITU-D study groups;

2 to take the necessary actions to prevent or detect tampering (unauthorized changing) of unique telecommunication/ICT device identifiers;

3 to raise awareness among consumers regarding the negative impacts of counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices;

4 to share information on best practices and solutions in combating counterfeit and tampered telecommunication/ICT devices, developed by industry and/or governments,

further invites Member States and Sector Members

to bear in mind the legal and regulatory frameworks of other countries concerning equipment that negatively affects the quality of their telecommunication infrastructure and services, in particular recognizing the concerns of developing countries with respect to counterfeit equipment.

RESOLUTION 189 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Assisting Member States to combat and deter mobile device theft

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 196 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on protecting telecommunication service users/consumers,

b) Resolution 174 (Rev. Busan, 2014) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on ITU's role with regard to international public policy issues relating to the risk of illicit use of information and communication technologies (ICTs);

c) Resolution 97 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on combating mobile telecommunication device theft;

d) Resolution 64 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on protecting and supporting users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services,

e) Resolution 84 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on combating mobile telecommunication device theft,

considering

a) that the positive impact of mobile telecommunications, technological progress and development generated by all related services have increased the penetration of mobile telecommunication/ICT devices;

b) that thieves steal expensive personal commodities, including mobile devices;

c) that the widespread use of mobile telecommunications in the world has also been accompanied by a rise in the problem of mobile device theft;

d) that the act of mobile device theft can sometimes have a negative impact on the health and safety of citizens, on users' data and on their sense of security and confidence in the use of ICTs;

e) that some governments have implemented laws to make it illegal to modify unique identifiers in mobile devices;

f) that problems that occur around the crimes related to mobile device theft have become a worldwide issue, since these stolen devices may be of high monetary value and are often very easily resold on the international markets;

g) that the illicit trading of stolen mobile devices constitutes a risk to consumers and causes loss of revenue for the industry;

h) that some governments as well as industry have implemented regulations, law-enforcement actions, policies and technological mechanisms to prevent and combat mobile device theft;

i) that ITU can assist all members in the use of relevant ITU recommendations and play a positive role by offering all interested parties a platform for encouraging discussions, the exchange of best practices, industry cooperation to define technical guidelines and the dissemination of information on combating mobile device theft;

j) that most manufacturers of mobile devices and operating system vendors, as well as operators, offer solutions for consumers, such as free anti-theft applications and re-activation prevention tools, with the aim of reducing the rate of mobile device theft,

recognizing

a) that, in several regions, tampering (unauthorized changing) or replication of mobile telecommunication/ICT device unique identifiers has become a means of unlawful use of stolen mobile devices;

b) that tampering (unauthorized changing) of unique identifiers adversely affects holders of genuine devices when their unique identifier is replicated in other devices and, as a result, the use of these genuine devices in the mobile networks is being blocked;

c) that it is important to find innovative solutions and implement national, regional and worldwide strategies to fight mobile device theft;

d) that several Member States have adopted policies and regulations with the aim of ensuring that mobile-service providers generate and share information on stolen mobile device databases at national and international level, and that the implementation of these policies and regulations may serve as a tool to stop the reuse of those devices;

e) that it is becoming important to continue searching for and adopting innovative solutions in order to deter mobile device theft,

concerned

that the rate of mobile device theft in some regions of the world remains high, despite efforts made in recent years,

aware

that manufacturers, operators and industry associations have been developing different technological solutions and governments have been developing policies and, in some cases, regulations to address the global problem of mobile device theft,

resolves

to explore and encourage the development of ways and means to continue to combat and deter mobile device theft and its negative effects, taking into account considering d) above,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in coordination with the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau and the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to compile and share information on technical solutions and on best practices developed by governments, industry and other stakeholders in combating mobile device theft, especially from regions where the rate of mobile device theft has fallen;

2 to consult with the relevant ITU Radiocommunication Sector and ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector study groups, manufacturers of mobile devices, manufacturers of telecommunication network components, operators and other telecommunication standards-development organizations related to these matters, such as the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), in order to identify existing and future technological measures, both software and hardware, to mitigate the use of stolen mobile devices;

3 to provide assistance, within the Union's expertise and within available resources, as appropriate, in cooperation with relevant organizations, to Member States, if so requested, in order to reduce mobile device theft and the use of stolen mobile devices in their countries, and also spread best practices in combating mobile device theft;

4 to share information and experiences about measures related to tampering (unauthorized changing) of unique mobile telecommunication/ICT device identifiers which may prevent tampered devices from accessing mobile networks,

instructs the Secretary-General

to report to the ITU Council, as appropriate, on progress of the work,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to contribute to the studies and experiences in this area;

2 to facilitate education and awareness initiatives, as needed, in order to reduce the use of stolen mobile devices by users;

3 to adopt measures to exchange information on the unique identifiers of mobile telecommunication/ICT devices reported as stolen or lost in other countries and regions, taking necessary actions to protect users' data, taking into account national and regional legal frameworks, and measures to block the use of these devices in their mobile networks;

4 to take the necessary actions to prevent, discover and control tampering (unauthorized changing) and replication of unique mobile telecommunication/ICT device identifiers, and prevent devices with tampered/replicated identifiers from accessing mobile networks;

5 to urge the industry and manufacturers of mobile devices to adopt measures to prevent the tampering (unauthorized changing) of unique mobile telecommunication/ICT device identifiers;

6 to share information and experiences on controlling the tampering (unauthorized changing) of unique mobile telecommunication/ICT device identifiers.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 191 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Strategy for the coordination of efforts among
the three Sectors of the Union

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

noting

a) Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027;

b) Resolution ITU-R 6-3 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) of the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA), on liaison and collaboration with the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), and Resolution ITU-R 7-4 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) of RA, on telecommunication development including liaison and collaboration with the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D);

c) Resolution 18 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), on principles and procedures for the allocation of work to, and strengthening coordination and cooperation among, the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), ITU-T and ITU-D;

d) Resolution 5 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on enhanced participation by developing countries[1] in the activities of the Union;

e) Resolution 59 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on strengthening coordination and cooperation among the three ITU Sectors on matters of mutual interest;

f) the establishment of the Inter-Sector Coordination Group on issues of mutual interest (ISCG), set up under decisions of the Sector advisory groups, and of the Inter-Sectoral Coordination Task Force (ISC-TF), headed by the Deputy Secretary-General, to eliminate duplication of effort and optimize the use of resources,

considering

a) the purposes of the Union listed in Article 1 of the ITU Constitution;

b) the role assigned to each of the three Sectors and to the General Secretariat to contribute to fulfilling the purposes and achieving the objectives of the Union;

c) that the responsibilities of ITU-R, ITU-T and ITU-D are enshrined in the Constitution and the ITU Convention, in particular No. 119 of the Constitution and Nos. 151-154 (relating to ITU-R), No. 193 (relating to ITU-T), Nos. 211 and 214 (relating to ITU-D) and No. 215 of the Convention;

d) that a basic principle for cooperation and collaboration among ITU-R, ITU-T and ITU-D is the need to avoid duplication of the Sectors' activities, and to ensure that work is undertaken efficiently and effectively;

e) that RA, WTSA and WTDC have also identified common areas where work is to be done and that require the internal coordination within ITU;

f) that ISCG, which is composed of representatives from the three Sector advisory groups, works to identify subjects of common interest and mechanisms to enhance collaboration and cooperation among the Sectors and the General Secretariat, based on contributions received, and considers also reports from the Directors of the Bureaux and ISC-TF on options for improving cooperation and coordination within the secretariat;

g) that interaction and coordination in the joint holding of seminars, workshops, forums, symposia and so forth have yielded positive results in terms of saving financial and human resources,

recognizing

a) the growing number of areas for common studies carried out by the three Sectors and the related need for coordination and cooperation among the Sectors, providing an integrated approach within the framework of "One ITU";

b) the need for developing countries to acquire tools to strengthen their telecommunication sector;

c) that, despite efforts made, levels of participation by developing countries in the activities of ITU-R and ITU-T are not sufficient, so that it is increasingly necessary to strengthen ITU-R and ITU-T coordination and cooperation with ITU-D;

d) the catalysing role of ITU-D, which seeks optimal resource use so that capacities can be built in developing countries;

e) the need to achieve better representation of the vision and needs of developing countries in the activities and work carried out in ITU-R and ITU-T;

f) that, given the growing number of issues of mutual interest related to the three Sectors, such as development of telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) systems, international mobile telecommunications (IMT), big data, artificial intelligence, emergency telecommunications, telecommunications/ICT and climate change, cybersecurity, access to telecommunications/ICT for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs, conformance and interoperability of telecommunication/ICT equipment and systems, and better use of scarce resources, among others, an integrative approach from the Union is increasingly required;

g) that coordinated and complementary efforts make it possible to reach more Member States, with greater impact, so as to bridge the digital divide and the standardization gap, as well as contributing to better radio-frequency spectrum management,

bearing in mind

a) that the activities of inter-Sector teams facilitate collaboration and coordination of activities within the Union;

b) that consultations and discussions among the three Sector advisory groups regarding the mechanisms and means needed for better cooperation among them need to constantly occur and to be incentivized;

c) that these actions should continue to be systematized in a comprehensive strategy whose results are measured and monitored;

d) that this would provide the Union with a tool for correcting deficiencies and building on success;

e) that ISCG and ISC-TF are effective tools contributing to the development of an integrated strategy;

f) that inter-Sector collaboration and coordination should be headed by the General Secretariat, in close collaboration with the Directors of the three Bureaux;

g) the ability of the regional presence to reflect ITU as a whole and play an integral role in the preparation and coordination of activities in the region,

resolves

1 that the Radiocommunication Advisory Group (RAG), the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) and the Telecommunication Development Advisory Group (TDAG), including through ISCG, shall continue to consider current and new activities and their distribution among ITU-R, ITU-T and ITU-D for approval by the ITU Member States in accordance with the procedures for approval of new and revised study questions, meeting jointly as necessary;

2 that, in order to achieve "One ITU", it is crucial that all ITU Sectors coordinate their regional projects and activities with full involvement of the regional and area offices, as they are the focal points and representatives of all three ITU Sectors and the General Secretariat at the regional level,

invites

1 RAG, TSAG and TDAG to continue to assist ISCG in identifying subjects of mutual interest to the three Sectors and mechanisms to enhance their cooperation and collaboration, paying particular attention to the interests of developing countries;

2 the Directors of the Radiocommunication, Telecommunication Standardization and Telecommunication Development Bureaux and ISC-TF to report to ISCG and the respective Sector advisory groups on options for improving cooperation at the secretariat level to ensure that close coordination is maximized,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to continue enhancing a coordination and cooperation strategy for effective and efficient efforts in areas of mutual interest to the three ITU Sectors and the General Secretariat, in order to avoid duplication of effort and optimize the use of resources of the Union;

2 to identify all forms and examples of overlapping functions and activities among ITU Sectors as well as the General Secretariat, and propose solutions to address them;

3 to update the list containing the areas of mutual interest to the three Sectors and the General Secretariat pursuant to the mandates of each ITU assembly and conference;

4 to submit to the ITU Council and to the Plenipotentiary Conference reports on the coordination activities carried out among the different Sectors and the General Secretariat in each such area, as well as the results obtained;

5 to continue to ensure close interaction and regular exchange of information between ISCG and ISC-TF;

6 to provide visible and accessible information on ISCG activities and a dedicated, user-friendly ISCG website in all official languages of the Union, subject to available financial resources;

7 to present a report to the next plenipotentiary conference on the implementation of this resolution;

8 to enhance coordination and collaboration between the three ITU Sectors and the General Secretariat in the implementation of their regional activities through the regional offices,

instructs the ITU Council

to include coordination of the work of the three ITU Sectors and the General Secretariat on the agenda of its meetings so as to follow its evolution and take decisions to ensure its implementation,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to ensure reporting to the Council of the coordination activities carried out among the different Sectors in each area identified as being of mutual interest, as well as the results obtained;

2 to identify all forms and examples of overlapping functions and activities between ITU Sectors as well as the General Secretariat, and propose solutions to address them;

3 to share and implement the regional projects and activities of all ITU Sectors through the regional offices;

4 to ensure that the agendas of the respective advisory groups include coordination with the other Sectors, so that strategies and actions are suggested for optimal development of the areas of common interest;

5 to provide support to ISCG and to the Sector advisory groups in the inter-Sector coordination activity in areas of mutual interest,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 when preparing proposals submitted to conferences and assemblies of the ITU Sectors, as well as ITU plenipotentiary conferences, to take into account the specifics of the activities of the Sectors and the General Secretariat, the need for coordination of their activities, and the need to avoid duplication of activities of various entities of the Union;

2 when making decisions at conferences and assemblies of the Union, to act in accordance with Nos. 92, 115, 142 and 147 of the Constitution;

3 to support efforts to improve inter-Sector coordination, including taking an active part in groups established by the Sector advisory groups in respect of coordination activities.

RESOLUTION 193 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Support and assistance for Iraq to continue rebuilding and developing
its telecommunication/information and communication technology sector

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) the noble principles, purpose and objectives enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

b) the efforts of the United Nations to promote sustainable development and the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning the situation;

c) the purposes of the Union as listed in Article 1 of the ITU Constitution;

d) § 16 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles adopted by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS);

e) § 15 of the Tunis Commitment adopted by WSIS,

recognizing

a) that a reliable telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) network infrastructure and related services used appropriately are indispensable to support the social and economic development of nations, particularly those that have suffered natural disasters or wars;

b) that telecommunication/ICT facilities in Iraq have suffered enormous damage as a result of wars and conflicts;

c) that the damage to Iraq's telecommunication/ICT systems and the related illicit use of ICT services are matters of concern for the international community and relevant bodies/agencies;

d) that Resolution 51 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference provides for support and assistance for Iraq to continue rebuilding and overhauling its telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, establishing institutions, developing human resources and setting tariffs;

e) that Iraq has received some assistance, yet the work of rebuilding and developing telecommunication/ICT systems in Iraq still requires focused attention and support;

f) that Iraq will be unable to bring its telecommunication/ICT systems up to an acceptable international level without help from the international community, provided bilaterally or through international organizations,

considering

a) that such efforts will help rebuild and modernize the telecommunication/ICT systems;

b) that such efforts will also strengthen the capacity of Iraq's administrative and security systems to meet the country's economic, service and security needs in the telecommunication/ICT sector,

resolves

1 that it is necessary to undertake special, clearly-defined actions within the framework of ITU on the basis of a clearly-defined timetable and action plan agreed between the Union and the Iraqi Administration, in order to implement this resolution to provide appropriate support for Iraq to:

– continue rebuilding, overhauling and developing its telecommunication/ICT systems;

– establish relevant ICT institutions and assist in the assignment of appropriate tariffs;

2 to allocate, within the available resources, the necessary technical expertise within or external to the Union for the implementation of this resolution;

3 to build and develop human resources and capacity by instituting training programmes inside and outside Iraqi territory as necessary, for experts to address the shortfall in expertise in key areas, meeting requests from the Iraqi Administration for the required technical specialists and providing other forms of assistance,

invites Member States

to ensure all possible technical assistance and support to the Administration of Iraq, in:

1 rehabilitating its telecommunication/ICT sector;

2 ensuring the lawful use of ICTs in rebuilding Iraq's telecommunication/ICT systems;

3 achieving the most effective use of ICTs for economic and social benefits,

encourages Sector Members

1 to provide all forms of support and assistance to Iraq in order to increase investment in its telecommunication/ICT sector;

2 to contribute in the form of assistance to Iraq in order to build human capacities and to enhance confidence and security in the use of ICTs, in addition to technical assistance,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to provide the necessary technical resources for such actions, on the basis of an action plan and a timetable agreed with the Administration of Iraq;

2 to report on the matter periodically to the ITU Council.

RESOLUTION 196 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Protecting telecommunication service users/consumers

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 64 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, on protecting and supporting users/consumers of telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) services;

b) Article 4 of the International Telecommunication Regulations;

c) Resolution 84 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on studies concerning the protection of users of telecommunication/ICT services;

d) Resolution 188 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on combating counterfeit telecommunication/ICT devices;

e) Resolution 189 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on assisting Member States to combat and deter mobile device theft,

recognizing

a) the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, revised and approved by the United Nations General Assembly in its Resolution 70/186 of 2015, which establishes the main characteristics that consumer-protection laws should have, the institutions in charge of applying them and the compensation systems in order to be effective;

b) § 13e) of the Geneva Plan of Action of the World Summit on the Information Society, which states that governments should continue to update their domestic consumer-protection laws to respond to the new requirements of the information society;

c) the Best Practice Guidelines of the ITU Global Symposium for Regulators 2019, which state that regulatory expertise needs to be developed continuously to integrate new technologies, competencies and skills and allow for data and evidence-based decision-making,

considering

a) that consumer-related protection laws, policies and good and best practices limit fraudulent, deceitful and unfair business conduct, and such protective measures are paramount in building consumer trust and establishing a more equitable relationship between telecommunication/ICT service providers and users/consumers;

b) that, with the advancement of telecommunications/ICTs, the protection needs of users and consumers have to be updated and redefined;

c) that the development and advancement of telecommunications/ICTs must go hand in hand with strengthening the rights of users/consumers as well as building confidence and security and, to this end, regulatory policy measures are required as well as swift and resilient mechanisms to provide more and better information about products and services;

d) that, in view of the development and advancement of telecommunications/ICTs, collaboration between Member States and Sector Members is needed to keep consumer protection in line with the changes in the sector;

e) that building consumer trust in telecommunications/ICTs should be accompanied by the continuous development of policies that seek to guarantee and stimulate the provision of quality services, as well as policies and mechanisms that provide transparent, up-to-date and accurate information that is accessible and easy to read and understand for making informed decisions about services;

f) that education and dissemination of information on the suitable consumption and use of telecommunication/ICT products and services must be encouraged, mainly regarding the inputs of the digital and circular economy, since users/consumers expect to have legal access to the content and applications of these services;

g) that access to telecommunications/ICTs must be open, affordable and inclusive, paying special attention to persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs and other vulnerable groups;

h) that work is currently under way in Study Group 1 of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) on setting guidelines and good and best practices on user/consumer protection,

resolves

1 to continue work aimed at protecting users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services, and at supporting Member States in developing policies and/or regulations in this area;

2 to establish and maintain updated good and best practices on the protection of users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services;

3 that ITU-D continue to lead the work on the subject, through the ITU-D study groups, in close collaboration with the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and its study groups, as appropriate;

4 that ITU-D continue to improve digital tools that serve as a repository compiling the practices of Member States and Sector Members regarding consumer-protection issues;

5 that ITU-T continue to study consumer-protection issues, in close collaboration with ITU-D, including aspects related to international telecommunications/ICTs, according to its mandate,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to bring to the attention of decision-makers and national regulatory authorities the importance of keeping users/consumers informed about the basic characteristics, quality, security and prices of the different services offered by telecommunication/ICT service providers, and of other protection mechanisms promoting user/consumer rights;

2 to collaborate closely with the Member States in order to identify outstanding needs for the establishment of recommendations, guidelines, policies and/or regulatory frameworks for the protection of users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services;

3 to strengthen relations with other international organizations, including standards-development organizations, and bodies that participate in the protection of users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services;

4 to support the organization of international and regional forums for the dissemination of information on telecommunication/ICT user/consumer rights and for sharing experiences on good and best practices among member countries, and the implementation of technical decisions based on ITU-T recommendations, as appropriate,

invites Member States

1 to encourage the creation and promotion of policies and/or regulations that ensure the timely delivery of free-of-charge, transparent, up-to-date and accurate information to end users/consumers about telecommunication/ICT services, tariffs and prices, including international roaming, as well as relevant applicable conditions, including on the basis of relevant ITU outputs;

2 to provide inputs to the ITU-D and ITU-T study groups having the relevant mandates on issues pertaining to the protection of users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services which allow the dissemination of good and best practices and policies that have been implemented in order to increase the ability to develop public policies related to legal, regulatory and technical measures to address the protection of users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services, including user/consumer data;

3 to share good and best practices and public policies which have yielded beneficial outcomes for users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services, in order to replicate those measures and adapt them to the characteristics of each country;

4 to promote policies that foster the provision of telecommunication/ICT services in a manner that delivers adequate quality to the users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services, based, inter alia, on ITU-T recommendations;

5 to promote competition in the provision of telecommunication/ICT services, encouraging the formulation of policies, strategies or regulations that drive competitive prices;

6 to take into account national, regional and international good and best practices, mechanisms and recommendations for the provision of complete and accurate information to users/consumers by telecommunication/ICT service providers;

7 to use and contribute to ITU digital tools and to implement practices and mechanisms to address consumer-protection issues,

invites Member States, Sector Members and Associates

1 to participate and contribute actively in the work of the relevant ITU-D and ITU-T study groups on topics related to consumer-protection issues to allow the dissemination of good and best practices and policies related to the protection of users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services;

2 to promote and cultivate an environment conducive to the protection of users/consumers of telecommunication/ICT services;

3 to foster activities that promote confidence and security in the use and operation of telecommunication/ICT services.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 197 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Facilitating the Internet of Things and smart sustainable cities
and communities

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 85 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on facilitating the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart sustainable cities and communities (SSC&C) for global development;

b) Resolution 98 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), on enhancing the standardization of IoT and SSC&C for global development;

c) Resolution ITU-R 66-1 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) of the Radiocommunication Assembly, on studies related to wireless systems and applications for the development of IoT;

d) Resolution 139 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) to bridge the digital divide and build an inclusive information society;

e) Resolution 200 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the Connect 2030 Agenda for global telecommunication/ICT, including broadband, for sustainable development;

f) Resolution 176 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on measurement and assessment concerns related to human exposure to electromagnetic fields;

g) Resolution 201 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on creating an enabling environment for the deployment and use of ICT applications;

h) Resolution 90 (Hammamet, 2016) of WTSA, on open source in the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T);

i) relevant World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) action lines and relevant goals under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9 and 11;

j) Resolution 130 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on strengthening the role of ITU in building confidence and security in the use of ICTs,

taking into account

a) the work, studies and outcomes of ITU-T Study Group 20 on IoT and SSC&C;

b) the work, studies and outcomes of other relevant ITU study groups related to the scope of this resolution, including ITU-T Study Groups 2, 3, 5, 11, 13, 16 and 17, Study Group 2 of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) and Study Group 5 of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R);

c) the work of the United for Smart and Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative;

d) the Kigali Action Plan adopted by WTDC-22, and particularly regional initiatives related to IoT and SSC&C;

e) the ongoing collaboration among the relevant ITU study groups and with other relevant organizations and standards-development organizations (SDOs), including the Joint Smart Cities Task Force established by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and ITU with the aim of building synergies and sharing information among IEC, ISO and ITU-T,

considering

a) that a globally connected IoT world will be built on the connectivity and functionality made possible by telecommunication networks;

b) that the globally connected world also requires considerable enhancement of transmission speed, device connectivity and energy efficiency to accommodate the significant amounts of data exchanged among a plethora of devices;

c) that the rapid development of IoT-related and emerging technologies could enable the globally connected world to be realized faster than expected;

d) that IoT is playing a fundamental role in various fields, including energy, transportation, health, management of urban and rural spaces and SSC&C, agriculture, emergencies, crisis and disaster management, public safety, and home networks, and benefits developing countries[1] as well as developed countries;

e) that IoT is evolving to support a wide variety of applications and use cases involving various stakeholders and can be a key enabler for conventional and emerging telecommunications/ICTs;

f) that relevant ITU study groups as well as industry forums, consortia and other SDOs are working on the development of various standards and/or technical specifications for IoT;

g) that the impact of IoT is becoming more pervasive and far-reaching thanks to the wide range of applications in both ICT and non-ICT sectors;

h) that, considering the limited financial and human resources in developing countries, special attention should be given to developing countries, in order to help them deploy necessary infrastructures to facilitate the interconnectivity of things;

i) that SSC&C can use IoT to discover and respond to regional and/or global crises;

j) that, in IoT and SSC&C environments, connected devices and applications represent a diverse range of ecosystems;

k) that security aspects play a key role in the development of reliable and secure IoT ecosystems,

recognizing

a) the role of ITU-T in carrying out studies and standardization work associated with IoT and its applications, including SSC&C, and its activities in coordinating with other organizations;

b) the role of ITU-R in conducting studies on the technical and operational aspects of radio networks and systems for IoT;

c) the role of ITU-D in encouraging telecommunication/ICT development at the global level, and in particular the relevant work carried out by the ITU-D study groups;

d) the need to continue to collaborate with other relevant organizations, including relevant industry forums, consortia and SDOs, such as through participation in ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1);

e) that Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) contributes to the development of IoT;

f) that cooperation between all relevant organizations and communities to raise greater awareness and to promote the adoption of IPv6 within Member States and through capacity building within the mandate of the Union is desired;

g) the work of the Joint Coordination Activity on IoT and SSC&C;

h) that much progress has been made in efforts to develop collaboration between ITU-T and other organizations, including, but not limited to, active participation in different committees and working groups of ISO/IEC JTC 1;

i) that the development of IoT creates new opportunities in non-ICT sectors, including a wide range of verticals and industries, thus exerting an impact on economic growth, including the digital economy, and helping to achieve the 17 SDGs adopted in Resolution 70/1 of the United Nations General Assembly;

j) the challenges and opportunities related to the widespread use of a large number of IoT devices, and their potential impact;

k) the importance of continuing the work on IoT and SSC&C, within the mandate of ITU,

bearing in mind

a) the wide variety of use cases and applications, and the need for IoT to be open and adaptable;

b) that interoperability is required in many sectors in order to develop services enabled by IoT (IoT services) at the global level, with mutual collaboration among relevant organizations and entities, including other SDOs involved in developing and using open standards, to the greatest extent practicable;

c) that industry forums are developing technical specifications for IoT and SSC&C;

d) that the application of IoT is expected to encompass all sectors, including, but not limited to, energy, transportation, health, agriculture, etc. and that it will be necessary to take into account the different aims and requirements of different sectors;

e) that wider adoption of SSC&C can accelerate the development of community-service infrastructure, cities, industrial complexes and logistics;

f) that it is important to encourage the participation of all relevant organizations or entities around the world to promote the early establishment and expansion of IoT and SSC&C;

g) that globally connecting the world through IoT and SSC&C could also contribute to achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular SDG 11;

h) that U4SSC is a United Nations initiative coordinated by ITU, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme for the achievement of SDG 11;

i) that the development and implementation of IoT and the creation of SSC&C will hinge on the active participation of governments, industry and other relevant international and regional organizations and stakeholders;

j) that special support should be given to developing countries, as they may have limited resources to build an inclusive society,

resolves

1 to promote investment in and development of IoT and SSC&C in order to support the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

2 to continue and further develop studies and activities on IoT and SSC&C within the remit of ITU, in order to promote the development of IoT and SSC&C and address any possible challenges for ITU members and relevant stakeholders,

instructs the Secretary-General, in consultation and collaboration with the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to coordinate the IoT and SSC&C activities of the Union to implement this resolution;

2 to facilitate the exchange of experiences, best practices and information with all relevant organizations and entities involved in IoT and SSC&C, with the aim of creating opportunities for cooperative efforts to support the deployment of IoT;

3 to raise awareness among ITU members of the opportunities and challenges for developing countries in the adoption of IoT, and to facilitate the exchange of experiences, best practices and information and increase cooperation with all relevant organizations and entities involved in IoT and SSC&C, with the aim of creating opportunities;

4 to submit an annual report on the results of implementation of this resolution to the ITU Council sessions;

5 to submit a report to the next plenipotentiary conference,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

1 to support the work of relevant ITU-T and ITU-R study groups on IoT and SSC&C and to facilitate the emergence of diverse services in the globally connected world, in collaboration with relevant sectors;

2 to continue cooperation with relevant organizations, including SDOs, for exchanging best practices and disseminating information to increase interoperability of IoT services, through joint workshops, training sessions, joint coordination activity groups and any other appropriate means;

3 to encourage the development of IoT and SSC&C, taking into account the outcomes of the work of the relevant ITU study groups on various aspects of IoT and SSC&C,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, in collaboration with the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau and the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

1 to promote and encourage the implementation of key performance indicators (KPIs), including U4SSC KPIs, as a method of self-assessment for SSC&C;

2 to support Member States, especially developing countries, in the organization of forums, seminars and workshops on IoT and SSC&C to promote innovation, development and growth in IoT technologies and solutions;

3 to assist developing countries in the implementation of ITU recommendations, reports and guidelines related to IoT and SSC&C,

instructs the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

to support work of the ITU-R study groups on relevant radio aspects for IoT and SSC&C,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in close collaboration with the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

1 to encourage and assist those countries which need support in adopting IoT and SSC&C, by providing relevant information, capacity building and best practices, in collaboration with relevant international and regional organizations, to enable the adoption of IoT, through seminars, workshops, etc.;

2 to provide Member States with information about the advice and support that is available from other relevant entities and organizations, including SDOs, to enable the adoption of IoT and SSC&C;

3 to support the work of ITU-D study groups on IoT and SSC&C to share best practices for ITU members within their mandates;

4 to encourage Member States to develop enabling frameworks, such as ICT strategies, for IoT and SSC&C;

5 to foster collaboration among ITU Sectors to discuss how IoT ecosystems and SSC&C technologies can further the achievement of the SDGs and the WSIS framework;

6 to provide developing countries with capacity-building opportunities in IoTs and SSC&C,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to consider the reports of the Secretary-General referred to in instructs the Secretary-General 4 above and take necessary measures so as to contribute to achieving the objectives of this resolution;

2 to report to the next plenipotentiary conference on the progress made with respect to this resolution based on the report of the Secretary-General,

invites Member States

1 to foster the development of guidelines and best practices for deployment, planning and capacity building in the field of IoT and SSC&C;

2 to cooperate in order to promote IoT and SSC&C by encouraging the active participation of relevant stakeholders and exchange of relevant information on this topic;

3 to support studies on radio-related matters on IoT and SSC&C for cost-effective deployment of IoT and SSC&C ecosystems;

4 to cooperate and share knowledge, expertise and best practices on IoT and SSC&C;

5 to encourage consultations with relevant stakeholders in the implementation of IoT and national SSC&C policy, strategies, action plans, capacity building and knowledge-sharing activities, for both the private and public sectors,

invites the ITU membership

1 to consider developing best practices, to collaborate and to exchange expertise in order to enhance the development of IoT and SSC&C;

2 to contribute to the implementation of this resolution;

3 to cooperate in order to promote IoT and SSC&C by encouraging the active participation of relevant stakeholders in the activities of ITU and exchange information, knowledge and best practices on this topic;

4 to participate actively in studies on IoT and SSC&C in the Union through contributions and by other appropriate means;

5 to encourage enterprises in various industries to participate in ITU's activities on IoT and SSC&C.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 198 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Empowerment of youth through telecommunication/information and communication technology

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) that youth under the age of 25 constitute the most active population in terms of use of the Internet;

b) that youth, in many developed and developing countries[1], face disproportionate exposure to poverty and unemployment;

c) that youth have the right to achieve full economic, social and digital inclusion;

d) that information and communication technology (ICT) is a tool with which youth can substantively contribute to, participate in and leverage their social and economic development;

e) that youth are digital natives and the best promoters of ICT;

f) that ICT tools and applications can facilitate career opportunities for youth,

recalling

a) that ICT is one of the fifteen priority areas identified under the World Programme of Action for Youth adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) through Resolution 62/126;

b) UNGA Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

c) Resolution 169 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the admission of academia to participate in the work of the Union;

d) Resolution 76 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, on promoting ICTs among young women and men for social and economic empowerment;

e) the Tunis Commitment of the 2005 phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, reaffirming Member States' commitment to empowering young people as key contributors to building an inclusive information society in order to actively engage youth in innovative ICT-based development programmes and widen opportunities for youth to be involved in e-strategy processes,

recognizing

a) international, national and regional events, including those organized by ITU, that promote the presence and representation of young women and men from all regions of the world;

b) the annual ITU Kaleidoscope academic essay competition organized by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector, targeting young ICT scientists, researchers and engineers;

c) ITU's coordination of the annual Girls in ICT Day, which encourages young women to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related to ICT;

d) the ITU Youth Strategy adopted by ITU members during the 25th meeting of the Telecommunication Development Advisory Group (June 2020), which is in line with Youth 2030: The United Nations Strategy on Youth and promotes meaningful youth engagement in digital development;

e) the progress made by ITU, and in particular the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), in the development and implementation of actions and projects that use ICT for the economic and social empowerment of youth;

f) the ITU Generation Connect initiative, which aims to engage and empower global youth, encouraging their participation as equal partners with the leaders of today's digital change to advance their vision of a connected future;

g) the substantive work of BDT on digital inclusion related to youth, including research and analysis, especially BDT's statistical monitoring and reporting on ICT data disaggregated by age;

h) ITU's support to the United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth, its active involvement in the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development and its contribution to the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Youth;

i) the ITU Youth Strategy, as the operational framework for strengthening ITU's capacities in engaging and empowering youth through ICTs;

j) the ITU Young ICT Policy Leaders initiative, launched during the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014), which gives young professionals the opportunity to participate, through national delegations, in ITU events and conferences,

resolves

1 that ITU continue to engage with youth in outreach, through communications, capacity building, development and research, from the perspective of digital inclusion;

2 that ITU mainstream youth engagement and participation in its work to support the achievement of the overall goals of the Union, encourage youth participation in ITU programmes, events and activities, and promote youth-related ICT policies within ITU Member States;

3 that ITU promote innovation, entrepreneurship and skills development, in order to provide tools for self-empowerment of youth and their satisfactory participation in the digital economy and all aspects of society;

4 that ITU should promote partnerships with academia for the purpose of youth development;

5 to accord high priority to the incorporation of young professionals in the human resources and operations of ITU;

6 to continue the work being done at ITU, and particularly in BDT, to help empower youth through ICTs by promoting policies that improve socio-economic conditions for youth, particularly in developing countries;

7 to maintain a youth perspective in the implementation of the strategic and financial plans of the Union, as well as in the operational plans of the Sectors and the General Secretariat;

8 that there is a need for ITU to investigate, analyse and further understand the impact of telecommunication/ICT on youth;

9 that all activities foreseen in this resolution should fall within the existing financial resources of the Union;

10 to note that age groups of youth shall be defined on a case-by-case basis depending on the nature of ITU activities,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to build on the initiatives carried out over the past four years and to accelerate youth empowerment in ITU as a whole, within existing budgetary resources, so as to ensure capacity building and promotion of youth;

2 to consider involving youth in the celebrations of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, in accordance with Resolution 68 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, and launching a special recognition award for young people who make outstanding contributions in the field of ICT,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to continue to ensure that the youth perspective is incorporated in the work programmes, management approaches and human resources development activities of ITU, and to submit an annual written report to the ITU Council on progress made;

2 to report to the next plenipotentiary conference on the results and progress made on the inclusion of a youth perspective in the work of ITU, and on the implementation of this resolution;

3 to bring this resolution to the attention of the United Nations Secretary-General in an effort to promote increased coordination and cooperation for development policies, programmes and projects that link ICT to the promotion and empowerment of youth;

4 to ensure coordination of ITU activities so as to avoid duplication and overlap between the three ITU Sectors where possible;

5 to strengthen the role of academia within the structures of the Union, and to increase the value of engaging with ITU for academia and youth,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to continue to advance national, regional and international events that promote ICTs that can be used by young women and men for social and economic empowerment;

2 to continue the work of BDT in promoting the use of ICT for the economic and social empowerment of youth, including, inter alia, through the implementation of the ITU Youth Strategy and the Generation Connect initiative;

3 to maintain regular monitoring, reporting and research on the uptake and use of ICT by youth, including the provision of data disaggregated by gender and age and of information on behavioural aspects that may be harmful and dangerous;

4 to continue to engage with the Directors of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and the Radiocommunication Bureau to coordinate the ongoing implementation of the ITU Youth Strategy, including the Generation Connect initiative, throughout the Union,

instructs the Directors of the three Bureaux

to continue to explore ways and means of involving young professionals in the work of the Bureaux,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to actively support and participate in the work of ITU in promoting the use of ICTs for the economic and social empowerment of youth, especially, inter alia, through the implementation of the ITU Youth Strategy and the Generation Connect initiative;

2 to promote up-to-date training for youth on ICT use, including building digital competences among youth through educational campaigns;

3 to foster collaboration with civil society and the private sector in order to promote specialized training for young innovators;

4 to further develop tools and programming guidelines in the area of promotion of youth and their social and economic empowerment;

5 to cooperate with relevant international organizations that have experience in youth economic empowerment through projects and programmes,

encourages Member States and Sector Members

1 to review and revise, as appropriate, their respective policies and practices in order to ensure the recruitment, employment, training and advancement of youth through telecommunications/ICT;

2 to promote career opportunities in the telecommunication/ICT field, including in telecommunication/ICT administrations, government and regulatory bodies and intergovernmental organizations, as well as in the private sector;

3 to attract more youth to study STEM;

4 to encourage youth to take advantage of ICT opportunities to advance their development and promote innovation and economic development at the national and international levels,

invites Member States

1 to share best practices on national approaches targeting the use of ICT for the social and economic development of youth;

2 to develop strategies for using ICT as a tool for the educational, social and economic development of youth;

3 to promote ICT for youth empowerment and involvement in the decision-making processes of the ICT sector;

4 to support ITU activities in field of ICT for the social and economic development of youth, including, inter alia, through the implementation of the ITU Youth Strategy and the Generation Connect initiative, if possible with voluntary contributions and sponsorships;

5 to consider adopting a youth delegate programme for the inclusion of young delegates, taking into account gender balance, in a country's official delegation to the major conferences of ITU, for raising awareness and knowledge and promoting interest in ICT among youth,

invites Academia

1 to continue providing the necessary structures for effective engagement with youth, through access to information, fellowships and recognition for participation in ITU activities;

2 to support youth networks so that they may act as community-based hubs and innovation centres for providing input to ITU's intellectual processes;

3 to involve young lecturers and researchers as well as students in relevant ITU activities and empower their effective participation therein, including through capacity building and skills development.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 200 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Connect 2030 Agenda for global telecommunication/information and communication technology, including broadband, for sustainable development

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) the purposes of the Union as enshrined in Article 1 of the ITU Constitution;

b) the commitment by all Member States of the United Nations to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and related targets, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in Resolution 70/1;

c) the call for close alignment between the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in UNGA Resolution 70/125;

d) the targets set by WSIS, which served as global references for improving access to and use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) in promoting the objectives of the Geneva Plan of Action, the WSIS action lines and the SDGs in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to be achieved by 2030;

e) § 98 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, which encourages strengthened and continuing cooperation between and among stakeholders and welcomes, in that respect, the ITU-led Connect the World initiative;

f) the 2025 global broadband targets of the ITU/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development to support "Connecting the Other Half";

g) the Connect 2020 Agenda for global telecommunication/ICT development agreed by ITU Member States at the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) initially adopted in Resolution 200 (Busan, 2014) of the Plenipotentiary Conference,

considering

a) the Union's dual responsibility as the United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications/ICTs and executing agency for implementing related projects under the United Nations development system;

b) the United Nations system-wide implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and efforts towards achieving the SDGs and the WSIS action lines;

c) the role of ITU as a United Nations specialized agency to support Member States and to contribute towards the worldwide efforts to achieve the SDGs and the WSIS action lines;

d) that the economic and social disruption, as well as the health emergency, caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is devastating and has put many lives at risk,

recognizing

a) the WSIS outcome documents, in particular the Geneva Plan of Action (2003) and the Tunis Agenda (2005);

b) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of WSIS outcomes, and the ITU's preparatory process for the WSIS+20 review;

c) the outcomes of the Connect series summits (Connect Africa, Connect Commonwealth of Independent States, Connect Americas, Connect Arab States and Connect Asia-Pacific) under the Connect the World global multistakeholder initiative set up within the context of WSIS;

d) the Kigali Declaration adopted by the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-22) and the Kigali Action Plan and relevant WTDC-22 resolutions, including Resolutions 30 and 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022), as well as Resolutions 135, 139 and 140 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference;

e) Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027;

f) ITU's leading role as a United Nations specialized agency in telecommunications/ICTs in the era of the global COVID-19 pandemic, launching new initiatives, work programmes and guidelines,

recognizing further

a) that telecommunications/ICTs are a key enabler to accelerate social, economic and environmentally sustainable growth and development, while the spread of ICTs and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide, and to develop knowledge societies;

b) that accelerating broadband development is a considerable challenge, especially in hard-to-reach, rural and remote areas where topography and demography make the return on investment challenging;

c) that investments in telecommunication/ICT services and technologies should also focus on all stages of development and deployment, including their mobilization for sustainable development at later stages;

d) that affordability is one of the major barriers to connectivity for the most vulnerable and excluded populations, especially for persons with disabilities and indigenous communities;

e) the need to sustain current achievements and intensify efforts in promoting and financing telecommunications/ICTs for development;

f) the global challenges of the rapidly evolving telecommunication/ICT environment;

g) the need for broadband connectivity for sustainable development;

h) that the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has not only highlighted the critical role of telecommunications/ICTs for the continued functioning of societies but has also brought to the fore the digital inequalities between and within countries;

i) that this crisis and its impact might affect the implementation and achievement of the goals of the Connect 2030 Agenda and SDGs,

resolves

1 to reaffirm a shared global vision for the development of the telecommunication sector, under the Connect 2030 Agenda envisaging an information society, empowered by the interconnected world, where telecommunications/ICTs enable and accelerate social, economic and environmentally sustainable growth and development for everyone;

2 to endorse the high-level strategic goals and targets set out in the strategic plan for the Union and global broadband targets, inspiring and inviting all stakeholders and entities to work together to implement the Connect 2030 Agenda, contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

3 to call upon Member States to continue leveraging telecommunications/ICTs as a key enabler for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs that integrate in a balanced manner the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development;

4 to reaffirm the critical role of telecommunications/ICTs in responding to and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and to further promote universal, secure, reliable and affordable connectivity in this regard, so that it contributes to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to monitor progress towards achievement of the Connect 2030 Agenda, leveraging data, among others, from the ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators database and the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development;

2 to disseminate information and share knowledge and best practices on national, regional and international initiatives contributing to the Connect 2030 Agenda;

3 to further facilitate implementation of the WSIS action lines and achievement of the SDGs assigned to the responsibility of ITU, in accordance with the Connect 2030 Agenda;

4 to present annual consolidated progress reports to the ITU Council and four-year consolidated progress reports to the Plenipotentiary Conference;

5 to bring this resolution to the attention of all interested parties, including, in particular, UNGA, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Economic and Social Council, for cooperation in its implementation;

6 to continue to support Member States, in particular developing countries[1], in their active engagement with regard to resolves 3 of this resolution;

7 to support Member States in identifying any new challenges, difficulties or tasks arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and relating to the implementation of this resolution and in taking appropriate measures to address these issues in a timely manner,

instructs the Directors of the Bureaux

to report on progress towards achievement of the objectives and outcomes of the work of each Sector, as elaborated in the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027, that contributes to the Connect 2030 Agenda,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

to coordinate the collection, provision and dissemination of indicators and statistics that measure and provide comparative analysis of progress towards achievement of the targets of the strategic plan for the Union, especially related to unserved and underserved areas, and regularly report on the progress through analytical publications and online data tools,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to review the annual progress achieved towards the accomplishment of the Connect 2030 Agenda;

2 to present an assessment of the progress towards achieving the Connect 2030 Agenda to the next plenipotentiary conference,

invites the Member States

1 to participate actively in the implementation of the Connect 2030 Agenda, and contribute with national, regional and international initiatives;

2 to invite all other stakeholders to contribute and work together towards the Connect 2030 Agenda;

3 to provide data and statistics, as appropriate, to monitor progress towards the achievement of the Connect 2030 Agenda;

4 to report national progress towards achievement of the Connect 2030 Agenda, and contribute to the database that will collect and disseminate information on national and regional initiatives contributing to the Connect 2030 Agenda;

5 to ensure that ICTs are central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, by being acknowledged as an important tool to achieve its overall SDGs and the WSIS action lines;

6 to contribute to the work of ITU, as elaborated in the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027, that contributes to the Connect 2030 Agenda;

7 to take into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on telecommunications/ICTs in the implementation of the Connect 2030 Agenda and work together with other Member States and stakeholders by sharing information, experience and expertise in this regard,

invites Sector Members, Associates and Academia

to take an active role towards implementing the Connect 2030 Agenda,

invites all stakeholders

to contribute with their initiatives and their experience, qualifications and expertise to the successful implementation of the Connect 2030 Agenda.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 203 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Connectivity to broadband networks

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

b) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society;

c) the results of the extensive work of the ITU/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, the reports of which recognize, inter alia, that affordable and accessible broadband infrastructure, with appropriate policy and strategy, is a fundamental enabling platform that fosters innovation and drives the development of national and global economies and the information society;

d) Resolution 71 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the strategic plan for the Union for 2024-2027;

e) Opinion 1 (Geneva, 2021) of the sixth World Telecommunication/Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy Forum (WTPF-21), on enabling environment for the development and deployment of new and emerging telecommunication/ICT services and technologies to advance sustainable development;

f) Opinion 2 (Geneva, 2021) of WTPF-21, on affordable and secure connectivity in mobilizing new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development;

g) the overall theme of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) (Buenos Aires, 2017), namely "ICT for Sustainable Development Goals";

h) Resolution 77 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of WTDC, on broadband technology and applications for greater growth and development of telecommunication/information and communication services and broadband connectivity, as well as study Question 1/1 of Study Group 1 of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector;

i) Resolution 9 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on participation of countries, particularly developing countries[1], in spectrum management, Resolution 10 (Rev. Hyderabad, 2010) of WTDC, on financial support for national spectrum-management programmes, and Resolution 43 (Rev. Buenos Aires, 2017) of WTDC, on assistance in implementing international mobile telecommunications (IMT) and future networks, and Resolution ITU-R 69-1 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) of the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA), on development and deployment of international public telecommunications via satellite in developing countries;

j) the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and in particular target 9.c: significantly increase access to ICT and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020;

k) Priority 1 in the Kigali Action Plan: affordable connectivity, which focuses on the use of modern, available, secure, accessible and affordable connectivity through deployment of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services for bridging the digital divides, and relevant activities on the collection and dissemination of information and analyses on the current status of broadband backbone and submarine cables, in order to assist members in network planning, avoiding duplication of efforts and resources and disseminating information;

l) Resolution 37 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on bridging the digital divide;

m) Resolution 92 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on enhancing the standardization activities in the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector related to non-radio aspects of IMT;

n) Resolution ITU-R 50-4 (Rev. Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019) of RA, on the role of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector in the ongoing development of IMT;

o) that IMT systems as well as other technologies contribute to bridging the digital divide and promote affordable broadband connectivity, in particular in developing countries,

noting

a) that broadband connectivity empowers families, people, societies and businesses, playing a fundamental role for the social, economic, cultural and environmental development of society as a whole;

b) the importance of broadband connectivity for facilitating the delivery of a broader range of digital services and applications, promoting investment and providing Internet access at affordable prices to both existing and new users in underserved and unserved areas, and bridging the existing digital divide;

c) that broadband connectivity can play a major role in providing vital information during emergency events and disaster-relief efforts;

d) that broadband connectivity is vital for social, economic, cultural and environmental development, and broadband plans, policies and strategies are important to support its deployment;

e) that broadband initiatives not only seek to bridge the digital divide but also foster broadband development in rural areas,

recognizing

a) that connectivity to broadband networks is directly and indirectly enabled and supported by many diverse technologies, including fixed and mobile terrestrial technologies and fixed and mobile satellite technologies;

b) that spectrum is essential both for the direct provision of wireless broadband connectivity to users by satellite and terrestrial means and for the underlying enabling technologies;

c) that broadband plays a vital role in transforming economies and societies, as stated in the open letter from the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development to the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014);

d) that enabling a regulatory and policy environment that promotes innovation and investment covering unserved and/or underserved areas can contribute to increasing broadband connectivity,

resolves

to work towards providing broadband access for all, which will contribute to bridging the digital divide,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

to continue to work closely with the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau and the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau on capacity-building activities that would enable countries to develop and implement their respective national strategies to facilitate the deployment of broadband networks, including wireless broadband networks, taking into account existing budgetary constraints of the Union,

instructs the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau and the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

to work in cooperation with Sector Members involved in the provision of services and applications to people, families, businesses and societal functions in order to address the need for further improved broadband networks, including wireless broadband networks, and to share relevant information, experience and expertise with the Telecommunication Development Bureau,

invites Member States

1 to further reinforce and recognize the overall socio-economic benefits of connectivity to broadband networks and services;

2 to support the development and cost-effective deployment of wireless broadband networks as part of their national broadband strategies and policies;

3 to promote widespread affordable access to broadband;

4 to facilitate connectivity to satellite and terrestrial broadband networks, including enabling access to the radio-frequency spectrum, as appropriate, as one important component of access to broadband services and applications, including to remote, underserved and unserved areas;

5 to foster an environment for improving and/or enabling the development and deployment of broadband infrastructure, including the review and updating, as necessary, of their regulatory and policy frameworks to stimulate innovative solutions and promote digital literacy through the development of new broadband technologies, leading to diverse and affordable offers to consumers;

6 to contribute to ITU studies and share best practices that advance the quality, affordability, development and deployment of broadband networks, especially for unserved and underserved areas.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 204 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Use of information and communication technologies
to bridge the financial inclusion gap

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 1353 of the ITU Council, which recognizes that telecommunications and information and communication technologies (ICTs) are essential components for developed and developing countries[1] in achieving sustainable development, and instructs the Secretary-General, in collaboration with the Directors of the Bureaux, to identify new activities to be undertaken by ITU to support developing countries in achieving sustainable development through telecommunications and ICTs;

b) Resolution 70 (Rev. Bucharest 2022) of this conference, on mainstreaming a gender perspective in ITU and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through telecommunications/ICTs,

recognizing

a) United Nations General Assembly Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which builds on the Millennium Development Goals and seeks to complete their unfinished business, and stresses the importance of the implementation of this new ambitious agenda, which has poverty eradication at its core and aims at promoting the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development;

b) that this new agenda, inter alia, undertakes the adoption and implementation of policies to increase financial inclusion and therefore integrates financial inclusion into several targets associated with the Sustainable Development Goals and their means of implementation;

c) Resolution 89 (Rev. Geneva, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, on promoting the use of ICTs to bridge the financial inclusion gap;

d) that the issue of access to financial services is one of global concern and requires global collaboration,

considering

a) that financial inclusion is a key enabler for reducing poverty and boosting prosperity: around 1.4 billion people globally do not have access to formal financial services and more than 50 per cent of adults in the poorest households are unbanked;

b) that, according to the World Bank Group's Global Findex Database 2021 report, an estimated 1.5 billion adults still lack access to a transaction account and are excluded from the formal financial system; that enhancing financial inclusion can improve resistance to economic shocks, boost productivity of businesses, facilitate female empowerment and help eradicate extreme poverty and increase shared prosperity; and that it is estimated that two thirds of the unbanked have access to a mobile telephone, which can be leveraged to gain access to financial products and services;

c) that, according to the same report, women in developing economies remain 6 per cent less likely than men to have a bank account;

d) the need for regulators from the telecommunication and financial services sectors to collaborate with one another and with, inter alia, their ministries and other stakeholders, and to share best practices, since digital financial services encompass areas which fall under the purview of all parties;

e) the role that ICTs played during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the implementation of sustainable and inclusive financial-inclusion policy reforms geared towards recovery and enabling the poor to have access to finance;

f) the growing importance of financial technology and new instruments and platforms, including mobile banking and peer-to-peer digital lending platforms, which have enabled access to financial services for millions of people;

g) that the purposes of the Union include to foster collaboration among the membership for the harmonious development of telecommunications/ICTs, sharing of best practices and enabling services to be offered at the lowest possible cost;

h) that one way to bridge this financial inclusion gap is through ICTs,

considering further

a) the reports of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Focus Group on digital financial services (FG-DFS) delivered to the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) in 2017;

b) the studies and ongoing work in relevant ITU-T and ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) study groups on digital financial services;

c) the ITU-T Study Group 3 technical report on the digital financial services glossary (2018);

d) the work undertaken under the Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (FIGI), which was established in 2017 as a joint programme of ITU, the World Bank and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) of the Bank for International Settlements, to implement the recommendations of FG-DFS and those contained in the Payment aspects of financial inclusion (PAFI) report of the World Bank and CPMI in order to contribute to the goal of universal financial access;

e) the work carried out between 2017 and 2019 by the ITU-T Focus Group on digital currency including digital fiat currency, whose mandate focused on investigating the ecosystem of digital currency and digital fiat currency with a view to identifying standardization gaps and the potential for financial inclusion, and the reports which it submitted to TSAG in 2019;

f) the establishment of the Digital Financial Services Security Lab in 2020 under FIGI to help to promote adoption of security-related best practices,

noting

a) the target of universal financial access set by the World Bank, and that this goal was not achieved globally in 2020, even though providing access to a transaction account or electronic instrument to store money and send and receive payments is the basic building block for people to manage their financial lives;

b) that interoperability is, inter alia, an important element to enable electronic payments in a convenient, affordable, fast, seamless and secure way through a transaction account; indeed, the need for interoperability was also one of the findings of the CPMI-World Bank Group PAFI Task Force, which identified required improvements to existing payment systems and services in order to increase further financial inclusion, recognizing that implementation of existing standards and best practices should be a priority;

c) the increased interest within emerging economies in using mobile financial services and applications of emerging technologies to advance financial inclusion to better reach those in need of financial aid;

d) that, despite the success of mobile financial services in several countries, mobile financial services have not had the same success and scale of usage in many emerging economies, and efforts to roll out standards and systems to support digital financial services will thus need to be continued and accelerated;

e) the importance of affordability of digital financial services, especially for low-income households, for achieving financial inclusion,

resolves

1 to continue studying the topic of digital financial services in order to increase financial inclusion in developing countries;

2 to encourage collaboration and dialogue between telecommunication regulators and financial services authorities to develop and implement standards and guidelines;

3 to encourage the use of innovative digital tools and technologies, as appropriate, to advance financial inclusion,

instructs the relevant study groups of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector, in collaboration with the relevant study groups of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector

1 to continue studying economic and policy issues, developing standards, recommendations and guidelines in the area of digital financial services, as appropriate;

2 to continue studying the areas of interoperability, digitalization of payments, consumer protection, quality of service, data monetization, agents, network security and use cases of digital financial services, where such studies, standards and guidelines require collaboration with efforts taking place in other institutions and relate to the mandate of the Union;

3 to continue efforts in the area of the collaboration among telecommunication regulators, financial regulators and central banks;

4 to coordinate and collaborate with other relevant standards-development organizations (SDOs) and institutions with primary responsibility for the development of financial services standards, implementation and capacity building, and with other groups within ITU;

5 to develop technical standards and guidelines that will allow developing countries to address the opportunities and challenges of emerging telecommunications/ICTs for digital financial services;

6 to contribute to global efforts designed to deal with enhancing the cybersecurity and cyberresilience of the digital finance ecosystem through development of international standards and industry best practices,

instructs the relevant study groups of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector

to continue studies and to gather and disseminate best practices related to digital financial inclusion,

instructs the Directors of the Telecommunication Standardization and Telecommunication Development Bureaux

1 to collaborate closely and provide information and support on the matters addressed in this resolution;

2 to support the development of reports, studies and best practices on digital financial inclusion, taking into consideration relevant studies and relevant outputs of other SDOs and institutions, within the mandate of the Union;

3 to support relevant platforms to connect digital financial service stakeholders for peer learning, dialogue and experience-sharing in digital financial services among countries and regions, regulators from the telecommunication and financial services sectors, industry experts and international and regional organizations, including the work carried out on green finance, led by the United Nations Environment Programme;

4 to continue organizing physical/virtual workshops and seminars for the ITU membership in collaboration with other relevant SDOs, academia and institutions in order to raise awareness and identify regulators' particular needs and challenges in enhancing financial inclusion, and share lessons learned from different regions;

5 to provide guidance to developing countries regarding the security of their digital financial service infrastructure,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to continue to cooperate and collaborate with other entities within the United Nations and other relevant entities in formulating future international efforts for effectively addressing financial inclusion;

2 to report to the Council upon the conclusion of the FIGI activities and to update on any next steps and related activities;

3 to submit a progress report on this resolution to the next plenipotentiary conference,

invites Member States, Sector Members and Associates

1 to continue to contribute actively to ITU-T and ITU-D study groups on issues related to the use of ICTs to enhance financial inclusion, within the mandate of the Union;

2 to promote the integration of ICTs in financial services and consumer-protection policies, with the goal of enhancing uptake of digital financial services so as to increase financial inclusion;

3 to continue their efforts to support relevant stakeholders in raising awareness of digital financial inclusion,

invites Member States

1 to contribute to the above activities and take an active part in the implementation of this resolution;

2 to develop and implement national strategies to address digital financial inclusion as a matter of priority and to leverage ICTs to bring financial services to the unbanked;

3 to include policies supporting access to financial services in national ICT and financial inclusion strategies;

4 to accelerate the leveraging of ICTs in order to achieve gender equality within the objectives of this resolution;

5 to encourage new regional initiatives for digital financial inclusion.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 205 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

ITU's role in fostering telecommunication/information and communication technology-centric innovation to support the digital economy and society

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 198 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on empowerment of youth through telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT);

b) Resolution 204 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the use of ICTs to bridge the financial inclusion gap;

c) Resolution 90 (Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), on fostering telecommunication/ICT-centric entrepreneurship and digital innovation ecosystems for sustainable digital development;

d) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 70/1, on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

e) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the UNGA high-level meeting on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS);

f) UNGA Resolution 68/220, on science, technology and innovation for development;

g) UNGA Resolution 75/1, on the declaration on the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, which included a declaration to improve digital cooperation,

considering

a) that the ongoing digital transformation of the economy and society enables innovation and promotes sustainable and inclusive economic development;

b) that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic demonstrated the critical role of telecommunications/ICTs in connecting societies and accelerating digital transformation;

c) that new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs can create opportunities and challenges that may be addressed by international collaboration;

d) that ITU's role in increasing access to and promoting development of telecommunications/ICTs contributes to the development of the digital economy, and that its benefits contribute greatly to the overall economy;

e) the Kigali Declaration and the Kigali Action Plan adopted at WTDC-22;

f) relevant WTDC and Plenipotentiary Conference resolutions, in particular Resolution 17 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of WTDC, on implementation of and cooperation on approved regional initiatives at the national, regional, interregional and global levels;

g) that the Union, among others, plays a fundamental role in providing global perspectives on the development of the information society as regards telecommunications/ICTs;

h) that the sixth World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum (WTPF-21) addressed the theme of policies for mobilizing new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development,

further recognizing

a) that telecommunication/ICT-centric entrepreneurial ecosystems are vehicles for socio-economic development and community revitalization, driving sustainable development while increasing inclusion and providing economies of scale and bridging digital divides;

b) that capacity building for all stakeholders promotes sustainable development and strengthening institutions;

c) that digital transformation can be accelerated through bridging the data divide, in turn unlocking opportunities and accelerating data-driven decision-making in support of sustainable development,

noting

a) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8 and 9 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

b) ITU's role in the organization of dedicated annual events addressing innovation dynamics at the regional and international levels;

c) that existing ITU partnerships advance programmes and initiatives that aim to improve ICT education and equip people, especially youth, with digital skills and improve digital literacy,

bearing in mind

a) that the benefits brought about by the digital economy have not been experienced equally by developing countries[1] and developed countries;

b) that both phases of WSIS made commitments to bridge the digital divide and create digital opportunities;

c) that affordability and availability of telecommunication/ICT equipment have an impact on innovation and entrepreneurship,

resolves

1 that the Union, within its mandate, should seek to foster telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation in the development and deployment of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and digital entrepreneurship that contribute to the development of the digital economy and information society and facilitate the sustainable development of telecommunications/ICTs, the benefits of which contribute greatly to the overall economy;

2 that the Union, within its mandate and existing mechanisms, should support Member States, upon request, in promoting an enabling environment for telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation by all stakeholders, including government, academia, the private sector, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), start-ups, incubation centres and young entrepreneurs, supporting relevant activities with other international agencies;

3 that the Union should continue to collaborate with other related United Nations agencies and other international organizations to assist Member States in providing capacity building related to digital skills, which are considered a core foundation for digital transformation;

4 that the Union should continue supporting WSIS action lines, consistent with its role as specified in Resolution 140 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, through responding to the global need to foster telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship that accelerate the digital transformation of society and the economy;

5 that, through cooperation with stakeholders, the Union should foster enabling environments that are conducive to institutional capacity building and sustainable telecommunication/ICT development and that encourage innovation,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to coordinate cross-Sectoral activities in the Union and collaborate with other relevant United Nations agencies and stakeholders in implementing this resolution;

2 to ensure implementation of this resolution within the allocated resources in the financial plan and biennial budget as approved by the ITU Council;

3 in implementing this resolution, to take into consideration the discussions and initiatives under way within the United Nations system and relevant international organizations which address new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs in support of sustainable development;

4 to support the relevant ITU capacity-building activities that promote education, digital literacy, training and skills development on new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs, fostering sustainable development and digital empowerment and inclusion for all;

5 to provide annually to the Council a comprehensive report detailing the activities, actions and engagements that the Union is undertaking in response to this resolution;

6 to prepare and submit a progress report on ITU activities related to this resolution to the next plenipotentiary conference in 2026,

instructs the Directors of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and Radiocommunication Bureau

1 to take this resolution into account when carrying out activities in their respective Sectors;

2 to encourage the participation of SMEs in study groups and relevant ITU activities,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to provide technical assistance and capacity-building support to developing countries upon request for facilitating/strengthening their respective telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation ecosystems and digital entrepreneurship and developing telecommunication/ICT infrastructures, in support of the achievement of the SDGs;

2 to cooperate with other related international and regional organizations on enhancing the Digital Skills Toolkit to support Member States in designing national strategies for digital skills development;

3 in close collaboration with the Directors of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and the Radiocommunication Bureau, to consolidate all guidelines, recommendations, technical reports and best practices developed by all the Sectors that facilitate telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation and its contribution to the development of digital economy and society, and make them effectively accessible to the developing countries to accelerate the sharing of information and transfer of knowledge to narrow the development gap;

4 to continue to develop practical toolkits for institutional capacity building, fostering digital entrepreneurship and digital innovation ecosystems at the national level, that can be used by the ITU membership and all stakeholders;

5 to continue supporting, within the resources and remit of ITU, the Global Innovation Forum events as a platform for sharing knowledge and best practices, networking and promoting the development of digital innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship;

6 to assist in the identification of global trends in the development of telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation and entrepreneurship policies and strategies for evidence-based decision-making, especially in developing countries;

7 to cooperate with other relevant organizations and contribute to efforts to measure development of the digital economy and society, by sharing information from ongoing Telecommunication Development Bureau measurements of telecommunication/ICT infrastructure, access and use by households and individuals;

8 to provide, within the mandate of ITU, capacity building on closing the data divide for developing countries, enabling their digital ecosystems to take full advantage of telecommunications/ICTs and innovation to accelerate digital transformation,

invites Member States

1 to promote widespread affordable access to telecommunication/ICT services by supporting telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation ecosystems through encouraging competition, innovation, private investment and public-private partnerships;

2 to promote awareness and involvement of the public in telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation through the promotion of national initiatives with the assistance of ITU, and enhance digital skills development, especially among marginalized groups and persons with specific needs, including women and girls, children and youth, older persons, persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples, to foster digital empowerment and inclusion for all;

3 to participate actively, in collaboration with other stakeholders, in the activities of the Union related to digital entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems, while facilitating the participation of telecommunication/ICT-related entrepreneurs, SMEs, start-ups and incubation and acceleration centres;

4 to exchange best practices on enhancing digital literacy and skills for the purpose of fostering telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation;

5 to consider establishing policies/strategies that foster telecommunication/ICT-centric innovation and entrepreneurship;

6 to take appropriate action to enhance the affordability and availability of telecommunication/ICT equipment to support innovation and entrepreneurship,

invites Member States, Sector Members, Associates and Academia

1 to contribute by sharing their experiences and expertise on fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in supporting the development and deployment of telecommunications/ICTs as described in this resolution;

2 within the framework of this resolution, to encourage the participation of telecommunication/ICT-related entrepreneurs, SMEs, start-ups and incubation and acceleration centres in the ITU Telecom World and other relevant events;

3 to collaborate with ITU on activities related to the implementation of this resolution that leverage digital entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 208 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Appointment and maximum term of office for chairmen
and vice-chairmen of Sector advisory groups, study groups
and other groups

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 58 (Rev. Busan, 2014) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on strengthening of relations between ITU, regional telecommunication organizations and all Member States without exception for the regional preparations for the Plenipotentiary Conference;

b) Resolution 70 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on mainstreaming a gender perspective in ITU and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through telecommunications/information and communication technologies;

c) Resolution ITU-R 15-6 (Rev. Geneva, 2015) of the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA), on appointment and maximum term of office for chairmen and vice-chairmen of ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) study groups, the ITU-R Coordination Committee for Vocabulary (CCV) and the Radiocommunication Advisory Group (RAG);

d) Resolution 1386 adopted by the ITU Council at its 2017 session, on the ITU Coordination Committee for Terminology (ITU CCT),

considering

a) that, in accordance with No. 242 of the ITU Convention, RA, the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) and the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) shall appoint the chairman and one vice-chairman or more for each study group, taking account of competence and equitable geographical distribution, and the need to promote more efficient participation by the developing countries[1];

b) that, in accordance with No. 243 of the Convention, if the workload of any study group requires, the assembly or conference shall appoint such additional vice-chairmen as it deems necessary;

c) that No. 244 of the Convention provides a procedure for a study group to elect a chairman in the interval between two assemblies or conferences when a chairman is unable to carry out his or her duties;

d) that procedures and qualifications for the chairmen and vice-chairmen of Sector advisory groups should follow those for the appointment of study group chairmen and vice-chairmen;

e) that experience of ITU in general and of the relevant Sector in particular would be of particular value for the chairmen and vice-chairmen of advisory groups;

f) that relevant sections of the respective Resolution 1 on working methods of each Sector contain procedures and guidelines regarding the appointment of chairmen and vice-chairmen of Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups[2] at the assembly or conference,

recognizing

a) the need to seek and encourage suitable representation of chairmen and vice-chairmen coming from developing countries;

b) the need to encourage the effective participation of all vice-chairmen in the work of their respective advisory groups and study groups, through the establishment of specific roles for each elected vice-chairman, so as to better distribute the management workload of the meetings of the Union,

recognizing further

a) that the Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups should appoint only the number of vice-chairmen deemed necessary for the efficient and effective management and functioning of the group in question;

b) that steps should be taken to provide some continuity between chairmen and vice-chairmen;

c) the benefits of establishing maximum terms of office in order, on the one hand, to guarantee reasonable stability to advance the work, and, on the other, to allow for renewal with candidates having new perspectives and vision;

d) the importance of effectively mainstreaming a gender perspective in the policies of all ITU Sectors,

taking into account

a) that a maximum time in office of two terms for Sector advisory group, study group and other group chairmen and vice-chairmen provides for a reasonable amount of stability while providing the opportunity for different individuals to serve in these capacities;

b) that the management team of a Sector advisory group and a study group should include at least the chairman, vice-chairmen and subordinate group chairmen;

c) the advantages of nominating by consensus up to two candidates per regional organization[3] for the vice-chairmen of the advisory groups;

d) the value of prior experience of the nominee, at least as chairman or vice-chairman of working parties and as rapporteur, vice-rapporteur, associate rapporteur or editor in the respective study groups,

resolves

1 that chairmen and vice-chairmen of Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups (including, to the extent practicable, the Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM) and CCV in ITU-R[4] and the Standardization Committee for Vocabulary (SCV) in ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector^4) shall be appointed according to the procedures given in Annex 1, the qualifications given in Annex 2 and the guidelines given in Annex 3 to this resolution and resolves 2 of Resolution 58 (Rev. Busan, 2014);

2 that candidates for the posts of chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups should be identified, taking into account that, for each Sector advisory group, study group and other group, the respective assembly or conference will appoint the chairman and only the number of vice-chairmen deemed necessary for the efficient and effective management and functioning of the group in question, applying the guidelines given in Annex 3;

3 that nominations for the posts of chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups should be accompanied by a biographical profile highlighting the qualifications of the individuals proposed, taking into consideration continuity in participation in the Sector advisory group, study group or other group, and that the Director of the Bureau concerned will circulate the profiles to the heads of delegation present at the assembly or conference;

4 that the term of office for both chairmen and vice-chairmen shall not exceed two terms of office between consecutive assemblies or conferences;

5 that the term of office in one appointment (e.g. as a vice-chairman) does not count towards the term of office for another appointment (e.g. as a chairman) and that steps should be taken to provide some continuity between chairmen and vice-chairmen;

6 that the period served by a chairman or vice-chairman elected under No. 244 of the Convention in the interval between assemblies or conferences does not count towards the term of office;

7 that a Sector advisory group, study group or other group shall be made aware of the non-attendance of chairmen and vice-chairmen at meetings of their respective groups, and raise the issue through the Director of the relevant Bureau with the members concerned in an attempt to encourage and facilitate participation in these roles,

resolves further

1 that vice-chairmen of Sector advisory groups and study groups should be encouraged to assume a leadership role in activities in order to ensure equitable distribution of the tasks and achieve greater involvement of the vice-chairmen in the management and work of advisory groups and study groups, as chairmen and vice-chairmen of working parties and as rapporteurs for study questions;

2 that the appointment of vice-chairmen of Sector advisory groups should be limited to two candidates and of vice-chairmen of study groups to two or three candidates from each regional organization, taking into account Resolution 70 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022), resolves 2 of Resolution 58 (Rev. Busan, 2014) and the need to promote participation by the developing countries, to ensure equitable geographical distribution among the ITU regions so as to ensure that every region is represented by not more than three competent and qualified candidates;

3 that the appointment of candidates from countries that do not hold any chairmanship or vice-chairmanship position should be encouraged;

4 that no single individual may hold more than one vice-chairmanship position in these groups in any one Sector, and only in exceptional cases hold such a position in more than one Sector;

5 that each ITU regional organization attending RA, WTSA and WTDC should be encouraged, when assigning the positions to individual experienced professionals, to observe fully the principle of equitable geographical distribution among ITU regional organizations, and the need to promote more efficient participation by the developing countries;

6 that the above-mentioned guidelines may, to the extent practicable, be applied to CPM in ITU-R,

instructs the ITU Council

to continually discuss the effectiveness of the selection/appointment criteria and the workload performed by all chairmen and vice-chairmen in the management of study groups, advisory groups and other groups, and report to the plenipotentiary conference,

instructs the Directors of the Bureaux

to report to relevant assemblies or conferences on the participation of chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups in their respective group meetings during the previous study period,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to support their successful candidates for such posts in the Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups, and support and facilitate their task during their term of office;

2 to take appropriate measures with regard to the chairmen/vice-chairmen of Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups whom they nominated, in the event that they fail to attend two meetings in succession;

3 to promote the nomination of women candidates for the posts of chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups.

ANNEX 1 TO RESOLUTION 208 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Procedure for the appointment of chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups

1 Typically, the positions of chairmen and vice-chairmen to be filled are known in advance of the assembly or conference.

a) In order to help the assembly or conference appoint chairmen/vice-chairmen, Member States and Sector Members of the Sector in question are encouraged to indicate to the Director of the Bureau suitable candidates preferably three months, but no later than two weeks, before the opening of the assembly or conference.

b) In nominating suitable candidates, Sector Members should carry out prior consultations with the administration/Member State concerned, in order to avoid any possible disagreement in regard to such nomination.

c) On the basis of proposals received, the Director of the Bureau will circulate to Member States and Sector Members the list of candidates. The list of candidates should be accompanied by an indication of the qualifications of each candidate as given in Annex 2 to this resolution.

d) On the basis of this document and any relevant comments received, the heads of delegation, at a suitable time during the assembly or conference, should be invited to prepare, in consultation with the Director of the Bureau, a consolidated list of designated chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Sector advisory group, study groups and other groups to be submitted in a document to the assembly or conference for final approval.

e) In drafting the consolidated list, the following should be taken into account: In cases where there are two or more candidates with equal competence for the same chairman position, preference should be given to candidates from Member States and Sector Members having the lowest number of designated Sector advisory group and study group chairmen, and to representatives of developing countries.

2 Situations which cannot be considered within the above will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis at the assembly or conference. For example, if a merger of two existing study groups is envisaged, the proposals pertaining to the relevant study groups can be considered. Therefore, the procedure outlined in § 1 can still be applied.

3 However, if the assembly or conference decides to set up a completely new study group, discussions will have to be held at the assembly or conference and appointments made.

4 These procedures should be applied for appointments made by an advisory group under delegated authority of the respective assembly or conference.

5 Vacant positions of chairmen and vice-chairmen that occur in mid-term between assemblies or conferences are filled in accordance with No. 244 of the ITU Convention.

ANNEX 2 TO RESOLUTION 208 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Qualifications of chairmen and vice-chairmen

1 No. 242 of the ITU Convention states that:

"… In appointing chairmen and vice-chairmen, particular consideration shall be given to the requirements of competence and equitable geographical distribution and to the need to promote more efficient participation by the developing countries."

Whilst giving primary consideration to the qualifications below, there should be an appropriate representation of chairmen and vice-chairmen from developing countries, including the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

2 As regards competence, the following qualifications, inter alia, appear to be of importance when appointing chairmen and vice-chairmen:

a) relevant professional knowledge and experience;

b) continuity in participation in the relevant study group or, for chairmen and vice-chairmen of Sector advisory groups, in ITU in general and the respective Sector in particular;

c) managerial skills;

d) availability to assume and discharge duties without delay for the period up to the next assembly or conference;

e) knowledge of activities related to the Sector's mandate.

3 Particular reference to the above qualifications should be included in the biographical profile to be circulated by the Director of the Bureau.

ANNEX 3 TO RESOLUTION 208 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Guidelines for appointment of the optimum numbers of vice-chairmen
for Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups

1 Pursuant to No. 242 of the ITU Convention, and to the extent practicable, the requirements of competence, equitable geographical distribution and the need to promote more efficient participation by the developing countries should be taken into account[5].

2 To the extent possible, and taking into account the need for demonstrated competence, appointment or selection to the management team should utilize the human resources of as broad a range of Member States and Sector Members as possible, at the same time recognizing the need to appoint only the number of vice-chairmen necessary for the efficient and effective management and functioning of the study groups, consistent with the projected structure and work programme.

3 The workload should be a factor in determining the appropriate number of vice-chairmen to ensure that every aspect within the purview of the Sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups is fully managed. The distribution of tasks among the vice-chairmen shall be made in the framework of each study group and advisory group, and may be modified according to the needs of the work.

4 The total number of vice-chairmen proposed by any administration should be reasonable, so as to observe the principle of equitable distribution of posts among the Member States concerned.

5 Regional representation in the advisory groups and study groups of all three Sectors should be taken into account, so that no single individual may hold more than one vice-chairmanship position in these groups in any one Sector, and only in exceptional cases hold such a position in more than one Sector[6], in accordance with resolves further 5 of Resolution 208 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022).

6 Where the re-election of vice-chairmen is concerned, the nomination of candidates who have failed to participate in at least half of all meetings during the previous study period should normally be avoided, taking into account prevailing circumstances.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

[2] The criteria contained in this resolution do not apply to the designation of chairmen or vice-chairmen of focus groups.

[3] Taking into account resolves 2 of Resolution 58 (Rev. Busan, 2014).

[4] Taking into account Resolution 1386 of the Council (2017).

[5] For those regions consisting of numerous administrations and with diverse economic and technological conditions within the region, to the extent possible the number of representatives of those regions may be increased, as appropriate.

[6] The criterion mentioned in this paragraph should not prevent a vice-chairman of a given advisory group or a vice-chairman of a given study group from holding positions of chairman or vice-chairman of a given working party or as rapporteur or associate rapporteur for any group under the mandate of that Sector group.

RESOLUTION 209 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

Encouraging the participation of small and medium
enterprises in the work of the Union

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) the report of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (Hammamet, 2016) inviting the ITU Council to address as soon as possible the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the work of ITU, in particular in the Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T);

b) the decision taken by the Council at its 2017 session to start a pilot project for the participation of SMEs in the interested study groups of ITU-T and of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D), under which SMEs may participate fully in the meetings of the study groups that decide to join the project, with limitations regarding their role in decision-making processes, including elections for management positions and the adoption of resolutions or recommendations;

c) that the ITU Telecom events since 2016 have focused on fostering the growth of SMEs in the digital ecosystem, and have recognized the information and communication technology (ICT) solutions developed by SMEs;

d) Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, on promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, and building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation, especially targets 8.3, on promoting development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation and encourage the formalization and growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including through access to financial services, and 9.3, on increasing the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries[1], to financial services, including affordable credit, and their integration into value chains and markets;

e) that the United Nations General Assembly recognized the need to improve small business access to microfinance and credit, deciding to designate 27 June as MSME Day,

considering

a) that SMEs are essential to achieving national economic growth and development objectives, including advancing the digital ecosystems that are fundamental to sustainable economic development;

b) that SMEs are also central to reducing unemployment, especially among young people; advancement, globally, of gender mainstreaming and adoption of ICTs by women and girls; and promoting innovation and progress in the telecommunication/ICT sector;

c) that SME innovation and growth is enabled through capacity building, through leveraging existing best practices, and through gaining knowledge of telecommunications and ICTs, including relevant ICT technical standards and reports;

d) that, in many countries, mainly developing countries, SMEs have become prominent actors in the industrial expansion process, in technological development and in the growth of local production, coming to represent in some cases more than 90 per cent of the national industry;

e) that SMEs contribute to the deployment of telecommunication infrastructure, particularly in rural or underserved areas and especially in developing countries;

f) that SMEs' identification of specific telecommunication and other ICT needs and their understanding of barriers to adoption of such telecommunications and other ICTs could be a valuable contribution to the work of the Union, as well as improving the human resources specialized in telecommunications/ICTs whose knowledge may have an impact on national development;

g) the participation of SMEs in a pilot project in 2018 conducted by interested ITU-T and ITU-D study groups pursuant to the decision taken by the Council at its 2017 session,

considering further

a) that in some cases, the suspension of usual working practices occasioned by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic hindered the normal participation of SMEs at meetings of the Union, thereby affecting assessment of the trial period implemented to review their participation;

b) that these exceptional circumstances necessitate a new period in order to obtain accurate data on implementation of the trial period and SME involvement,

recognizing

a) that SMEs' revenue levels, number of employees and domicile may have an impact on their available financial resources to participate as Sector Members;

b) that dissemination of the work of the Sectors among SMEs, particularly in developing countries, can build capacity, transfer critical best practices in telecommunications/ICTs and serve as a factor in fostering national economic development;

c) that Member States, especially developing countries, have furthered efforts to promote access to funding, foster innovation, incorporate technology and add value to their work, in order to create an environment conducive to sustainable SME growth,

resolves

1 to continue encouraging the participation of SMEs as Associates in the Sectors of the Union through reduced fees, pursuant to the provisions of this resolution, without the need for any amendment to Articles 2 and 3 of the ITU Constitution, and Article 19 of the ITU Convention or any other provision of the Convention, with a differentiated level of financial contribution during a trial period that will extend until the next plenipotentiary conference;

2 to maintain the level of the financial contribution for participation in each Sector of the Union at one-sixteenth of the value of the contributory unit for Sector Members in the case of SMEs from developed countries, and one-thirty second of the value of the contributory unit for Sector Members in the case of SMEs from developing countries, subject to ongoing review by the Council;

3 that acceptance of applications for participation shall be conditional on the support of the Member States of the Union to which these entities belong, attesting that, where applicable, the applicant is an SME in accordance with the country's definition/classification thereof, and that, if such an entity is approved by their respective Member State as meeting the national criteria for an SME, in order to be eligible for the SME reduced fees they must also have fewer than 250 employees as well as annual revenues below a maximum set by the Council;

4 that in no case can a subsidiary or affiliate of a company that would not qualify for reduced fees under this resolution be presented as an SME,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to add any appropriate additional clarifications to support implementation of this resolution;

2 to submit to the next plenipotentiary conference a progress report on the implementation of the trial and the participation of SMEs, and an economic sustainability analysis of SME participation, taking into account the assessment of the advisory groups of the three Sectors, the purpose of which will be the adoption of a final decision regarding the above-mentioned participation,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to take necessary and appropriate actions to implement this resolution;

2 to continue encouraging the participation of SMEs in the relevant activities of the Union,

invites the ITU Member States

to inform SMEs and relevant organizations of this resolution and to support and encourage SMEs to join ITU and participate in its activities.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

RESOLUTION 212 (REV. BUCHAREST, 2022)

The Union's future headquarters premises

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 194 (Busan, 2014) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, which authorized the ITU Council to establish a Council Working Group on options for the Union's headquarters premises over the long term (CWG-HQP);

b) that CWG-HQP examined the status of headquarters premises of the Union, analysed options for prudent treatment of the premises into the long-term future, and submitted a recommendation to the ordinary session of the Council in 2016;

c) that the Council, at its ordinary session in 2016, accepted the recommendation of CWG-HQP and approved Council Decision 588, documenting its decision, inter alia:

i) to replace the Varembé building by a new construction that would also include the offices and facilities of the Tower building, and complement the Montbrillant building which would be retained and refurbished;

ii) to establish an advisory board of Member States[1] to provide independent and impartial advice on the project to the Council and the Secretary-General;

iii) to authorize a maximum budget for total project costs before sale of the Tower of CHF 140 million and an additional contingency fund of CHF 7 million to be used, if necessary, for unforeseen cost overruns;

iv) to instruct the Secretary-General to request an interest-free loan of CHF 150 million from the host country, repayable over 50 years beginning from the first occupation of the new building;

v) to offset total final project costs by applying all proceeds from the sale of the Tower to existing loans on assets that are to be disposed of, to the necessary costs associated with the sale, and to reduce to the maximum the outstanding amount of the loan;

d) that the Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC) advised, in its Recommendation 13/2016, that ITU consider the benefits of dedicated internal and external project- and risk-management expertise for this project,

observing

that, as part of the project governance structure, the Secretary-General has created a liaison committee between the ITU secretariat and representatives of the Swiss administrative organs, including representatives of the Canton of Geneva, the Swiss Confederation and the Foundation for Buildings for International Organizations (FIPOI),

noting

a) that during 2017, an ITU headquarters architectural competition was run in two rounds with an international jury that selected a winner, "Christian Dupraz Architects" of Geneva, Switzerland;

b) that the Council, at its 2018 ordinary session, established a temporary fund for the new building to be financed from budget implementation surpluses and donations;

c) that, as of 16 November 2018, sponsorship of CHF 10 million and CHF 5 million had been generously committed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, respectively, sponsorship of CHF 2.5 million was subsequently submitted by Kuwait and donations of the equivalent of around CHF 185 000 have been generously contributed by the Czech Republic (USD 100 000), Nigeria (CHF 50 000) and Ghana (USD 40 000);

d) that, consequently, the principal conference room will be named the Saudi Arabia Room, the second principal conference room will be named Sheik Zayed Room, the rooms' lobby area and the external courtyard will be named after the Amir of Humanity, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, State of Kuwait, the 100-seat executive room in the new building will be named Popov room and the Czech Republic's, Nigeria's, Ghana's and any future donations will each be recognized at a prominent place, and for the same time-frame, in the new building,

recognizing

a) the need to involve ITU Member States in decisions regarding construction of the Union's future headquarters, given the significant and long-term financial implications for the Union;

b) Switzerland's generous offer and ongoing efforts to assist in finding the best solutions to enable ITU to hold conferences and meetings during the building project's implementation phase in Geneva,

resolves

1 that the new Headquarters building be constructed in order to provide the premises and facilities necessary to meet the Union's requirements in the long term in accordance with Council Decision 588 (2016), Council Decision 619 (2021) and other relevant Council decisions;

2 that the project will be financed primarily by the loan indicated in recalling c) iv) above and the amount of the loan shall not exceed this value;

3 that the project financing can be supplemented by the sponsorships and donation mentioned above, any subsequent sponsorships for the mutually agreed purposes as specified by the Council and the temporary fund established by the Council also mentioned above;

4 to continue the Member States Advisory Group (MSAG), which should in general meet quarterly to review the project's progress and provide guidance, particularly on issues that directly affect the scope, the cost and the timeline,

instructs the ITU Council

to make all the administrative and financial arrangements and take the decisions necessary to facilitate the implementation of this resolution,

instructs the Member States Advisory Group

to continue to provide advice to the Secretary-General, including the submission of an annual report to the Council,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to ensure that the detailed design and construction of the building and related installations and facilities are carried out in the most appropriate manner, while respecting resolves 1, 2 and 3 above and relevant Council decisions;

2 to continue to monitor and report on the progress of the project, taking into account all recommendations from the internal audit, IMAC and the external auditors;

3 to report and share with the Council in a timely manner the necessary and up-to-date information on conference needs, as required;

4 to work closely with MSAG, and with the Swiss authorities through the Liaison Committee;

5 to organize the building project under efficient management, in a manner fully compliant with ITU financial rules and regulations and ITU procurement rules, and with due regard to cost, functional, smart and sustainable design, and quality;

6 to reinforce the ITU Management Board with external expertise in the field of project and risk management;

7 to hold information meetings at least twice a year with the representatives of permanent missions in Geneva, and to share information with them on a regular basis;

8 to submit an annual report to the Council on the progress made in the implementation of this resolution;

9 to report to the next plenipotentiary conferences on the implementation of this resolution;

10 to report to the Council on updates on sponsorship agreements and on the status of the sale of the entire ITU Tower,

encourages Member States and Sector Members

to follow the example of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, the Czech Republic, Ghana and Nigeria in contributing to the new building.

[1] The Council subsequently established this board as the Member States Advisory Group.

RESOLUTION 214 (BUCHAREST, 2022)

Artificial intelligence technologies and telecommunications/information and communication technologies

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 70/1 of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

b) UNGA Resolution 70/125, on the outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS);

c) Resolution 139 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) to bridge the digital divide and build an inclusive information society;

d) Resolution 140 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on ITU's role in implementing the outcomes of WSIS and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as in their follow-up and review processes,

recognizing

a) that ITU, being the United Nations specialized agency for telecommunication/ICTs, plays an important role in advancing international telecommunications/ICTs and related development issues, fostering an enabling environment for telecommunication/ICT development, facilitating implementation of the WSIS action lines and contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by facilitating universal access to telecommunications/ICTs;

b) the roles of other United Nations organizations in facilitating the implementation of WSIS action lines, including, inter alia, the roles of the World Health Organization on e-health, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs on e-government, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on e-business and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on e-agriculture,

noting

a) that many other organizations and stakeholders are discussing, studying and exploring aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) and its capacity to benefit society, and developing projects, guidelines, best practices, standards and principles for AI technologies, systems and services, within their mandates, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, and Joint Technical Committee 1 of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission;

b) that ITU has partnered with more than 40 other United Nations agencies to convene the AI for Good platform and launched the ITU AI Repository, which seeks to identify practical applications of AI to advance the SDGs;

c) that work is already under way across ITU, including through study groups, focus groups and capacity-building activities, to examine the intersection between AI and telecommunications/ICTs to facilitate sustainable development,

considering

a) that a telecommunication/ICT ecosystem can support the development and deployment of many AI use cases that contribute to sustainable development;

b) that fully realizing the benefits of AI technologies will require bridging digital divides and achieving universal access to telecommunications/ICTs;

c) that the development of AI related to telecommunications/ICTs brings both opportunities and challenges;

d) that ITU members are undertaking work that can help inform and assist an understanding of the potential of AI technologies in support of telecommunications/ICTs to contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

resolves

that ITU should, within its mandate and core competencies:

i) continue the work on AI related to telecommunications/ICTs, including studies, information-sharing and capacity building on AI technologies for increasing the efficiency of telecommunications/ICTs;

ii) foster a telecommunication/ICT ecosystem for deployment of AI technologies,

instructs the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to coordinate the activities of the Union to implement this resolution;

2 to focus ITU's efforts related to AI towards fostering robust telecommunication/ICT ecosystems in order to support AI technologies, and towards applying AI technologies to make telecommunications/ICTs more efficient;

3 to continue to work with other United Nations agencies to realize the benefits of AI use cases for sustainable development, such as through the AI for Good platform and the ITU AI Repository;

4 to foster information- and advice-sharing to build understanding, particularly for developing countries[1], related to the deployment of AI technologies in support of telecommunications/ICTs and the associated opportunities and challenges;

5 to identify opportunities, as appropriate, for coordination and cooperation with other relevant organizations and collaboration with relevant stakeholders with regard to this resolution;

6 to report to the next plenipotentiary conference and annually to the ITU Council on any ITU activities related to AI and the implementation of this resolution,

instructs the Directors of the three Bureaux

to continue to support the work of their respective Sectors on AI technologies in support of telecommunications/ICTs in an effort to enable an efficient telecommunication/ICT ecosystem,

instructs the ITU Council

to include the report of the Secretary-General in the documents sent to Member States,

invites Member States, Sector Members, Associates and Academia

1 to promote the common understanding among the ITU membership that a strong telecommunication/ICT ecosystem can support AI technologies, and that AI technologies can be applied to telecommunications/ICTs to make them more efficient and capable;

2 to share their experiences and contribute to international multistakeholder discussions on the application of AI technologies to telecommunications/ICTs, including international organizations, initiatives, the private sector, civil society, academia, small and medium enterprises, and technical organizations;

3 to contribute to discussions, information-sharing, capacity building and studies on AI related to international telecommunications/ICTs, and on how it may contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development within the mandate of the Union.

RESOLUTION 215 (BUCHAREST, 2022)

Role of telecommunications/information and communication technologies in mitigating global pandemics

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) the ITU Constitution, including Article 40, on the priority of telecommunications concerning safety of life, and Article 46, on distress calls and messages;

b) Chapter VII of the ITU Radio Regulations, on distress and safety communications, and Article 5 of the International Telecommunication Regulations, on the safety of life and priority of telecommunications;

c) Resolution 136 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies (ICTs) for humanitarian assistance and for monitoring and management in emergency and disaster situations, including health-related emergencies, for early warning, prevention, mitigation and relief;

d) Resolution 34 (Rev. Kigali, 2022) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, on the role of telecommunications/ICTs in disaster preparedness, early warning, rescue, mitigation, relief and response;

e) Resolution 647 (Rev.WRC-19) of the World Radiocommunication Conference, on radiocommunication aspects, including spectrum-management guidelines, for early warning, disaster prediction, detection, mitigation and relief operations relating to emergencies and disasters,

recalling further

a) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 74/270, on global solidarity to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which calls on the United Nations system to work with all relevant actors in order to mobilize a coordinated global response to the pandemic and its adverse social, economic and financial impact on all societies;

b) UNGA Resolution 74/306, on comprehensive and coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic;

c) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), SDG 9 (Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation) and SDG 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

considering

that Opinion 5 (Geneva, 2021) of the World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum focused on the use of telecommunications/ICTs in COVID-19 and future pandemics and epidemic preparedness and response,

recognizing

a) that the COVID-19 pandemic is a major public health crisis that disrupted public life;

b) the tragic events around the world related to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which clearly show the need to expand affordable access, so as to ensure universal connectivity to high-quality, sustainable and inclusive telecommunications/ICTs;

c) the importance of access to relevant information about pandemics and epidemics in order to assist public safety and support the work of health and disaster-relief agencies and organizations;

d) that expanding affordable access and connectivity to existing, new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs, and advancing other related aspects, such as digital inclusion and skills, will continue to play a critical role in helping to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as future pandemics,

recognizing further

a) the initiative of ITU, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in providing up-to-date information on COVID-19;

b) that studies are under way in relevant ITU study groups on the use of existing, new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs to mitigate global pandemics,

resolves

1 to cooperate and offer assistance, in collaboration with WHO and other United Nations organizations and stakeholders, in work related to existing, new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs;

2 to assist, within ITU's mandate and budgetary provisions, in the implementation of projects and programmes that enable deployment and use of existing, new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs in responding to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic;

3 to consider appropriate actions in the telecommunication/ICT sector aimed at reducing the severity and number of emergency situations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and at alleviating its consequences, such as providing local communities with connectivity and information, especially in local languages, to help preserve human life,

instructs the Directors of the three Bureaux

1 to continue facilitating ITU activities to help respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic;

2 to provide assistance, if requested, to Member States in updating their national telecommunication emergency plans, taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

1 to institute a framework for achieving the objectives of this resolution and continue to update Member States on how to tackle future and emerging global pandemics using telecommunications/ICTs;

2 to facilitate the exchange of best practices for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic with all relevant standards-development organizations and entities in order to create opportunities for cooperative efforts to support the active deployment and use of telecommunications/ICTs;

3 to develop and disseminate standards, guidelines and best practices in cooperation with other stakeholders for the use of telecommunications/ICTs in response to the COVID-19 and other pandemics,

invites the Secretary-General

to continue to reinforce ITU's efforts, within its remit and in partnership with WHO and other agencies and organizations, in collaboration with stakeholders, to strengthen the resilience of telecommunication/ICT networks in order to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and increase pandemic preparedness and response,

invites Member States

1 to cooperate to raise awareness, build capacity and share best practices and lessons learned in using existing, new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs to act to quickly address the global COVID-19 pandemic, as well as future pandemics;

2 to consider potential engagement with stakeholders, including telecommunication/ICT providers, to support jobs, especially for small and medium enterprises, and continue education during the COVID-19 pandemic, so as to mitigate its adverse social and economic consequences;

3 to participate actively in the implementation of this resolution.

RESOLUTION 216 (BUCHAREST, 2022)

Use of frequency assignments by military radio installations for
national defence services

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

considering

a) that the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) (Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019), in accordance with Article 21 of the ITU Convention, invited this plenipotentiary conference to consider the question of the invocation of Article 48 of the ITU Constitution in relation to the Radio Regulations, and to take necessary actions, as appropriate;

b) that there are currently no specific provisions/procedures in the Radio Regulations relating to the invocation of Article 48 for the processing, recording and maintaining in the Master International Frequency Register (MIFR) of frequency assignments to stations that are part of installations for national defence services;

c) that Member States are by default assumed to be acting with integrity when invoking Article 48 for military radio installations;

d) that WRC-15 noted that Article 48 refers to "military radio installations" and not to stations used for governmental purposes in general,

recognizing

a) that the provisions of the Constitution are further complemented by those of the Administrative Regulations, including the Radio Regulations;

b) that, as per No. 202 of the Constitution, under Article 48, Member States retain their entire freedom with regard to military radio installations;

c) that, as per No. 203 of the Constitution, under Article 48, these installations must, so far as possible, observe statutory provisions relative to the measures to be taken to prevent harmful interference;

d) that there is no restriction for any Member State to invoke Article 48 for military radio installations in application of the Radio Regulations;

e) that the rights for international recognition and protection of any frequency assignments are derived from the recording of those frequency assignments in the MIFR and conditioned by the provisions of the Radio Regulations,

recognizing further

that there is a need to maintain the sensitivity and confidentiality of the information provided for frequency assignments for which Article 48 is invoked,

resolves

1 that any invocation of Article 48 by a Member State shall be explicitly stated as part of the submission of that invocation;

2 that, in case of an invocation of Article 48 during the application of the provisions of the Radio Regulations for frequency assignments to stations in the space or terrestrial services, the following shall apply:

i) the Member State undertakes obligations to use such frequency assignments for military radio installations;

ii) if a frequency assignment for which Article 48 has been invoked is used for non-military radio installations, all relevant provisions of the Radio Regulations shall apply to the frequency assignment;

iii) the Member State undertakes obligations to revoke an invocation of Article 48 if such frequency assignment is no longer used for military radio installations;

3 that, in the case of an invocation of Article 48 being made as of 15 October 2022 and then being subsequently revoked, or any revocation of the invocation of Article 48 after 20 November 2023, the associated frequency assignments shall be subject to all relevant provisions of the Radio Regulations, and the Member State shall be required to provide all relevant information to the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR), including the bringing-into-use or bringing-back-into-use information for frequency assignments related to space services;

4 to urge those Member States that invoked Article 48 before 15 October 2022 to review past invocations in light of this resolution, and, if the nature of use of the related frequency assignments has changed and the Member State decides to revoke the past invocation, to do so before 20 November 2023, without necessarily having to provide any additional information;

5 that BR may seek clarification from the Member State regarding possible non-compliant use of frequency assignments under Article 48 and in relation to the obligations under resolves 2 above;

6 that BR shall provide the Member State with the necessary rationale for the request for clarification in resolves 5 above;

7 that, based on the clarification provided and in case of the disagreement of the Member State with the assessment of BR, the matter shall be referred to the Radio Regulations Board (RRB) together with the Member State's basis for its disagreement;

8 that, upon receipt of the information requested in resolves 7 above, RRB may decide that all relevant regulatory provisions apply to that frequency assignment;

9 that, if the Member State disagrees with RRB's decision, it may appeal to the next WRC, and RRB's decision shall remain in abeyance until WRC decides on the matter;

10 that, in providing a clarification under resolves 7 above, Member States are not obliged to provide information to RRB or BR with regard to frequency assignments for military radio installations that may cause prejudice to their installations for national defence services,

invites Member States

to consider using separate frequency assignments for military and non-military radio installations when Article 48 has been invoked,

instructs the Radio Regulations Board

to consider this resolution with a view to taking the necessary action, where appropriate, with regard to frequency assignments for which Article 48 is invoked, taking into account recognizing further above,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to bring this resolution to the attention of WRC-23;

2 to report to the next plenipotentiary conference on the implementation of this resolution.

RESOLUTION 217 (BUCHAREST, 2022)

ITU's business continuity management for 2023-2026

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 5 (Kyoto, 1994) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on invitations to hold conferences or meetings away from Geneva, which considers that there are advantages in holding certain conferences and meetings in countries other than the headquarters country;

b) Resolution 212 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) of this conference, on the Union's future headquarters premises;

c) the 2021 report on the United Nations system model policy on flexible work of the High-Level Committee on Management of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination;

d) United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) Report 2019/5: Managing cloud computing services in the United Nations system;

e) the JIU reports on enterprise risk management, business continuity management and cybersecurity in the United Nation system organizations,

recalling further

a) ITU Council Decision 619, on the headquarters premises, which instructs the Secretary-General to create a staff working conditions strategy and implementation plan, including putting in place measures to facilitate flexible working arrangements, including plans to allow staff to work from home;

b) the report by the Secretary-General to the virtual consultation of councillors (VCC) during the 2021 session of the Council, on the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the functioning and activities of ITU, which highlighted the range of early and extensive measures adopted to ensure the business continuity of ITU's services during the pandemic, including teleworking, the use of virtual platforms for many key meetings and measures to ensure the safety and security of staff;

c) that the Council at its 2016 session approved the Organizational Resilience Management System (ORMS) framework, which addresses areas including business continuity policy, the business continuity management system framework, business risk assessment, business impact analysis and business continuity plans;

d) the report by the Secretary-General to the VCC during the 2020 session of the Council on the status of virtual meeting platforms and support;

e) the report by the Secretary-General to the VCC during the 2021 session of the Council on the digital transformation initiative (DT-I), in which one of the goals of DT-I is to improve the efficiency of the internal business processes and management, streamline, and digitalize workflows;

f) that the implementation plan of the staff working conditions strategy for the interim period and beyond in the new ITU headquarters building is being prepared,

considering

a) that at its additional 2019 session, the Council approved Decision 619, which instructs the Secretary-General to create a staff working conditions strategy and implementation plan, in order to facilitate the relocation of staff during the interim period (2023-2026) and the move to the new headquarters building;

b) the concerns of Member States, expressed in Council Decision 619, on the headquarters premises, regarding the moving of ITU meetings outside of Geneva for the duration of the demolition and early construction phase, as Member States' representations in Geneva have the human resources to attend ITU meetings while such resources are not necessarily available in all countries, and similar concerns expressed by ITU staff, who should not be expected to relocate outside of their Geneva homes for extended periods in order to cover the high number of meetings scheduled by ITU but possibly hosted outside Geneva;

c) that having a business continuity strategy for the ITU headquarters staff, and for the study groups of the three Sectors, is an absolute priority in the context of the new headquarters building project and for the post-COVID-19 era,

recognizing

a) that the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the organizations of the United Nations system in almost all administrative areas and operational processes, as well as the substantive activities of legislative organs and governing bodies, compelling them to continue to operate under extraordinary circumstances and to take measures to sustain continual delivery of core mandates;

b) the report by the Council to this conference on the four-year report of the Council Working Group on financial and human resources (CWG-FHR) on the draft financial plan for 2024-2027, which highlighted an unprecedented budget deficit,

resolves

to pay close attention to further developing, monitoring and adapting the ITU business continuity strategy and policy,

instructs the Secretary-General

1 to update the ITU business continuity strategy and policy in line with the best practices expressed in recalling e) and the DT-I, including its impact on the new headquarters premises;

2 to urgently develop and present to CWG-FHR in 2023 a business continuity strategy for 2023-2026 and related action plan, financial plan and risk assessment for the activities of the Union, including the study groups of the three Sectors;

3 to consider the ITU headquarters staff and the activities of the Union, including those of the study groups of the three Sectors, when developing this business continuity strategy, action plan and financial risk assessment;

4 to present to the Council the business continuity strategy and related action plan, financial plan, risk assessment and a holistic and comprehensive dashboard that contains data on the implementation of the business continuity strategy, including the implementation of the staff working conditions strategy and the DT-I;

5 to give high priority to advancing cybersecurity and data protection within the Union, in maintaining business continuity, in order to maintain high availability of information and communication technology platforms for remote participation;

6 to update the ITU Risk-Management Policy and ITU Risk Register according to resolves above,

instructs the ITU Council

1 to take appropriate measures to implement this resolution;

2 to report to the plenipotentiary conference in 2026 on the implementation of this resolution,

invites the Directors of the Bureaux

to actively contribute to implementation of this resolution,

invites Member States and Sector Members

to contribute to the implementation of this resolution,

instructs the Independent Management Advisory Committee and the internal auditor

to conduct internal audits, at planned intervals, to provide information on whether business continuity management conforms to the organization's own requirements, is effectively implemented and maintained and meets the requirements of the ORMS strategy, particularly with respect to the 2023-2026 period.

RESOLUTION 218 (BUCHAREST, 2022)

ITU's role in the implementation of the "Space2030" Agenda: space as a driver of sustainable development, and its follow-up and review process

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recalling

a) Resolution 76/3, on the "Space2030" Agenda: space as a driver of sustainable development, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 25 October 2021;

b) overarching objective 3 of UNGA Resolution 76/3: improve access to space for all and ensure that all countries can benefit socio-economically from space science and technology applications and space-based data, information and products, thereby supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

c) overarching objective 4 of UNGA Resolution 76/3: build partnerships and strengthen international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space and in the global governance of outer space activities,

considering

a) that a worldwide fixed-satellite service (FSS) national allotment plan and regional broadcasting-satellite service (BSS) plans were established in the Radio Regulations in certain frequency bands with a view to achieving the objective of guaranteeing equitable access to the geostationary-satellite orbit (GSO) for all Member States of the Union; however, some of these national frequency assignments and allotments, especially those of developing countries in the Regions 1 and 3 BSS plan and in the FSS plan, have been severely degraded over time, making it difficult for these countries to use them;

b) that the issue of degraded frequency assignments in the Regions 1 and 3 BSS plan and degraded allotments in the FSS plan contained in Appendices 30, 30A and 30B to the Radio Regulations has been raised in several previous world radiocommunication conferences (WRCs);

c) that statistics on the submission, under Article 4 of Appendices 30 and 30A to the Radio Regulations and under Article 6 of Appendix 30B to the Radio Regulations, of additional uses and suppressions, as well as reports on the degradation of planned frequency assignments and allotments, are being provided and regularly updated by the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR), which demonstrate the nature and extent of the issue,

recognizing

a) that Article 44 of the ITU Constitution, on use of the radio-frequency spectrum and of the geostationary-satellite and other satellite orbits, states that "radio frequencies and any associated orbits, including the geostationary-satellite orbit, are limited natural resources and that they must be used rationally, efficiently and economically, in conformity with the provisions of the Radio Regulations, so that countries or groups of countries may have equitable access to those orbits and frequencies, taking into account the special needs of the developing countries and the geographical situation of particular countries";

b) that a portion of the radio-frequency spectrum and associated satellite-orbit resources in the Radio Regulations has been reserved for worldwide and regional plans using the GSO, which have been established by assigning orbital positions and certain frequency bands to each Member State of the Union; however, the remaining frequency bands are accessible on a "first come, first served" basis;

c) that developing countries, least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS) and landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) face a lack of resources and expertise to address the complexities of the coordination processes;

d) that Resolution 2 (Rev.WRC-03) of WRC resolves that "the registration with the Radiocommunication Bureau of frequency assignments for space radiocommunication services and their use do not provide any permanent priority for any individual country or groups of countries and do not create an obstacle to the establishment of space systems by other countries",

noting

the value of space technology and applications, as well as of space-derived data and information, to sustainable development, including helping in improving the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes of action relating to environmental protection, land and water management, urban and rural development, marine and coastal ecosystems, health care, climate change, disaster risk reduction and emergency response, energy, infrastructure, navigation, seismic monitoring, natural resources management, snow and glaciers, biodiversity, agriculture and food security,

resolves

1 that ITU should support the implementation of the "Space2030" Agenda, especially the parts relevant to space services of overarching objective 3 referred to in recalling b) above, taking into account the unique role of ITU with respect to access to the radio-frequency spectrum and associated satellite orbits, consistent with Article 44 of the Constitution;

2 that the implementation of resolves 1 above should leverage the involvement of the ITU regional presence and pay particular attention to developing countries, LDCs, SIDS and LLDCs;

3 that BR and the Telecommunication Development Bureau continue to assist developing countries, LDCs, SIDS and LLDCs in accessing the radio-frequency spectrum and associated satellite orbits, in particular in order to achieve the objectives of the "Space2030" Agenda,

instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux

1 to engage in the high-level dialogue with relevant United Nations entities and promote BR's activities related to space;

2 to provide annually to the ITU Council a comprehensive report on the status of the plans governed by Appendices 30, 30A and 30B to the Radio Regulations, highlighting the situation of developing countries and any challenges related to the implementation of those plans, such as the evolution of reference situations of the various frequency assignments and allotments, including any difficulties and problems encountered by BR in the implementation of these plans and problems reported to BR by administrations;

3 to provide annually to the Council a report on the role of ITU in the implementation of the "Space2030" Agenda;

4 to strengthen global partnerships and cooperation among Member States, United Nations entities, international and regional intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, industry and private-sector entities in order to ensure that, through joint efforts and by taking advantage of the practical experiences and contributions of different stakeholders, the benefits of space will be brought to everyone, everywhere;

5 to promote cooperation for access to the scientific, technological, economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits of space activities;

6 to undertake activities in strengthening capacity building for developing countries, LDCs, SIDS and LLDCs in the application of the Radio Regulations through collaboration, cooperation and memoranda of understanding with relevant organizations, as well as the organization of world and regional radiocommunication seminars and workshops for regional telecommunication organizations;

7 to collaborate with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), to the extent practicable, in strengthening capacity-building activities for developing countries, LDCs, SIDS and LLDCs concerning the application of space law, space science and technology and raising awareness on the benefits of outer space;

8 to report to the Council on sessions of the United Nations Inter-Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities (UN-Space) and the measures being implemented in promoting synergies and avoiding duplication of efforts related to the use of space technology,

instructs the ITU Council

to consider ITU's work on implementation of the "Space2030" Agenda and related ITU activities, and, within the financial limits set by the Plenipotentiary Conference, to make resources available as appropriate,

instructs the 2023 world radiocommunication conference and subsequent world radiocommunication conferences

to continue to give high priority to the matter of equitable access to satellite orbits, taking into account the special needs of developing countries and the geographical situation of particular countries,

invites Member States and Sector Members

1 to participate actively in the implementation of the "Space2030" Agenda, in supporting the achievement of the SDGs;

2 to make voluntary contributions to support activities relating to the implementation of the "Space2030" Agenda.

RESOLUTION 219 (BUCHAREST, 2022)

Sustainability of the radio-frequency spectrum and
associated satellite-orbit resources used by space services

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022),

recognizing

a) Articles 6 and 44 of the ITU Constitution;

b) the role of ITU in facilitating the international coordination of radio frequencies used by space services,

considering

a) the continued and expanded launch and operation of a large number of non-geostationary satellites in outer space;

b) that there is a need to review technologies used in satellite networks in the geostationary-satellite orbit (GSO), as well as the increased numbers of satellites within non-GSO satellite systems, with a view to addressing them, if necessary, in the Radio Regulations and in the processing of frequency assignments by the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR);

c) that the available radio-frequency spectrum and associated orbit resources are limited and must be shared among all nations;

d) that there are provisions in the Radio Regulations to protect GSO satellite networks from non-GSO satellite systems,

noting

the urgency of addressing these types of issues associated with non-GSO systems before they are launched and operational,

resolves

1 to instruct the Radiocommunication Assembly, as a matter of urgency, to perform the necessary studies through relevant ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) study groups on the issue of the increasing use of radio-frequency spectrum and associated orbit resources in non-GSO orbits and the long-term sustainability of these resources, as well as on equitable access to, and rational and compatible use of, the GSO and non-GSO orbit and spectrum resources, consistent with the objectives of Article 44 of the Constitution;

2 that the results of the abovementioned studies should be submitted by the Director of BR to the subsequent world radiocommunication conference (WRC) for its consideration and any necessary action, as appropriate,

encourages Member States

1 to participate actively in these studies by submitting contributions to ITU-R;

2 when authorizing non-GSO systems, to take all necessary actions to avoid unacceptable interference to GSO and other non-GSO systems, as well as to other radio services, of other administrations and to ensure the efficient use of radio-frequency spectrum and associated satellite-orbit resources; to this effect, the necessary regulatory frameworks need to be developed for the operation of non-GSO systems,

instructs the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

to report to WRCs, preferably WRC-23, on the results of implementation of this resolution,

instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau

1 to work with regulators, including through the Global Symposium for Regulators, to encourage non-GSO system licensing expertise and capacity building;

2 to include annually on the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector's Digital Development Dashboard reports on Member States' adoption of policies to support equitable access to the radio-frequency spectrum and associated orbits.

[1] These include the least developed countries, small island developing states, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

PART III – RESOLUTION ABROGATED BY THE PLENIPOTENTIARY CONFERENCE (BUCHAREST, 2022)

RESOLUTION 11 (REV. DUBAI, 2018)

ITU Telecom events

PART IV – SIGNATORIES

The undersigned plenipotentiaries have signed the original of the Final Acts, as adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022).

For the Republic of Albania

ILIR TEPELENA

TOMI FRASHERI

BLEDAR KAZIA

ARMER JUKA

For the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria

ABDELOUAHAB BARA

For the Federal Republic of Germany

JOHANN GROSS

WALTER GUGGI

For the Principality of Andorra

JORDI NADAL

JOAN-MARC LAUGA

For the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

MANSOUR ALQURASHI

MUATH ALRUMAYH

SHAHAD ALBALAWI

For the Argentine Republic

GUILLERMO AGUEDO MONTENEGRO

JUAN MATÍAS CATTANEO

SOLANA XIMENA DE ASPIAZU

For the Republic of Armenia

SERGEY MINASYAN

For Australia

DANIEL ALEXANDER CARUSO

For Austria

KLAUS PARRER

FRANZ ZIEGELWANGER

STEFAN VOUK

For the Republic of Azerbaijan

KHAYALA PASHAZADE

For the Commonwealth of the Bahamas

LEON WILLIAMS

MAVIS JOHNSON-COLLIE

For the Kingdom of Bahrain

MOHAMMED JASSIM ALMEHAIZA

For the People's Republic of Bangladesh

MD DAUD ALI

For Barbados

WAYNE MARSHALL

For the Republic of Belarus

ZHARTUN, SERGEI STEFANOVICH

For Belgium

PHILIPPE BENOIT

For Belize

MICHEL CHEBAT

For the Republic of Benin

ANGELO DAN

For the Kingdom of Bhutan

THUENZANG CHOEPHEL

For Bosnia and Herzegovina

MILANKA SUDZUM

BORJAN SIMIC

ASIM KARAHASANOVIC

For the Republic of Botswana

MARTIN MOKGWARE

GOSEGO PILANE

BONNY MINE

JOYCE WEMA ISA-MOLWANE

BATHOPI LUKE

AARON NYELESI

NEELO MICHELLE OPPEDAL

For the Federative Republic of Brazil

ABRAAO BALBINO E SILVA

For Brunei Darussalam

TINA LIM-KEASBERRY

HAJAH WAN LAILA HANANI BINTI HAJI ABDU LATIF

MOHAMMAD IZZAT HILMI BIN WAHID

SHEIKH HAJI ABDUL HAMDANI BIN DATO PADUKA

SHEIKH ABD GANI

For the Republic of Bulgaria

BILIANA ZOLKOVA

For Burkina Faso

RICHARD ANAGO

For the Republic of Burundi

PRIVAT KABEBA

For the Republic of Cabo Verde

LEONILDE TATIANA LIMA DOS SANTOS

ANA LIMA

For the Kingdom of Cambodia

PUTHYVUTH SOK

GNAK TOL

SOPHEAK CHEANG

For the Republic of Cameroon

SEBASTIEN FOUMANE

FELIX WATCHING

VALERY HILAIRE OTTOU

ALAIN PATRICE NGONDI

For Canada

CHARLES NOIR

SANTIAGO REYES-BORDA

For Chile

CAROLINA LAGOS

For the People's Republic of China

KEER ZHU

For the Republic of Cyprus

ANTONIOS ANTONIADES

POLYCARPOS ARGYROU

For the Vatican City State

RAFFAELLA PETRINI, F.S.E.

LUCIO ADRIAN RUIZ

FRANCESCO MASCI

SERGIO SALVATORI

PAOLO LAZZARINI

ANTONINO INTERSIMO

LUIGI SALIMBENI

For the Republic of Colombia

FRANKLIN MERCHÁN CALDERÓN

For the Republic of Korea

JUNEIL PARK

For Costa Rica

ADA JULISSA CRUZ ABREU

For the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire

STANISLAS KANVOLI

For the Republic of Croatia

KRESO ANTONOVIC

DOMAGOJ MARIČIĆ

For Cuba

WILFREDO LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ

For Denmark

ONNO JUHL-VOLLERS

For the Republic of Djibouti

RADWAN ABDILLAHI BAHDON

For the Dominican Republic

ADA JULISSA CRUZ ABREU

For the Commonwealth of Dominica

OSCAR TYSON GEORGE

For the Arab Republic of Egypt

NOHA MOHAMMED GAAFAR

For the Republic of El Salvador

JUAN CARLOS CASTRO CHÁVEZ

For the United Arab Emirates

MOHAMMED AL RAMSI

TARIQ AL AWADHI

SAIF BIN GHELAITA

KHALID AL AWADHI

SULTAN AL BALOOSHI

ABDELAZIZ ALZAROONI

ABDULLA BIN KHADIA

OMAR ALNEMER

MAITHA AL JAMRI

For Spain

BLANCA MARÍA GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ

For the Republic of Estonia

MART LAAS

For the Kingdom of Eswatini

PHESHEYA DUBE

For the United States of America

ERICA BARKS-RUGGLES

For the Russian Federation

YUZHAKOV, ANTON SERGEEVICH

For the Republic of Fiji

VIVEK ANAND

For Finland

JUUSO MOISANDER

For France

ERIC LEBEDEL DELUMEAU

For the Gabonese Republic

RAPHAËL MEZUI MINTSA

BERNARD LIMBONDZI

KOWIYOU SAFIOU

For the Republic of the Gambia

AMIE NJIE

For Ghana

AMA POMAA BOATENG

KWAME BAAH-ACHEAMFUOR

NAMBAH BRIDGET SUGLO

For Greece

AGGELIKI POLITI

ARGYRO KAGIA

For Grenada

VINCENT ROBERTS

For the Republic of Guatemala

LUIS GUILLERMO ENRIQUE VÁSQUEZ ABRIL

For the Republic of Guinea

BAMBA OLIANO

For the Republic of Equatorial Guinea

CÁNDIDO MUATETEMA MAITA

RAÚL ALFONSO NCOGO EYI

For Guyana

DARRYL AKEUNG

For the Republic of Honduras

LORENZO SAUCEDA CALIX

For Hungary

TAMÁS PUSS

SZABOLCS SZENTLÉLEKY

For the Republic of India

PRACHISH KHANNA

PREMJIT LAL

MAYANK MRINAL

R SHAKYA

APRAJITA SHARMA

For the Republic of Indonesia

AMHAR AZETH

For the Islamic Republic of Iran

ALIREZA DARVISHI

For the Republic of Iraq

ZAINAB ABDULSAHIB ABOOD

For Ireland

EAMONN CONFREY

JANE DOOLEY

For Iceland

SIGURJÓN INGVASON

For the State of Israel

NAAMA HENIG

NITZAN ARNY

NIZAN LIVNE

For Italy

DOMENICO ALFIERI

MATTEO PETRINI

For Jamaica

WAHKEEN MURRAY

For Japan

HIROSHI YOSHIDA

For the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

DR. NOOH ALSHYAB

AL-ANSARI ALMASHAKBEH

AHMAD AL HANAKTH

For the Republic of Kazakhstan

ZULFIYA KHUDAIBERGENOVA

For the Republic of Kenya

EZRA CHILOBA

For the State of Kuwait

TALAL MANSOUR ALHAJERI

SAMEERA BELAL MOMEN

MESHARI ALSAEGH

For the Kingdom of Lesotho

GOOLAM NIZAM

THATO PONYA

NOZABA SOPENG

For the Republic of Latvia

ILONDA STEPANOVA

For Lebanon

RANA MOKADDEM

For the Republic of Liberia

COOPER W. KRUAH

For the Principality of Liechtenstein

RAINER SCHNEPFLEITNER

For the Republic of Lithuania

INGA RIMKEVICIENE

For Luxembourg

ELISABETH CARDOSO

MICHEL ASORNE

For North Macedonia (Republic of)

IGOR BOJADJIEV

For the Republic of Madagascar

HARIVONY BRILLANT RAKOTO RATSIMANJEFY ANDRIAMIHAJA RAKOTOVAO NANJA JOHANESA

For Malaysia

TENGKU SIRAJUZZAMAN TENGKU MOHAMED ARIFFIN

For Malawi

HETHERWICK NJATI

THOKOZANI CHIMBE

EDWARD KAUKA

For the Republic of Mali

SOUHAHÉBOU COULIBALY

For Malta

ADRIAN GALEA

KERSTEN CALLEJA

For the Kingdom of Morocco

HASSAN ABOUYOUB

AMINA EL FATIHI

MUSTAPHA BESSI

BRAHIM KHADIRI

HASSAN TALIB

ABDELALI MADANI

OUALID EL ABBASSI

MOHAMED OUHADDOU

For the Republic of the Marshall Islands

ERICA BARKS-RUGGLES

For the Republic of Mauritius

USHA DWARKA-CANABADY

For Mexico

BENITO SANTIAGO JIMÉNEZ SAUMA

For the Federated States of Micronesia

EDWARD ALBERT

JACKSON SORAM

For the Republic of Moldova

VICTOR CHIRILĂ

VITALIE BOBOC

TEODOR CICLICCI

MIHAELA MANOLI

For the Principality of Monaco

CHRISTOPHE PIERRE

For Montenegro

SRDAN MIHALJEVIC

DALIBOR DUROVIC

For the Republic of Mozambique

CONSANSIO ERNESTO SUMALGI TRIGO

For the Republic of Namibia

EMILIA NGHIKEMBUA

TULIMEVAVA KAUNA MUFETI
HELENE VOSLOO

KATRINA CHAMILE SIKENI

MARIA N. N. ANDIMBA

KRISTOF ITANA

For the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

PANKAJ BHURTEL

REKHA PANDEY K. C.

For Nicaragua

GUISELL SOCORRO MORALES ECHAVERRY

For the Republic of the Niger

ARBI ISSOUFOU

For Norway

JARL KRISTEN FJERDINGBY

For New Zealand

PETER GENT

For the Sultanate of Oman

SAOUD BIN HUMAID AL SHOAILI

AHMED BIN HASSAN AL HADDABI

For the Republic of Uganda

FRED OTUNNU

ANDREW OTIM

REBECCA MUKITE

For the Republic of Uzbekistan

JAMOL MAKHSUDOV

For Papua New Guinea

FLIERL SHONGOL

For the Republic of Paraguay

CÉSAR MARTÍNEZ

For the Kingdom of the Netherlands

M.C. HOGEWONING

A.H.M HEAVER

For Peru

GUSTAVO ANTONIO OTERO ZAPATA

CARLOS ERNESTO BARRIOS PÁUCAR

For the Republic of the Philippines

JOCELLE E. BATAPA-SIGUE

ANGELO GONZALEZ NUESTRO

For the Republic of Poland

WOJCIECH BEREZOWSKI

For Portugal

JONAS SUMARES

MANUEL COSTA CABRAL

For the State of Qatar

AMEL AL-HANAWI

For the Syrian Arab Republic

KHALED SHARAF

For Republic of Türkiye

SELAMETTIN ERMIS

For the Democratic Republic of the Congo

VINCENT IKIMBA BONGELO

JULES LUKONGA SHIKAY

RAPHAËL KABANGU KAZADI

BLAISE PEMBENI KAVOTA

PHILIPPE KAZADI OMOMBO

CHRISTINE NGALULA TUINDILE

LOUISE NGUINDANI

For the Kyrgyz Republic

OROZOBEK KAIYKOV

For the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

PYONG DU RI

HYON SONG KIM

For the Slovak Republic

KAROL MISTRÍK

MICHAELA JÁNOŠÍKOVÁ

PETRA HORNAKOVÁ

For the Czech Republic

HANA TOVARKOVA

For Romania

CARMEN-CRISTIANA FLUTUR

For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

PAUL GASKELL

OLIVER CHAPMAN

EVE FENSOME

For the Republic of Rwanda

ESTHER KUNDA

JEAN DE DIEU IMANISHIMWE

VINCENT MUSEMINALI

For Saint Lucia

GREGORY E. PLANTE

For the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis

KONRIS MAYNARD

For the Republic of San Marino

FEDERICO VALENTINI

For Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

APOLLO KNIGHTS

For the Solomon Islands

PED SHANEL AGOVAKA

For the Independent State of Samoa

LEFAOALII UNUTOA AUELUA-FONOTI

For the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe

JONAS SUMARES

MANUEL COSTA CABRAL

For the Republic of Senegal

SEYNABOU SECK CISSE

AMINATA NIANG

For the Republic of Serbia

STEFAN TOMASEVIC

For the Republic of Singapore

LIM WHEY YIT, TONY

For the Republic of Slovenia

MOJCA JARC

For the Republic of the Sudan

AFAF ABDELRAHMAN ELNIJOMI MOHAMED

For the Republic of South Sudan

CHOL JOSEPH MAYEN DUT

For the Republic of South Africa

KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI

For Sweden

SUSANNA MATTSSON

For the Confederation of Switzerland

PHILIPPE HORISBERGER

DIRK-OLIVIER VON DER EMDEN

For the Republic of Suriname

WENDY JAP-A-JOE

For the United Republic of Tanzania

MOHAMMED KHAMIS ABDULLA

JOHN WALLACE DAFFA

EMMANUEL CHIFUEL MANASSEH

For Thailand

NOTACHARD CHINTAKANOND

For the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

JOSE AGUSTINHO DA SILVA

For the Togolese Republic

MICHEL YAOVI GALLEY

KADIRI OURO-AGORO

AMAH VINYO CAPO

For Trinidad and Tobago

DENYSE WHITE

SHELLEY-ANN CLARKE-HINDS

NATASHA OTTLEY

STEFFON LEWIS

CYNTHIA REDDOCK-DOWNES

For Tunisia

RAJA JHINAOUI BEN ALI

FAYÇAL BAYOULI

KERIM HSINE

AFEF BOULEYMEN GOUIA

MARWEN BEN NASR

For Tuvalu

DANIEL ALEXANDER CARUSO

For Ukraine

YULIIA VOLKOVA

For the Eastern Republic of Uruguay

ALBERTO ANTONIO RODRÍGUEZ GOÑI

MARÍA JOSÉ FRANCO

HÉCTOR BUDÉ

For the Republic of Vanuatu

SUMBUE ANTAS

JOHN JACK

For the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

TRAN THANH HA

For the Republic of Zambia

KHUMBUZO NKUNIKA

VICTOR KULUKULU

BERNARD BANDA

DICKSON SEMBA CHIPAILA

ALICK MPONELA

For the Republic of Zimbabwe

GIFT MACHENGETE

PART V – DECLARATIONS

DECLARATIONS
made at the end of the
Plenipotentiary Conference
of the International Telecommunication Union

(Bucharest, 2022)[1]

The undersigned Plenipotentiaries confirm, through their signing of the present document, which forms part of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), that they have taken note of the following declarations made at the end of that Conference.

1

Original: English

For Georgia:

At the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference PP-22 (Bucharest, 2022) the delegation of Georgia makes the following statement:

1 The Government of Georgia is deprived of the possibility to exercise its de facto jurisdiction over the entire territory of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders, among them in the sector of telecommunication and information technology, as a result of continuous military aggression against Georgia and the illegal occupation of Georgia's indivisible regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia by the Russian Federation, which further continues in blatant violation of the fundamental principles and norms of international law, the Helsinki Final Act, the UN Charter and UN Security Council Resolutions.

2 Any action with or/and in the illegally occupied regions of Georgia in the sector of telecommunication and information technology can be carried out only in full respect for the Constitution and Legislation of Georgia, the acts of the International Telecommunication Union and the fundamental principles and norms of international law. All other cases represent illegal action and violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.

3 With the aim to protect the national interests and sovereignty of the State, Georgia reserves its legitimate right to use legal instruments in cases when a Member State of the International Telecommunication Union does not comply with the obligations under the International Telecommunication Union's Constitution, Convention, Acts and the fundamental principles and norms of international law; by its statements and actions directly or indirectly endangers the normal functioning of the networks and facilities of the Telecommunication and Information Technology Sector on the whole territory of Georgia, and undermines Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

2

Original: French

For the Vatican City State:

The Vatican City State reserves the right to take any measures it deems necessary to safeguard its interests should certain members fail, in any way, to abide by the provisions of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union or should reservations entered by other countries jeopardize its interests.

3

Original: Spanish

For Mexico:

The Mexican Government, in the exercise of its power to enter reservations to the Final Acts, reserves for its Government the right:

1) to adopt and take whatever measures it considers appropriate to safeguard its sovereign decisions and protect its interests should any other Member State fail to comply with in any way or fail to apply the provisions contained in these Acts, including their decisions, recommendations, resolutions and annexes, or those contained in the basic texts of the Union, the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union;

2) to express, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, further reservations to these Acts at any time it may deem appropriate between the date of signing of these Acts and the date of their ratification, in accordance with the procedures established in its domestic legislation;

3) not to consider itself bound by any provision of these Acts which restrict its right to enter such reservations as it deems relevant;

4) to reject the establishment and application of any additional burden, including financial burdens, over and above the contributory unit adopted by this conference and which may affect the national interest;

5) further, the Government of Mexico maintains and reaffirms, as if they were repeated here in full, the reservations it made on signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Geneva, 1992; Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; and Dubai, 2018), the reservations it made upon the adoption and revision of the Administrative Regulations referred to in Article 4 of the Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union, and all reservations made by it in respect of other treaties directly relating to telecommunications.

4

Original: Spanish

For the Republic of Paraguay:

The delegation of the Republic of Paraguay enters the following reservation on the basis of Article 32B of the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union:

• The Republic of Paraguay will take any measures it may deem necessary to safeguard its interests should other members of the International Telecommunication Union fail in any way to comply with the Final Acts or should reservations entered by other members jeopardize the smooth operation of its telecommunication services or its full sovereign rights;

• The Republic of Paraguay will enter additional reservations or declarations to the international instruments that constitute these Final Acts, at any time it deems appropriate between the date of signature and the date of ratification, by virtue of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969.

It declares in addition that the Republic of Paraguay will be bound by the international instruments that constitute these Final Acts only insofar as it expressly and duly consents to be bound by such instruments, and subject to the completion of the appropriate constitutional procedures.

5

Original: English

For the Republic of Indonesia:

Indonesia consent to be bound, through our signing of the present document, which forms part of the Constitution, Convention, and Final Acts (Resolutions, Decisions and Recommendations) (Bucharest, 2022), that the delegation of the Republic of Indonesia has taken note of the following Constitution, Convention, and Final Acts (Resolutions, Decisions and Recommendations) made at the end of the Plenipotentiary Conference.

On behalf of the Republic of Indonesia, the delegation of the Republic of Indonesia to the International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (ITU PP-22) (Bucharest, 2022):

– reserves the right for its Government to take any action and preservation measures it deems necessary to safeguard its national interests should any provision of the Constitution, Convention, and Final Acts (Resolutions, Decisions and Recommendations) as well as any decision of the International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (ITU PP-22) (Bucharest, 2022), directly or indirectly affect its sovereignty or be in contravention to the Constitution, Laws and Regulations of the Republic of Indonesia as well as the existing rights acquired by the Republic of Indonesia as a party to other treaties and conventions and any principles of international law;

– further reserves the right for its Government to take any action and preservation measures it deems necessary to safeguard its national interests should any Member in any way fail to comply with the provisions of the Constitution, Convention, and Final Acts (Resolutions, Decisions and Recommendations) as well as any decision of the International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (ITU PP-22) (Bucharest, 2022) or should the consequences of reservations by any Member jeopardize its telecommunications/ICT services or result in an unacceptable increase of its contributory share towards defraying expenses of the Union.

6

Original: English

For New Zealand:

The delegation of New Zealand declares that it reserves for its Government the right to take such action as it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member not observe the provisions of the Final Acts adopted by the conference, or should reservations by other countries jeopardize the radio or telecommunication services of New Zealand.

The delegation of New Zealand further declares that, consistent with the constitutional status of Tokelau and taking into account the current focus on providing core services for Tokelau before any further act of self-determination is considered, any approval by the Government of New Zealand shall not extend to Tokelau unless and until a Declaration to this effect is lodged by the Government of New Zealand with the Secretary-General on the basis of appropriate consultation with that territory.

7

Original: English

For the Republic of Cyprus:

The delegation of the Republic of Cyprus reserves for its Government the right to take any action it deems necessary to safeguard its interests should any Members of the Union not share in defraying the expenses of the Union or should they fail in any way to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention (Geneva 1992) and/or annexes and protocols thereof, as amended by the Kyoto 1994 Instrument, the Minneapolis 1998 Instrument, the Marrakesh 2002 Instrument, the Antalya 2006 Instrument, the Guadalajara 2010 Instrument, the Busan 2014 Instrument, the Dubai 2018 Instrument and the Bucharest 2022 Instruments, or should reservations by other countries be liable to cause an increase in its contributory share in defraying Union expenses, or jeopardize its telecommunication services, or should any other action taken or intended to be taken or any omission by any person, physical or juridical directly or indirectly affect its sovereignty.

The delegation of the Republic of Cyprus further reserves for its Government the right to make any other declarations or reservations until and up to the time that the Bucharest 2022 Instruments, amending the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), and Kyoto 1994 Instruments, and Minneapolis 1998 Instruments, and Marrakesh 2002 Instruments, and Antalya 2006 Instruments, and Guadalajara 2010 Instruments, and the Busan 2014 Instruments, are ratified by the Republic of Cyprus.

8

Original: English

For Hungary:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of Hungary reserves for its Government the right to take any action that it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member State of the Union not share in defraying the expenses of the Union or fail, in any way, to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conferences (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014 and Dubai, 2018), and adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), or should any reservation made by any Member State jeopardize the proper operation of its telecommunication services or lead to an increase in their contribution towards defraying the expenses of the Union.

The delegation of Hungary further declares that it reserves for its Government the right to make any additional statements or reservations when depositing its instruments of ratification for the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022).

9

Original: English

For the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest 2022), the delegation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan declares that it firmly reserves for its Government the right to take any action it deems necessary to safeguard its interests:

– if any member fails to observe the provisions of the present Final Acts;

– if the application of certain provisions in the present Final Acts should jeopardize the operation and the development of its country's telecommunication services and networks;

– not to be bound by any provision of the Final Acts which may directly or indirectly affect its sovereignty and be in contravention with the Constitution, Laws and Regulations of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan;

– if the application of certain provisions in the present Final Acts may in any form affect the national interest/security and its authority to regulate all telecommunication activities of any person, organization and operating agency.

The delegation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan recalls that if any member makes reservations in connection with the application of one or more provisions of these Regulations, its country is not obliged to observe the provision(s) concerned in its relations with the member which made the reservations.

The delegation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan further reserves for its Government the right to make any additional declaration or reservation that it may consider necessary until the time of its ratification of these Final Acts.

10

Original: English

For Malaysia:

The delegation of Malaysia:

1 reserves the right of its Government to take any action or preservation measures it deems necessary to safeguard its national interest should the Final Acts drawn up by the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Bucharest, Romania (Bucharest, 2022) directly or indirectly affect its sovereignty or be in contravention with the Constitution, Laws and Regulations of Malaysia which exist and may result from any principles of international law or should reservations by any Member of the Union jeopardize Malaysia's telecommunications, communications and multimedia services or lead to an increase in its contributory share towards defraying the expenses of the Union;

2 further reserves the right of its Government to make such reservations as may be necessary up to and including the time of ratification of the Final Acts of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (Bucharest,2022); and

3 declares that the signing of these Final Acts by the Delegation of Malaysia is not valid with respect to the Member appearing under the name of Israel, and in no way implies its recognition.

11

Original: English

For Canada:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of Canada reserves on behalf of its Government the right to take whatever measures it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests should other Member States fail to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992) and successive amendments thereto, or the Administrative Regulations particularly to those pertaining to the use of radio frequencies and any associated orbits, including the geostationary-satellite orbit.

The delegation of Canada also reserves its right to make any additional declarations and reservations to the Final Acts adopted by the present conference.

12

Original: Spanish

For the Republic of El Salvador:

On signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of the Republic of El Salvador declares that it reserves for its Government the right:

1 not to accept any financial measure that may entail unjustified increases in its contribution towards defraying the expenses of the International Telecommunication Union;

2 not to be bound by any provision of the Constitution or the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), with the amendments adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conferences (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; Dubai, 2018; and Bucharest, 2022), and the annexes, regulations and protocols to those instruments, which might directly or indirectly affect its national sovereignty or be contrary to the Constitution of the Republic;

3 to take any measures it may deem necessary to safeguard its interests with respect to the application of the provisions of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), with the amendments adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conferences (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; Dubai, 2018; and Bucharest, 2022), and the annexes, regulations and protocols to those instruments, or should reservations entered by other Member States jeopardize its full sovereign rights or the smooth operation of its telecommunication services or information and communication technologies.

13

Original: English

For the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Croatia, Denmark, Spain, the Republic of Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Romania, the Republic of Slovenia and Sweden:

The delegations of the Member States of the European Union declare that the Member States of the European Union will apply the Instruments adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) in accordance with their obligations under the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

14

Original: French

For Burkina Faso:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the Government of Burkina Faso reserves its sovereign right:

1 to take all measures and actions necessary to safeguard its rights and national interests should a member of the Union fail in any way to comply with the provisions of such acts, or jeopardize the country's telecommunication/ICT services directly or indirectly, or put national security or sovereignty at risk;

2 to make additional reservations as necessary up to the time of deposit of the instruments of ratification.

15

Original: French

For the Kingdom of Morocco:

The signature by the Moroccan delegation of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) does not imply that the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco renounces its right to take any measure to safeguard its interests should:

1) a Member State of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) contravene the objectives and missions of ITU and the decisions and provisions of the Final Acts of the Conference;

2) a Member State enter reservations to the provisions of paragraph 1 above that would compromise the normal operation of the telecommunication services of the Kingdom of Morocco.

16

Original: English

For Jamaica:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest 2022) of the International Telecommunication Union, the delegation of Jamaica reserves for its Government the right to:

i) question any act or resolution that may be contrary to its Constitution, national sovereignty, fundamental interests or telecommunication services;

ii) take any action it considers necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member State fail in any way to respect or observe the provisions of the Final Acts and the Regulations and Decisions attached thereto or should the consequences of reservations made by other Member States directly or indirectly prejudice or jeopardize Jamaica's telecommunication services or interests or impair its sovereign rights;

iii) make any other declarations or reservations it deems necessary to the Final Acts of this Conference and the Regulations and Decisions attached thereto until such time as the appropriate instrument of ratification is deposited by Jamaica.

17

Original: English

For the Republic of Singapore:

The delegation of the Republic of Singapore reserves for its Government the right to take any action which it considers necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member of the Union fail in any way to comply with the requirements of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis, 1998), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Guadalajara, 2010), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Dubai, 2018), or the Annexes and Protocols attached thereto, or should reservation by any Member of the Union jeopardize the Republic of Singapore's telecommunication services, affect its sovereignty or lead to an increase in its contributory share towards defraying the expenses of the Union.

18

Original: English

For Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and Norway:

The delegations of the above-mentioned Member States of the European Economic Area declare that they will apply the Instruments adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) in accordance with their obligations under the Treaty establishing the European Economic Area.

19

Original: Spanish

For the Republic of Colombia:

On signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of the Republic of Colombia:

1 states that it reserves for its Government the right:

a) to take any action consistent with its domestic law and with international law that it may deem necessary to safeguard its national interests should any other members fail to comply with the provisions contained in the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), or should any reservations entered by representatives of other States affect the telecommunication services of the Republic of Colombia or its full sovereign rights;

b) to enter reservations to the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), pursuant to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969, at any time it considers appropriate between the date of signature and the date of possible ratification of the international instruments constituting those Final Acts. Accordingly, it shall not be bound by any rules restricting the sovereign right to enter reservations only to the time of signing the Final Acts of conferences and other meetings of the Union;

2 reaffirms, in their essence, Reservations 40 and 79 entered at the World Administrative Radio Conference (Geneva, 1979), Reservation 50 entered at the Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis, 1998) and Reservation 64 entered at the World Radiocommunication Conference (Istanbul, 2000) with respect to the new provisions modifying or amending the Constitution, the Convention and other instruments of the International Telecommunication Union, contained in the documents of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022);

3 declares that the Republic of Colombia considers itself bound by the instruments of the International Telecommunication Union, including the provisions modifying or amending the Constitution, the Convention, the protocols and the Administrative Regulations, only insofar as it has expressly and duly consented to be bound by each of the aforesaid international instruments, and subject to completion of the applicable constitutional procedures. Accordingly, it does not agree to be bound by any presumed or tacit consent;

4 declares that, under its Constitution, its Government is unable to give provisional effect to the international instruments which constitute the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) and other instruments of the Union, owing to the content and nature of such instruments;

5 reaffirms, in their essence, Reservation 58 entered at the Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006), Reservation 5 entered at the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) and Reservation 28 entered at the Plenipotentiary Conference (Dubai, 2018).

20

Original: English

For the Republic of Albania, the Federal Republic of Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Republic of Bulgaria, Canada, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Spain, the Republic of Estonia, the United States of America, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, the State of Israel, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Latvia, the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Republic of Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Principality of Monaco, Norway, New Zealand, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Peru, the Republic of Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Republic of Slovenia, Sweden, the Confederation of Switzerland and Ukraine:

The delegations of the mentioned countries thank the Secretary General for his oral update on the implementation of the 2022 ITU Council Resolution 1408 on "Assistance and support to Ukraine for rebuilding their telecommunication sector". We look forward to the release of the first written report assessing the impact of the war in Ukraine in the field of telecommunications, and providing proposals for effective assistance, at the earliest opportunity and in any event no later than the end of 2022.

The very first line of the ITU's Constitution recognizes the importance of telecommunications for peace, and in order to foster the economic and social development of all Member States. The support for Ukraine provided by the ITU and its Member States is uniquely valuable for the rebuilding of Ukraine's telecommunication sector. We are proud that our Union has stepped up to support a Member State in urgent need.

We welcome the establishment of a special Task Force at the level of the General Secretariat, and of a Special Fund in Trust, in order to provide assistance and support to rebuild Ukraine's telecommunication infrastructure and to provide the necessary support and technical capacity building. We are grateful to ITU Member States for the contributions they have made to support these efforts, including the projects and pledges announced on the occasion of the ITU Partner2Connect High-Level Digital Development Dialogues held at the World Telecommunication Development Conference in Kigali in June 2022.

We call on Member States and the Union not to lose this momentum, but to continue to provide assistance and financial contributions to Ukraine for rebuilding its telecommunication sector and to support the use of telecommunications/ICTs for recovery and sustainable development. In addition, we call on the ITU to ensure adequate financial and human resources mobilization within its budget in order to support this effort, in line with Council Resolution 1408.

As an important member of the UN family, the ITU cannot ignore the fact that it is Russia which is responsible for the war in Ukraine. As recognized by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution (A/RES/ES-11/1<https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3965290?ln=es>)>) of 2 March 2022 on Aggression Against Ukraine, Russia's unprovoked and unjust invasion of Ukraine violates international law, including the UN Charter, and shows flagrant disregard for human suffering.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion on 24 February, 2022, Ukraine has suffered attacks on critical telecommunication infrastructure, failure of telecoms services and outages of the mobile networks. Russia's actions have had a devastating impact over the operation of telecommunication facilities and services in Ukraine and on the exercise of Ukraine's sovereign right to regulate telecommunications within its internationally recognized territory. These unjustified actions stand in clear contradiction to the ITU's mission to promote digital connectivity for sustainable development worldwide and fails to respect the fundamental principles enshrined in the ITU Constitution. Russia has lost its status as a credible partner for ITU activities and cannot claim to promote its values.

We firmly reject and unequivocally condemn the illegal attempted annexation by Russia of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. These actions, based on sham "referenda" carried out by the Russian-installed officials in temporarily seized Ukrainian territories, are a further blatant violation of Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and of international law. The results of these illegal "votes" are null and void and these areas will never be recognized by the international community as anything but a part of Ukraine's sovereign territory. We call on the ITU to refrain from any actions or publications that might be interpreted as recognizing or endorsing any alteration of the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine, and to support Ukraine in exercising its sovereign right to regulate telecommunication within those borders.

The supporters of this declaration stand firmly and unwaveringly in solidarity with Ukraine. We strongly condemn the Russian Federation's violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and deplore the suffering and loss of life that it has caused. We reiterate the call of the UN General Assembly Resolution of 2 March and urge Russia to immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine and to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. And in doing so we urge Russia to respect, in full, the obligations which arise from ITU membership.

21

Original: English

For the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam:

On behalf of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, the Vietnamese Delegation to the Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (PP-22) declares:

1) It maintains the reservations made by Viet Nam at the Nairobi Plenipotentiary Conference (1982) and reaffirmed at the Nice (1989), Geneva (1992), Kyoto (1994), Minneapolis (1998), Marrakesh (2002), Antalya (2006), Guadalajara (2010), Busan (2014) and Dubai (2018) Plenipotentiary Conferences;

2) It reserves for Viet Nam the right to take any action, if necessary, to safeguard its interests should any other State Members in any way fail to comply with the provisions of the Constitution, Convention or Administrative Regulations and Appendices thereto of the International Telecommunication Union, or should reservations by other State Members jeopardize the sovereignty, interests and telecommunication services of the S.R. of Viet Nam;

3) It reserves the right of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to express additional reservations at the time of ratification of the amendments to the Constitution and the Convention (if any) made at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 held in Bucharest, Romania.

22

Original: English

For Malta:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of Malta reserves for its Government the right to take such action as it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member of the Union fail in any way to observe or comply with the provisions of the Final Acts adopted by the Conference or should reservations by other countries jeopardize the proper operation of its telecommunication services.

23

Original: English

For Brunei Darussalam:

The delegation of Brunei Darussalam reserves the right of its Government to take any action that it deems necessary to safeguard its interests, should any Member of the Union fail in any way to comply with requirements of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva 1992), as amended by the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis, 1998), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Guadalajara, 2010), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Dubai, 2018) and the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), or the annexes and protocols attached thereto, or should any reservation made by any Member State jeopardize Brunei Darussalam's telecommunication services or lead to an increase in its share defraying the expenses of the Union.

The delegation of Brunei Darussalam further reserves for its Government, the right to make any additional reservations which it deems necessary up to and including the time of its ratification of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022).

24

Original: English

For Australia:

In signing the Final Acts of the 2022 Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of Australia reserves for its Government the right to take any measures it might deem necessary to safeguard its interests if another Member State of the International Telecommunication Union in any way fails to respect the conditions specified in the Final Acts or if the reservations made by any Member State should be prejudicial to the operation of radiocommunication and telecommunication services in Australia or its full sovereign rights.

Declaration on Resolutions 99 and 125:

Australia's longstanding position is in support of a just and enduring two-state solution in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Australia encourages Israel and the Palestinians to return to direct negotiations in good faith. Australia remains a committed supporter of the Palestinian people.

25

Original: English

For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

Regarding the reference to the "State of Palestine" in Resolution 99 and Resolution 125, the United Kingdom wishes to clarify that we do not recognize or believe the "State of Palestine" qualifies as a sovereign state. The United Kingdom remains fully supportive of a two-state solution leading to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. The United Kingdom is a strong supporter of all efforts to promote peace.

26

Original: Russian

For the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Tajikistan:

The delegations of the above-mentioned countries reserve for their respective Governments the right to take any action they may consider necessary to safeguard their interests should any Member State of the Union fail in any way to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union, or should reservations made by other countries jeopardize the operation of the telecommunication services of the above-mentioned countries or lead to an increase in their annual contributions to defraying the expenses of the Union.

27

Original: English

For Trinidad and Tobago:

In signing the Final Acts of the International Telecommunication Union 2022 Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago reserves, for its Government, the right to take all measures it may deem necessary to protect its interests should any country fail in any way to respect or observe the provisions of the Final Acts, the Regulations and Decisions attached thereto, adopted by the Conference; or should the consequences of reservations made by other Member States directly or indirectly jeopardize the telecommunication/information and communication technology (ICT) services of Trinidad and Tobago or impair its sovereign rights.

The delegation of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago further reserves for the State and its Government, the right to make any declaration or reservation or take any other appropriate action, as may be necessary regarding the Final Acts of this Conference and the Regulations and Decisions attached thereto, until such time as the appropriate instrument of ratification is deposited by the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

28

Original: English

For the Federal Republic of Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Republic of Bulgaria, Canada, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Croatia, Denmark, Spain, the Republic of Estonia, the United States of America, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Principality of Monaco, Norway, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Republic of Slovenia and Sweden:

The delegations of the above-mentioned States wish to express our opposition to the reference to digital object architecture in recognizing e) of Resolution 188, "Combating counterfeit telecommunication/information and communication technology devices". Recommendation ITU-T X.1255 is not based on digital object architecture and we do not support this reference.

29

Original: Arabic

For the State of Kuwait:

When signing the present Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the State of Kuwait declares that due to the lack of provisions in the Constitution and Convention defining the relationship between Member States and Sector Members that are not under its authority, in the event of a dispute between the undersigned Member States and Sector Members, the State of Kuwait reserves the right to apply Article 56 of the Constitution to resolve the dispute.

The delegation of the State of Kuwait to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) declares that the Government of the State of Kuwait reserves its right to take any action it deems necessary to safeguard its interests should other Member States fail to comply with the provisions adopted by this conference to amend the Constitution and Convention (Geneva, 1992) and the amendments thereto (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006, and Guadalajara, 2010) and the annexes thereto, or should any Member State fail to defray its share of the expenses of the Union or should their reservations, now or in the future, or their failure to comply with the Constitution and the Convention, jeopardize the proper operation of the telecommunication services of the State of Kuwait.

The delegation of the State of Kuwait further reserves for its Government the right to make any additional reservations to the Final Acts adopted by this conference until such time as it has deposited its instrument of ratification of these Final Acts.

30

Original: English

For Canada:

The delegation of Canada would like to emphasize that Canada is committed to the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, including the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel. Ultimately, the best way to address the current situation between Israel and the Palestinians lies in a comprehensive peace agreement achieved through direct negotiation between the parties.

Notwithstanding the references to "State of Palestine" in the text of Resolution 99 (Rev. Dubai, 2018), the delegation of Canada wishes to underscore that Canada does not recognize "Palestine" as a State as it does not meet the necessary criteria of a State under international law.

31

Original: Arabic

For the Republic of the Sudan:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of the Republic of the Sudan declares that the Republic of the Sudan reserves the right, in the event of a dispute between Member States signatories to the Final Acts of this conference and Sector Members not under its authority, to apply Article 56 of the Constitution to resolve disputes.

The delegation of the Republic of the Sudan to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) declares that the Government of the Republic of the Sudan reserves its right to take any measure it deems necessary in order to safeguard its interests should other Member States fail to comply with the decisions adopted by the present Conference to amend the Constitution and the Convention of the Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya 2006; and Guadalajara, 2010), and the annexes thereto, or should they fail to defray the expenses of the Union, or should their reservations, now or in the future, or their failure to comply with the Constitution and the Convention, jeopardize the smooth operation of the telecommunication services of the Republic of the Sudan.

The delegation of the Republic of the Sudan further reserves for its Government the right to enter any additional reservations to the Final Acts adopted by the present Conference until such time as it has deposited its instrument of ratification of these Final Acts.

32

Original: English

For the Arab Republic of Egypt:

In the name of God, most merciful, most compassionate.

The delegation of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), on the signing of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), reserves for its Government the right:

1. to take any action or any measure that it may deem appropriate to safeguard its rights and interests, should any other Member fail to comply with the provisions contained in the Final Acts (Bucharest, 2022), or should any reservation by representatives of other States jeopardize telecommunication services or ICT services of the Arab Republic of Egypt, its national security or its full sovereign rights or lead to an increase in its contributory share in defraying the expenses of the International Telecommunication Union;

2. not to be bound by any provision of the Constitution or the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis, 1998), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Guadalajara, 2010), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Dubai, 2018), and the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), which may directly or indirectly affect its sovereignty and be in contradiction with the constitution, laws or regulations of the Arab Republic of Egypt;

3. to make, under the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties of 1969 any other statements or reservations to the above-mentioned Final Acts adopted by the present conference (Bucharest, 2022) until such time as the respective instrument of ratification has been deposited;

4. to apply Article 56 of the Constitution in case of a dispute between Egypt and any of the Sector Members of ITU; this is due to the lack of provisions in the Constitution and the Convention defining the relationship between a Member State and Sector Members that are not under its authority;

5. the Arab Republic of Egypt has the right to make any further reservations and additional declarations until such time as the instruments adopted by the conference enter into force, or the Final Acts of this conference, or should the reservations, declarations or additional reservations and declarations by other countries or administrations jeopardize the proper and efficient operation of its telecommunication services, or infringe the full exercise of the sovereign rights of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

The signature of these Final Acts shall be considered valid only in respect of Member States of the International Telecommunication Union recognized by the Arab Republic of Egypt.

33

Original: English

For the United Republic of Tanzania:

The delegation of the United Republic of Tanzania to the 2022 Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (Bucharest, 2022) in signing the Final Acts of the Conference, declares that it reserves the right for its Government:

1 to take any measures that it may deem necessary to safeguard its interests, should other members of the International Telecommunication Union in any way fail to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention of the Union, the Radio Regulations of the Union and the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22, Bucharest, 2022);

2 to take any measures it may deem necessary and appropriate to protect and safeguard its national interests and rights, should they be affected or prejudiced, directly or indirectly, by reservations expressed by other administrations or by actions not in accordance with the Constitution and Convention of the Union;

3 to make such additional declarations and reservations that may be necessary up to, and including, the time of ratification of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22 Bucharest, 2022); and

4 to accept or not accept any financial consequences that may arise from such reservations.

34

Original: Spanish

For the Eastern Republic of Uruguay:

The delegation of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay declares that it reserves for its Government the right:

– to take any measures it may deem necessary to safeguard its interests should other members fail to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by Plenipotentiary Conferences (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; Dubai, 2018; and Bucharest, 2022), and the annexes and protocols to those instruments, or should reservations made by other members jeopardize its full sovereign rights or the smooth operation of its telecommunication services;

– to make additional reservations to the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), by virtue of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969, at any time it may deem appropriate between the date of signature and the date of ratification of the international instruments constituting such Final Acts.

35

Original: English

For Ukraine:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of Ukraine declares the following.

We would like to make a reference to the Join Statement on Ukraine which was delivered of 10 October 2022 in which 48 countries expressed their support and condemned the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

ITU is committed to connecting people all over the world – wherever they live and whatever their means. The Union declares that through its work, ITU protects and supports everyone's right to communicate. The Constitution Preamble recognizes the sovereign right of each State to regulate its telecommunication and having regard to the growing importance of telecommunication for the preservation of peace and the economic and social development of all States.

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation started a full-scale war against Ukraine. Supported by the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation launched numerous strikes on peaceful Ukrainian cities. As a result of the aggressor's criminal actions, the infrastructure of the country, including telecommunications and broadcasting, is ruined but the worst of all is the daily human losses.

Ukraine is an independent and sovereign European country, which the Russian Federation is trying to occupy using not only military weapons but also means of information and cyber warfare and these continue not just for 7 months.

Starting from 20 February 2014, the Russian Federation, in violation of the fundamental principles and norms of international law has been committing an act of armed aggression against Ukraine, which has resulted in the illegal occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and certain areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The illegal seizure of telecommunication networks of the Ukrainian operators, unauthorized change of the numbering system of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and illegal use of the frequency and numbering resources by the Russian Federation as a Member State of the ITU are just some of the facts of aggression of the Russian Federation and violation not only of the principles of the ITU`s Basic Documents, in particular the norms of the preamble and Article 6 of the ITU Constitution, and the Radio Regulations, but also of the UN Charter, International humanitarian and human rights law, as well as relevant international agreements, multilateral and bilateral treaties. Accordingly, Ukraine does not in any way recognize the illegal use of frequency spectrum and wrongful application of numbering codes of the Russian Federation within the illegally temporarily occupied territories.

We strongly condemn the recent illegal attempted annexation by the Russian Federation of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. These actions, based on sham "referenda" carried out by the Russian-installed officials in temporarily seized Ukrainian territories, are a further blatant violation of Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and of international law.

On behalf of Ukraine, the delegation of Ukraine to the ITU PP-22:

– recalls the Agreed statement by the ITU Secretary-General at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2014 (Busan, 2014), published in Document PP-14/174, Annex B, the Statement by the ITU Secretary-General, in the ITU Operational Bulletin No. 1158 of 15 October 2018, the relevant UNGA Resolutions, in particular, 29/3314 of 14 December 1974 "Definition of aggression", 68/262 of 27 March 2014 "Territorial integrity of Ukraine" calling upon all specialized agencies of the United Nations "not to recognize any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered status", as well as relevant provisions related to such status of the UNGA resolutions "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)" 71/205 (2016), 72/190 (2017), 73/263 (2018), 74/168 (2019), 75/192 (2020), 76/179 (2021), and also "Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov" 73/194 (2018), 74/17 (2019), 75/29 (2020), 76/70 (2021) and the UNGA Resolution A/RES/ES-11/1 of 2 March 2022 "Aggression against Ukraine", the Resolution A/RES/ES-11/2 of 24 March 2022 "Humanitarian Consequences of the Aggression Against Ukraine", Resolution A/RES/ES-11/4 of 12 October 2022 "Territorial integrity of Ukraine: defending the principles of the Charter of the United Nations" calling upon all specialized agencies of the United Nations "not to recognize any alteration by the Russian Federation of the status of any or all of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk or Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, and to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered status", as well as the ITU Council Resolution 1408 on "Assistance and support to Ukraine for rebuilding their telecommunication sector";

– strongly condemns the Russian Federation's violation of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders;

– calls the Russian Federation to respect in full its obligations arising from the ITU membership as well as cease violations and abuses preventing fulfilment by Ukraine of its sovereign right to regulate telecommunications in all of its territory within internationally recognized borders;

– calls on all Member States of ITU to join efforts in addressing the devastating impact of the Russian Federation's aggression on the operation of telecommunication facilities and services in Ukraine.

The Government of Ukraine reserves its right to take any measures that it may deem appropriate to safeguard its interests should other members fail to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by Plenipotentiary Conferences (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006 and Guadalajara, 2010), or of the Administrative Regulations, or should reservations and declarations by any Members of the Union jeopardize the smooth operation of Ukraine's telecommunication services, affect its sovereignty, or entail an increase in its financial obligations to the Union.

36

Original: English

For the Republic of Azerbaijan:

The Republic of Azerbaijan reserves for its Government the right to adopt and take whatever measures it considers appropriate to safeguard its interests and sovereign rights should any other Member State fail to comply with in any way or fail to apply the provisions contained in these Acts, including the decisions, recommendations and resolutions of the International Telecommunication Union, or should any reservation or declaration made by other Member States jeopardize its telecommunication services or lead to an increase in its contributory share in defraying the expenses of the Union.

At the time of signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan formally declares that it maintains the declarations and reservations made by the Republic of Azerbaijan when signing the Final Acts of previous treaty-making conferences of the Union as if they were made in full at this Plenipotentiary Conference.

37

Original: Spanish

For Spain:

• The Spanish delegation declares, on behalf of its Government, that it does not accept any declaration or reservation formulated by other governments which might imply an increase in its financial obligations.

• The Spanish delegation reserves for the Kingdom of Spain the right, under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 23 May 1969, to formulate reservations to the Final Acts adopted by the present conference up to the time of deposit of the appropriate instrument of ratification.

38

Original: Russian

For the Russian Federation:

The delegation of the Russian Federation categorically opposes the attempts of certain groups of Member States to use the forum of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to politicize the discussion and to debate issues that do not come under the remit of the organization. Such actions demonstrate a lack of regard for the ITU Constitution and Convention and for its Member States.

The Russian Federation, attaching importance to observing the principle of equitable geographical distribution and the need to protect the professional reputation of and trust in the candidatures put forward by the regional telecommunication organizations, declares that any form of discrimination on the basis of nationality at ITU is unacceptable.

We draw attention once again to the fact that Article 3 of the ITU Constitution, Articles 13, 16 and 20 of the ITU Convention, Section 10 of the General Rules of conferences, assemblies and meetings of the Union, and Resolution 208 of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference were violated at WTSA-2020 and WTDC-2022 in approving experts as members of the study groups and advisory groups of the Telecommunication Standardization Sector and the Telecommunication Development Sector. Such decisions are contrary to the provisions of the basic texts of the Union, which set forth the requirements for candidatures for elected and appointed positions.

The Russian Federation notes that the appointment and election of candidates must strictly comply with the professional criteria contained in the aforementioned basic texts of ITU.

We are convinced that the precedent of infringing the rights of ITU Member States may lead to a series of analogous politically motivated decisions in the future, which is contrary to the above-mentioned provisions of the basic instruments of ITU.

The Russian Federation will take all necessary measures to safeguard its interests in accordance with international law.

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference, the Russian Federation reserves the right to refuse to comply with any provisions thereof if they infringe the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation under its laws or qualify its actions in any way, in contravention of the mandate of ITU. Furthermore, the delegation of the Russian Federation, in signing the Final Acts of the 2022 Plenipotentiary Conference, declares that it does not consider itself to be bound by the provisions of ITU Council Resolution 1408 (2022), in view of its unjustified politicization, and considers that that resolution does not apply to the Russian Federation.

The Russian Federation is always guided by the provisions of the basic texts of ITU and works constructively to preserve non-discriminatory unity in our professional community.

We support equitable dialogue in the interests of all Member States, with particular attention to the needs of developing countries and ITU as a whole.

39

Original: English

For Lebanon:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest 2022), the delegation of the Republic of Lebanon declares that it firmly reserves for its government the right to take any action it deems necessary to safeguard its interests:

– If any member fails to observe the provisions of the present Final Acts;

– if the application of certain provisions in the present Final Acts should jeopardize the operation and the development of its country's telecommunication services and networks;

– not to be bound by any provision of the Final Acts which may directly or indirectly affect its sovereignty and be in contravention with the Constitution, Laws and Regulations of the Republic of Lebanon;

– if the application of certain provisions in the present Final Acts may in any form affect the national interest/security and its authority to regulate all telecommunications activities of any person, organization and operating agency.

The delegation of the Republic of Lebanon recalls that if any member makes reservations in connection with the application of one or more provisions of these Final Acts, its country is not obliged to observe the provision(s) concerned in its relations with the member which made the reservations.

The delegation of the Republic of Lebanon further reserves for its Government the right to make any additional declaration or reservation that it may consider necessary until the time of its ratification of these Final Acts.

40

Original: English

For Japan:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of Japan reserves for its Government the right to take such actions as it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member State fail in any way to comply with the requirements of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992) as amended by Plenipotentiary Conferences (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; Dubai, 2018 and Bucharest, 2022), and any contents of the annexes thereto, or should reservations by other Member States jeopardize its interests in any way.

41

Original: Spanish

For the Argentine Republic:

The Argentine Republic reiterates its legitimate sovereign rights over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia Islands and the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, which are an integral part of its national territory and are being illegitimately occupied by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and therefore are subject to a sovereignty dispute.

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted resolutions 2665 (XX), 3160 (XVIII), 31/49, 37/9, 38/12, 39/6, 40/21, 41/40, 42/19 and 43/25, in which it recognizes the existence of a sovereignty dispute, referred to as the question of the Malvinas Islands, and calls on the Governments of the Argentine Republic and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to resume negotiations with the view to finding a peaceful, just and definitive solution to the dispute as soon as possible.

For its part, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization has repeatedly expressed a similar view, most recently through the resolution adopted on 24 June 2022. Also, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States adopted on 12 November 2021 a new declaration on the question, which is declared to be of permanent hemispheric interest.

In addition, the Argentine Republic declares that none of the provisions of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference shall be interpreted or applied as affecting its rights over the Argentine Antarctic Sector delimited by the 25° West and 74° West meridians and the 60° South parallel, over which the Argentine Republic has claimed and maintains its sovereignty.

42

Original: English

For the Republic of India:

1 In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of the Republic of India does not accept any financial implications for its government resulting from any reservations that might be made by any Member on matters pertaining to the finances of the Union.

2 The delegation of the Republic of India further reserves the right of its Government to take any action, it deems necessary to safeguard and protect its interests in the event of any Member failing in any way to comply with one or more provisions of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992) and amendments made thereto by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis, 1998), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Guadalajara, 2010), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Dubai, 2018), and the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), or the Administrative Regulations.

3 In addition, the Republic of India reserves the right to make appropriate specific reservations and statements prior to ratification of the Final Acts.

43

Original: English

For the Republic of Iraq:

The delegation of the Republic of Iraq, on signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) reserves for its Government the right:

1) to take any action or any measure that it may deem appropriate to safeguard its rights and interests, should other Members fail to comply with the provisions contained in the Final Acts of Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022); or should any reservation or declaration, now or in the future, by representatives of other States, jeopardize telecommunication services or ICT services of the Republic of Iraq;

2) not to be bound by any provision of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), and its resolutions and decisions which may directly or indirectly:

– be in contravention with the Constitution, Laws and Regulations of the Republic of Iraq;

– jeopardize its national security, telecommunications policy, or its sovereign rights;

3) to apply Article 56 of the Constitution vis-à-vis any Member State in the event of a dispute between Iraq and a Sector Member not under its authority but under the authority of the Member State concerned;

4) to make, under the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties of 1969 any other statements or reservations to the above-mentioned Final Acts adopted by the present conference (Bucharest, 2022) until such time as the respective instrument of ratification has been deposited.

44

Original: Chinese

For the People's Republic of China:

The delegation of the People's Republic of China, in signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), declares that it reserves for its Government the right:

– to take any action it may deem necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member State fail in any way to comply with the requirements of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; Dubai, 2018 and Bucharest, 2022), and the annexes to those instruments, or should declarations made by other countries jeopardize its interests.

45

Original: French

For the Republic of Cameroon:

In signing the Final Acts of the 2022 Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union, the delegation of the Republic of Cameroon declares, having taken note of the declarations and reservations made by other Member States, that it reserves for its Government the right:

– to apply the provisions deriving from the Final Acts of the 2022 Plenipotentiary Conference when deemed necessary and to ensure that such provisions are in accordance with national regulations, or not to apply such provisions when the application thereof is deemed, directly or indirectly, to be prejudicial to the smooth operation and development of national telecommunications;

– to accept, or not to accept, any consequences deriving from the application by other Member States, or telecommunication operators in their territories, of the Final Acts of the 2022 Plenipotentiary Conference, should these be deemed prejudicial to national interests or detrimental to national telecommunications;

– to take any measures it may deem necessary and appropriate in the event that national telecommunication systems are affected, directly or indirectly, as a result of failure on the part of one or more Member States of the International Telecommunication Union to comply with the provisions of the Final Acts of the 2022 Plenipotentiary Conference;

– to take any measures it may deem necessary and appropriate to protect and safeguard its national interests and rights with respect to telecommunications, should they be affected or prejudiced, directly or indirectly, by reservations expressed by other Member States or by measures not in accordance with international law;

– to make reservations and declarations prior to the ratification and deposit of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference 2022.

46

Original: English

For the Republic of Vanuatu:

The delegation of the Republic of Vanuatu to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union, (Bucharest, 2022), reserves for its Government the right to take any action which it considers necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member of the Union fail in any way to comply with the requirements of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference, (Bucharest, 2022), and the annexes and protocols attached thereto, or should reservation by any Member of the Union jeopardize Vanuatu's telecommunication/ICT services, affect its sovereignty.

The Vanuatu delegation further reserves for its Government the right to make any such additional declarations, reservations or statements prior to ratification of the amendments to the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union.

47

Original: English

For the United States of America:

The United States of America notes that the Final Acts of this Plenipotentiary Conference do not include any proposed amendments to the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), and amendments thereto. Therefore, nothing in these Final Acts or in statements made by Members States in connection with these Final Acts affect, or can affect, the rights and obligations of the United States of America under the Constitution and Convention or any other treaty. The United States of America recalls that it has made declarations and reservations at world administrative conferences and world radiocommunication conferences and in connection with the signing of Final Acts of prior Plenipotentiary Conferences as well as in connection with its ratification of ITU treaties including the Constitution and Convention and amendments thereto. The United States of America further notes that those declarations and reservations are not affected in any way by the signature of these Final Acts by the United States of America.

The United States of America states that it will interpret Resolution 99 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) and Resolution 125 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) in accordance with relevant international agreements, including agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. The United States of America rejects the use of "State of Palestine" in Resolution 99 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) as a preferred nomenclature of the Palestinians as observers at the ITU. Furthermore, this nomenclature does not confer additional rights and privileges on the Palestinian delegation in the ITU beyond those that are otherwise stipulated in Resolution 99. The United States does not believe the "State of Palestine" qualifies as a sovereign State and does not recognize it as such. Only sovereign States may be Member States of the ITU. The United States remains committed to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace that offers a brighter future to both Israel and the Palestinians.

48

Original: English

For Tunisia:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest 2022), the delegation of the Republic of Tunisia declares that it firmly reserves for its government the right to take any action it deems necessary to safeguard its interests:

– If any member fails to observe the provisions of the present Final Acts;

– if the application of certain provisions in the present Final Acts should jeopardize the operation and the development of its country's telecommunication services and networks;

– not to be bound by any provision of the Final Acts which may directly or indirectly affect its sovereignty and be in contravention with the Constitution, Laws and Regulations of the Republic of Tunisia;

– if the application of certain provisions in the present Final Acts may in any form affect the national interest/security and its authority to regulate all telecommunications activities of any person, organization and operating agency.

The delegation of the Republic of Tunisia recalls that if any member makes reservations in connection with the application of one or more provisions of these Final Acts, its country is not obliged to observe the provision(s) concerned in its relations with the member which made the reservations.

The delegation of the Republic of Tunisia further reserves for its Government the right to make any additional declaration or reservation that it may consider necessary until the time of its ratification of these Final Acts.

49

Original: Arabic

For the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:

The delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), in signing the Final Acts of the present Conference, declares that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reserves its full right to take any measures it deems appropriate in order to safeguard its interests should any other Member State fail to comply with decisions adopted by the Conference and with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention of the Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conferences (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; and Guadalajara, 2010), and the annexes thereto, and likewise should reservations entered by any other Member State, now or in future, or the failure of any other Member State to comply with any of the provisions of the Constitution or Convention of the Union, be such as to cause damage to the telecommunication networks, information technology and services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also reserves its right to make any additional declarations and reservations to the Final Acts adopted by the present Conference until the date on which it deposits its instrument of ratification of these Final Acts.

50

Original: English

For the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Iraq, the State of Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, Tunisia and the Republic of Yemen:

The above-mentioned delegations to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) declare that the signature and possible ratification by their respective Governments of the Final Acts of this conference, should not be valid for the Union Member under the name "Israel", and in no way whatsoever imply its recognition by these Governments.

51

Original: English

For the Islamic Republic of Iran:

The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on signing the Final Acts of the 21st Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) reserves for its Government the right:

1 to take such action as it may consider necessary or to take any measure required to safeguard its rights and interests, should other Member States fail in any way to comply with the provisions of the Final Acts of the 21st Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022);

2 to protect its interests should other Member States not share in defraying the expenses of the Union or should the reservations by other Member States jeopardize the telecommunication services of the Islamic Republic of Iran;

3 not to be bound by any provision of the Final Acts of the 21st Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) which may directly or indirectly affect its sovereignty and be in contravention of the Constitution, Laws and Regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran;

4 any issue or matter relating to the application and/or implementation of any provisions of the ITU Constitution and ITU Convention and the Administrative Regulations, as the case may be, shall be treated within ITU and under the auspices and the purposes of the Union as contained in the Preamble of the Constitution, the relevant provisions of the ITU Constitution and the ITU Convention and its Administrative Regulations;

5 also reserves for its Government the right to express additional specific reservations to these Final Acts or to any other instrument arising from other relevant ITU conferences which have not yet been ratified until such time as the respective instrument of ratification has been deposited;

6 moreover, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms its reservations as contained in Final Acts of the previous Plenipotentiary Conferences, World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) and World Conferences on International Telecommunications (WCITs).

52

Original: English

For the Islamic Republic of Iran:

1 The Plenipotentiary Conference Bucharest 2022 has adopted a new Resolution (COM 5/1, Use of frequency assignments by military radio installations for National Defence Services) relating to the invocation of Article 48 of the ITU Constitution.

2 The main part of Article 48 of ITU Constitution was adopted by the 1906 International Radiotelegraph Conference (Article IV of that conference) and since then there were no major changes to the substance except some minor changes and some editorial ones.

3 However, the Radio Regulations of its provisions was accepted for assignments invoked Article 48 of ITU Constitution have modifications and improvements during this long period. Such modifications and improvements might have a direct or indirect impact on the application of Article 48 of ITU Constitution.

4 Based on the information available currently there are 342 satellites (337 GSO and 5 Non-GSO) used in application of that Article for which no information is publicly available.

5 There are currently some elements in CS Article 48 as well as in the Resolution (COM 5/1) which either may not be verifiable nor transparent in order to ensure the compliance of the use of the assignment with the objectives of Article 48 or with provisions contained in the above-mentioned Resolution.

6 Furthermore, there are currently no available mechanism that the Radiocommunication Bureau verify the compliance of the assignments invoked under Article 48 with those clauses as stipulated in CS 203 and CS 204 and no possibility to ascertain such compliance.

7 The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran therefore reserves its full rights that should the use of assignments for which Article 48 of the ITU Constitution is invoked cause or likely cause any interference or consequential/unintended interference to the existing or future assignments of the Islamic Republic of Iran operating in accordance with the Radio Regulations.

8 To that effect and under such circumstances the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran would take every and all necessary measures to preserve its national interests arising from the occurrence of such interference and would not have any obligation, whatsoever, to recognize the operation of such assignments nor protect the services provided by such non-compliant assignment with ITU Constitution, ITU Convention and its Administrative Regulations.

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Original: English

For the Republic of South Sudan:

The delegation of the Republic of South Sudan has taken part in the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 in Bucharest, Romania.

The delegation was vested with full powers by the Government of the Republic of South Sudan and as such, it has fully exercised the rights accorded to Member States in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention of the Union.

The South Sudan delegation has signed the Final Acts of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) while reserving for the Government of the Republic of South Sudan the right to denounce and reject any provisions of those Acts which might not be consistent with the cultural and social values of the people of South Sudan or which may violate the Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, other international treaties and conventions, jeopardize and/or hamper the development of its telecommunications/ICT sector and other sectors or impede the proper functioning of its telecommunications/ICT systems.

54

Original: English

For the Republic of Zimbabwe:

The delegation of the Republic of Zimbabwe, having noted all the reservations and declarations made at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (Bucharest), reserves for its Government, the right to take any action which it considers necessary, to safeguard its interests, should any Member of the Union fail in any way to comply with the requirements of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Final Acts of the Marrakesh Plenipotentiary Conference 2002, Antalya Plenipotentiary Conference 2006 and Guadalajara Plenipotentiary Conference 2010, Busan Plenipotentiary Conference 2014, Dubai Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 and Bucharest Plenipotentiary Conference 2022; and the annexes and protocols attached thereto, or should reservation by any Member of the Union jeopardize the Republic of Zimbabwe's telecommunication or broadcasting or ICT services, or affect its sovereignty.

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Original: English

For the State of Israel:

1 The Government of the State of Israel hereby declares its right:

a) to take any action it deems necessary to protect its interests and to safeguard the operation of its telecommunication services, should they be affected by the decisions or resolutions of this conference or by the declarations or reservations made by other Member States;

b) to take any action to safeguard its interests should any Member State fail to comply with the requirements of the ITU Constitution and Convention (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis, 1998), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Guadalajara, 2010), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Dubai, 2018) and the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) or the annexes and protocols attached thereto; or should declarations or reservations made by other Member States appear to be detrimental to the operation of its telecommunication services.

2 The Government of the State of Israel refers to ITU Resolution 125 (Rev. Bucharest, 2022) and states its position that the interpretation and application of this resolution by all concerned must be in accordance with and subject to any existing or future bilateral agreements or arrangements between Israel and the Palestinians. Furthermore, Israel shall interpret and apply this resolution in accordance with and subject to applicable Israeli law.

3 The Government of the State of Israel reserves the right to amend the foregoing reservations and declarations and to make any further reservations and declarations it may consider necessary up to the time of depositing its instrument of ratification of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference.

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Original: English

For the Islamic Republic of Iran:

The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) declare that the signature and possible ratification by their respective Governments of the Final Acts of this conference, should not be valid for the Union Member under the name "Israel", and in no way whatsoever imply its recognition by this Government.

57

Original: English

For the Sultanate of Oman:

The Administration of the Sultanate of Oman, attending the ITU PP-22 conference would like to confirm their full support to the international activities to connect the unconnected men and women of all ages including youth and the elderly, promote their engagements in ITU activities and to ensure that they benefit from telecommunications/ICTs.

While the Sultanate of Oman is aligned with the objectives and outcomes of this conference, we would like to stress that any indication or reference to "gender" in any text of the outcomes shall refer precisely to "male" and "female", or "men" and "women". It is emphasized that the outcomes of this ITU PP-22 conference, and other ITU conferences and activities, shall not be interpreted by any means to be in contradiction with the laws, principles, customs, cultures, and religious values of the Sultanate of Oman. The Sultanate of Oman reserves its full sovereign rights to implement the outcomes in line with its national laws, principles, customs, cultures, and religious values.

58

Original: Arabic

For the Sultanate of Oman:

The delegation of the Sultanate of Oman to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) declares that the signature and ratification of the Final Acts of this conference should not be valid for the Union Member under the name "Israel", and in no way whatsoever imply its recognition by the Government of the Sultanate.

59

Original: Arabic

For the Sultanate of Oman:

In taking note of all reservations and declarations by Member States and in signing the present Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of the Sultanate of Oman declares that, owing to the absence of provisions in the Constitution and Convention defining the relationship between Member States and Sector Members that are not under its authority, the Sultanate of Oman reserves the right, in the event of a dispute between Member States signatory to the Final Acts of the Conference and Sector Members, to apply Article 56 of the Constitution in order to resolve the dispute.

The delegation of the Sultanate of Oman to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) declares that the Government of the Sultanate of Oman reserves its right to take any measure it deems necessary in order to safeguard its interests should other Member States fail to comply with decisions adopted by the present Conference to amend the Constitution and Convention of the Union (Geneva, 1992) as amended (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya 2006; and Guadalajara, 2010), and the annexes thereto, or should they fail to defray the expenses of the Union, or should their reservations, now or in future, or their failure to comply with the Constitution and the Convention, jeopardize the smooth operation of the telecommunication services of the Sultanate of Oman.

The delegation of the Sultanate of Oman participating in the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) affirms that the signature and possible ratification by the Government of the Final Acts of this conference should not be valid for the Union Member under the name "Israel", and in no way whatsoever imply its recognition by this Government.

The delegation of the Sultanate of Oman further reserves for its Government the right to enter any additional reservations to the Final Acts adopted by the present Conference until such time as it has deposited its instrument of ratification of these Final Acts.

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Original: English

For the Republic of Kenya:

In signing the Final Acts of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (PP-22) the delegation of Republic of Kenya reserves for its Government the right to take any measures it might deem necessary to safeguard its interests if another Member State of the Union should in any way fail to respect the conditions specified in the Final Acts or if the reservations made by any Member State should be prejudicial to the operation of telecommunications/ICT services in the Republic of Kenya.

The delegation of the Republic of Kenya further declares that it reserves for its Government the right to make any statements or reservations when depositing its instruments of ratification for the Final Acts of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022).

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Original: English

For the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Iraq, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Kuwait, Lebanon, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Republic of the Sudan, Tunisia and the Republic of Yemen:

The Administrations of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Iraq, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Kuwait, Lebanon, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Republic of the Sudan, Tunisia and the Republic of Yemen attending the ITU PP-22 Conference would like to confirm their full support to the international activities to connect the unconnected men and women of all ages including youth, people with disabilities and the elderly, promote their engagements in ITU activities and to ensure that they benefit from telecommunications/ICT.

While Member States are aligned with the objectives and outcomes of this conference, they would like to stress that any indication or reference to "gender" in any text of the outcomes shall refer precisely to "male" and "female", or "men" and "women". It is emphasized that the outcomes of this ITU PP-22 Conference, and other ITU conferences and activities, shall not be interpreted by any means to be in contradiction with the laws, principles, customs, cultures, and religious values. The Member States reserve their full sovereign rights to implement the outcomes in line with their national laws, principles, customs, cultures, and religious values.

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Original: English

For the Republic of South Africa:

1) to take any such action as it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests, should any Member of the Union fail in any way to comply with the provisions of the Final Acts (Bucharest, 2022) amending the Final Acts (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conferences of Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; and Dubai, 2018, or should reservations by such Members directly or indirectly affect the sovereignty of the Republic of South Africa or the operation of its telecommunication/ICT services;

and

2) to make such additional reservations as may be necessary up to and including the time of ratification by the Republic of South Africa of the Instruments (Bucharest, 2022) amending the Final Acts (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conferences of Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014 and Dubai, 2018

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Original: English

For the Republic of Korea:

The delegation of the Republic of Korea, in signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), reserves for its Government the right to take any action that it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member State fail in any way to comply with the requirements of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; Dubai, 2018, and Bucharest, 2022) and/or the annexes thereto, or should reservations by other countries jeopardize its interests in any way.

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Original: English

For the Republic of the Philippines:

The delegation of the Republic of the Philippines, in signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) supports the overarching goals of the Union in building a better digital future anchored on sustainable and inclusive digital transformation for our State, however we reserve our State and Government's right to take lawful action or remedy for or against any decision or policy which is not consistent or is violative of our Constitution and national laws to safeguard its interest, against any jeopardy or harm as may be caused by any other Member States towards its telecommunication/ICT services or in prejudice of its rights as a sovereign country.

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Original: English

For the Federal Republic of Germany:

With reference to Resolution 99 (Rev. Dubai, 2018) "Status of Palestine in ITU" and the modifications to Resolution 125 "Assistance and support to Palestine for Infrastructure Development and capacity building in the Telecommunication and Information Technology Sector" by the Plenary of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Bucharest, 2022, Germany makes the following reservation: Germany's support of the aforementioned resolutions should not be construed as recognition of a 'State of Palestine' by Germany.

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Original: English

For Papua New Guinea:

The delegation of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea reserves for its Government the right to take any action which it considers necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member of the Union fail, in any way, to comply with the requirements of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992) as amended by the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; Dubai, 2018 and Bucharest 2022), and the annexes and protocols attached thereto, or should reservation by any Member of the Union jeopardize its telecommunication services, affect its sovereignty or lead to an increase in its contributory share towards defraying the expenses of the Union.

The delegation of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea further reserves for its Government the right to make any additional declarations, reservations or statements prior to ratification of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022).

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Original: English

For the Kingdom of Bahrain:

The delegation of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) in signing the Final Acts of the present conference, declares that the Kingdom of Bahrain reserves its full right to take any measures it deems appropriate in order to safeguard its interest should any other Member State fail to comply with decisions adopted by the conference and with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention of the Union (Geneva, 1992); as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Busan, 2014; Dubai, 2018; Bucharest, 2022), and the annexes thereto, and likewise should reservations entered by any other Member State, now or in future, or the failure of any other Member State to comply with any of the provisions of the Constitution or Convention of the Union, be such as to cause damage to the telecommunications networks, information technology and services of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The delegation of the Kingdom of Bahrain further reserves for its Government the right to make any additional reservations to the Final Acts adopted by this conference until such time as it has deposited its instrument of ratification of these Final Acts.

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Original: English

For the United Arab Emirates:

When signing the present Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the United Arab Emirates declares that due to the lack of provisions in the Constitution and Convention defining the relationship between Member States and Sector Members that are not under its authority, in case of a dispute between the undersigned Member States and Sector Members, that the United Arab Emirates reserves the right to apply Article 56 of the Constitution to resolve the dispute.

The delegation of the United Arab Emirates to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022) declares that the Government of the United Arab Emirates reserves its right to take any action it deems necessary to safeguard its interest should other Member States fail to comply with the provisions adopted by this conference to amend the Constitution and Convention (Geneva, 1992) and the amendments thereto (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; and Antalya, 2006; and Guadalajara, 2010) and the annexes thereto, or should they fail to defray the expenses of the Union or should their reservations, now or in the future, or their failure to comply with the Constitution and the Convention, jeopardize the proper operation of the telecommunication services of the United Arab Emirates.

The delegation of the United Arab Emirates further reserves for its Government the right to make any additional reservations to the Final Acts adopted by this conference until such time as it has deposited its instrument of ratification of these Final Acts.

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Original: English

For the Republic of Türkiye:

1

The Republic of Türkiye, in signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) declares that it will implement the provisions of the Final Acts only to the State parties with which it has diplomatic relations.

2

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of the Republic of Türkiye:

1 reserves for its Government the right to take any action as it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests, should any Member State, in any way, fail to comply with the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994), and as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis, 1998), and as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002), and as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006) and as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Guadalajara, 2010), and as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014) and as amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Dubai, 2018), and as further amended by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) or the annexes or protocols thereto, or should any reservation made by any Member State jeopardize the proper operation of its telecommunication services or lead to an increase in its contribution to defraying the expenses of the Union;

2 reserves for its Government the right, if necessary, to make further reservations to the present Final Acts;

3 declares on behalf of its Government that it accepts no consequences of any reservation which would lead to an increase in the share it contributes to defraying the expenses of the Union;

4 formally declares that reservations previously made with regard to the Constitution, Convention and Administrative Regulations of the Union shall prevail unless declared otherwise.

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Original: Spanish

For Cuba:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of Cuba reserves for its Government the right to take such measures as it may consider necessary and appropriate to safeguard its interests:

a) in the face of the interventionist practice by the Government of the United States of America;

b) should any Member State fail to comply in any way with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention of ITU, or with the Administrative Regulations, or should reservations by any Member State in any way jeopardize Cuba's telecommunication services, violate its sovereignty or lead to an increase in its contribution towards defraying the expenses of the Union;

c) take actions not approved under the International Telecommunication Regulations (Dubai, 2012) which cause harm to the operation and development of the country's telecommunications or impede access to international public telecommunication networks and the served public, including access to the Internet; and

d) should any Member States or other interested parties fail to fulfil their international obligations or to abide by the provisions of the Radio Regulations (Sharm el-Sheikh, 2019), or should they use broadcasting stations operating aboard an aircraft to transmit solely into Cuban territory without Cuba's consent, a practice which WRC 07 determined to be contrary to the Radio Regulations; in the face of any telecommunication transmission which affects the security of the State, or conflicts with the country's cultural heritage and values, or violates the sovereignty of the Nation.

The Government of Cuba further states that:

e) it does not recognize the notification, registration or use of frequencies by the Government of the United States of America in that part of Cuban territory in the province of Guantánamo which the United States is occupying illegally by force, contrary to the express will of the people and the Government of Cuba;

f) it does not accept the Optional Protocol on the settlement of disputes with respect to the present Constitution, Convention and Administrative Regulations; and it reserves the right to make any further declaration or reservation that may be necessary at the time of depositing its instrument of ratification of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union, as adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022).

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Original: English

For Thailand:

In signing the Final Acts of the Twenty-First Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of Thailand reserves the right of its Government:

1) To take action it deems necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member State fail, in any way, to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994; Minneapolis, 1998; Marrakesh, 2002; Antalya, 2006; Guadalajara, 2010; Dubai, 2018 and Bucharest, 2022) and the Annexes and Protocols attached thereto, or should any reservation made by any Member State Jeopardize its sovereignty, its operations of telecommunication networks and services, or lead to an increase in its financial obligations;

2) To make additional reservations it may deem necessary to the Final Acts adopted by this Conference until Thailand deposits the instrument of ratification of the amendment to the Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union and/or Convention of the International Telecommunication Union with the Secretary-General.

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Original: English

For Canada:

Having noted the declarations and reservations contained in Document 199 of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of Canada reserves on behalf of its Government the right to take whatever measures it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests should other Member States fail to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992) and successive amendments thereto, or the Administrative Regulations particularly to those pertaining to the use of radio frequencies and any associated orbits, including the geostationary-satellite orbit.

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Original: English

For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

The delegation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, referring to the declaration made by the Argentine Republic (No. 41), declares on behalf of its Government that The United Kingdom has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, and surrounding maritime areas of both territories. The UK is steadfast in its support for the right of self-determination for the Falkland Islanders.

The Argentine statement refers to the adoption of UNGA resolutions. The right of self-determination is enshrined in the UN Charter and in article one of the two UN Covenants on human rights. This right applies to the Falkland Islanders – they have as much right to determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development as any other peoples. Argentina regularly refers to regional statements of diplomatic support for sovereignty negotiations over the Falkland Islands, including United Nations resolutions. However, none of these modifies or dilutes the obligation of Nations to respect the legally binding principle of self-determination. The Falkland Islanders made clear their overwhelming wish to remain an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in a referendum in 2013.

This means there can be no dialogue on sovereignty unless the Falkland Islanders so wish. In the Falkland Islands' 2013 referendum, which was supervised by independent observers from seven other countries, 99.8 per cent of those who voted wanted to maintain their current status as a territory of the United Kingdom. This sent a clear message that the people of the Islands do not want dialogue on sovereignty. Argentina should respect the wishes of the Falkland Islanders to decide their own future.

The United Kingdom's relationship with the Falkland Islands, and all of its Overseas Territories, is a modern one based on partnership, shared values, and the right of the people of each territory to determine their own future. The Republic of Argentina continues to deny that this fundamental human right applies to the people of the Falkland Islands, and actively seeks to deny the Islanders' rights within international fora. This behaviour is wholly incompatible with the principles established in the UN Charter.

2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the illegal Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands and the subsequent liberation of the Islands by a UK task force. This anniversary provides an opportunity to acknowledge the sacrifice of those who died in the conflict, from both sides, and the Island's development since 1982. Today, the Falkland Islands are a successful, multi-cultural democracy.

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Original: English

For Norway:

With reference to declarations made by other countries contained in Revision 2 to Document 199 of 14 October 2022, the Norwegian delegation declares:

In the following cases, the Norwegian delegation reserves for its Government the right to take any action that they may deem necessary to safeguard its interests:

– where other Member States do not assume their share in defraying the expenses of the Union;

– where other Member States fail in any manner to comply with the provisions of the amendments to the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended by subsequent Plenipotentiary Conferences; or

– where reservations made by other countries jeopardize the proper functioning of the Norwegian telecommunication services or entail an increase in the contributory share towards defraying the expenses of the Union.

The Norwegian delegation reserves the right for its Government to make declarations or reservations before or at the time of depositing its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union held in Bucharest from 26 September to 14 October 2022.

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Original: English

For the State of Israel:

Declarations No. 10, 50, 56, 58 and Declaration No. 59 made by certain Member States in respect to the Final Acts, contravenes the principles and purposes of the International Telecommunication Union, and is therefore devoid of legal validity.

The Government of the State of Israel wishes to put on record that it rejects these aforesaid declarations, which politicize and undermine the work of the ITU.

Should any Member State that has made the foregoing declarations act toward Israel in a manner, which violates Israel's rights as a Member State of the ITU, or breaches such Member State's obligations toward Israel as such, the State of Israel reserves its right to act toward such Member State in a reciprocal fashion.

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Original: Spanish

For the Dominican Republic:

In view of the reservations made by the Member States, the delegation of the Dominican Republic to the 2022 Plenipotentiary Conference makes the following declaration on behalf of its Government:

1 The delegation reserves for the Government of the Dominican Republic the right to take any action or preservation measures it deems necessary in order to safeguard its national interests, should any of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union held in Bucharest in 2022, directly or indirectly affect its sovereignty or, in any manner, the existing provisions of the Constitution, laws, conventions or regulations of the Dominican Republic or those that may arise under the principles of international law, or should the reservations entered by any member of the Union constitute a threat for its telecommunication services or lead to an unacceptable increase in its contribution towards defraying the expenses of the Union;

2 The delegation further reserves for the Government of the Dominican Republic the right to enter any additional reservations that may be necessary with respect to the Final Acts adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (PP-22) up to the time of deposit of the appropriate instrument of ratification.

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Original: English

For the Federal Republic of Germany, Australia, Austria, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Belgium, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Croatia, Denmark, Spain, the Republic of Estonia, the United States of America, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Latvia, the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Republic of Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Principality of Monaco, Norway, New Zealand, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Türkiye, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Republic of Slovenia, Sweden and the Confederation of Switzerland:

The delegations of the above-mentioned States, referring to the declaration made by Colombia (No. 19), Mexico (No 3), or any other State making a similar declaration, inasmuch as these and any similar statements refer to the Bogotá Declaration of 3 December 1976 by equatorial countries and to the claims of those countries to exercise sovereign rights over segments of the geostationary-satellite orbit, or to any related claims, consider that the claims in question cannot be recognized by this conference.

The above-mentioned delegations also wish to state that the reference in Article 44 of the Constitution to the "geographical situation of particular countries" does not imply recognition of a claim to any preferential rights to the geostationary-satellite orbit.

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Original: English

For the Federal Republic of Nigeria:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest 2022) Nigeria declares to preserve the provisions of the Final Acts. Nigeria reserves the right to take such action as it may deem appropriate to safeguard the interest of Nigeria and of its citizens in the following circumstances:

a) in the event that any Member of the Union fails in any way to observe the provisions of the Final Acts adopted by the Conference;

b) should reservations by any other country jeopardize the proper operation of its telecommunications services.

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Original: English

For the Republic of Slovenia:

Having examined the declarations and reservations contained in Revision 2 to Document 199 of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022), the delegation of the Republic of Slovenia reserves for its Government the right to take any action which it may consider necessary to safeguard its interests should any Member State not share in defraying the expenses of the Union or should any Member State fail in any way to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992) as amended by the amending instruments (Minneapolis, 1998, Marrakesh, 2002, Antalya, 2006, Guadalajara, 2010, Busan, 2014, Dubai, 2018 or Bucharest, 2022), or the annexes or protocols attached thereto, or should reservations by other countries be liable to cause an increase in its contributory share in defraying the Union expenses, or, finally, should reservations by other countries jeopardize its telecommunication services.

80

Original: Russian

For the Republic of Belarus:

The Republic of Belarus is not party to the international armed conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine and does not support the declaration made by Ukraine concerning the Final Acts of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (PP-22) on account of the politicized nature of the declaration.

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Original: Russian

For the Russian Federation:

With reference to Declaration No. 1 made by the delegation of Georgia, the Russian Federation categorically disagrees with the accusations set forth therein.

We recall that the actions of the Russian Federation were directed at countering the violent policies of Tbilisi towards the small peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In repelling the military aggression of Georgia, Russia guaranteed a peaceful future for these peoples as independent states.

We strongly reject the claims of the Ukrainian Government set out by the delegation of Ukraine in Declaration No. 35.

Regarding the substance of those accusations, we would note the following. In 2014, with the direct support of western countries, as a result of an anti-constitutional uprising radical nationalist forces with openly russophobic views came to power in Ukraine. The Russian and Russian-speaking population of Ukraine was deprived of the fundamental human rights and freedoms: the right to life, freedom of speech, access to information, freedom of opinion, freedom of conscience and freedom to use one's native language. For eight years Ukraine prepared to become the launching pad for the creation and realization of threats against the security of Russia. The decision to launch the special military operation was forced on us. Its objective is to liberate the Donbass, protect the people living there from the terrorist acts of neonazis, prevent the deaths of civilians, especially children and women, and remove the security threats to the Russian Federation which NATO has consistently been creating on the territory of Ukraine.

We recall that the telecommunication/ICT infrastructure on the territories of the people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk was destroyed in the process of the inhuman shelling of the civilian population by Ukrainian nationalist military groups.

The decisions to accept within the Russian Federation the people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and the provinces of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson are founded on the expressions of the will of their peoples in the referendums of 23-27 September 2022. The inhabitants of these territories had the possibility to express their opinion in an independent and free manner, as confirmed by numerous observers, including international observers.

All of these actions were carried out in complete conformity with international law, especially the right of peoples to self-determination, which is anchored in the Charter of the United Nations, the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, and many other documents. Thus, the aforementioned Declaration states: "Every State has the duty to refrain from any forcible action which deprives peoples referred to in the elaboration of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of their right to self-determination and freedom and independence."

All rights and obligations concerning the provision of telecommunication services for the population of and facilities within the territory of the people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and the provinces of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson have been transferred to the Russian Federation, including in regard to compliance with the provisions of the ITU Constitution and Convention and the ITU Radio Regulations. All attempts to contest this fact are groundless and meaningless. This also applies to subjects of the Russian Federation, the republic of Crimea and the city of Sebastopol, which remain fully covered by the declaration made by the delegation of the Russian Federation in the Final Acts of the 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference.

The Russian Federation is acting in full compliance with Article 1 of the ITU Constitution, in satisfying requirements and ensuring availability of telecommunication/ICT means for the inhabitants of the above-mentioned subjects of the Russian Federation.

The position of the Russian Federation set forth above also applies to Joint Declaration No. 20 made by a number of ITU Member States.

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference, the delegation of the Russian Federation reserves the right to refuse to comply with any provisions thereof if they infringe the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation under the laws of the Federation or qualify its actions in any way, in contravention of the mandate of ITU.

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Original: English

For the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire:

**The Government of Cote d'Ivoire, in the exercise of its power to enter reservations to the Final Acts, reserves for its Government the right:

1) to express, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, further reservations to these Acts at any time it may deem appropriate between the date of signing of these Acts and the date of their ratification, in accordance with the procedures established in its domestic legislation;

2) not to consider itself bound by any provision of these Acts which restrict its right to enter such reservations as it deems relevant;

3) to take any measures it deems necessary to safeguard its interests.**

83

Original: English

For the United States of America:

The United States of America refers to declarations made by various Member States reserving their right to take such action as they may consider necessary to safeguard their interests with respect to application of provisions of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), and any amendments thereto. The United States of America recalls its initial declaration submitted in connection with these Final Acts and notes that it has reserved the right to take whatever measures it deems necessary to safeguard U.S. interests in response to such actions by other Member States.

The United States of America, noting Statement 70 entered by the delegation of Cuba, recalls its right to broadcast to Cuba on appropriate frequencies free of jamming or other wrongful interference and reserves its rights with respect to existing interference and any future interference by Cuba with U.S. broadcasting. The United States of America disassociated from the WRC-07 matter referenced in the Cuban statement. Furthermore, the United States of America notes that its presence in Guantanamo is by virtue of an international agreement presently in force and that the United States of America reserves the right to meet its radiocommunication requirements there as it has in the past.

The delegation of the United States, noting Statement 38 made by the delegation of the Russian Federation, does not accept any statement implying that our Union should accept the illegal attempted annexation of Ukrainian territories contrary to views reaffirmed by the vast majority of Members States in United Nations General Assembly resolutions A/ES/11/1 of 2 March 2022 and A/ES/11/L.5 of 12 October 2022. Nor does the delegation of the United States accept any claim that the Russian Federation has been subjected to discrimination at the ITU because its nominations were not accepted by the Member States of the Union. The delegation further rejects the cynical effort by the Russian Federation to deploy language regarding human rights and discrimination to deflect attention from the consequence of its unjust and unprovoked war against Ukraine. The United States remains dedicated to facilitating peaceful relations, international cooperation among peoples and economic and social development by means of efficient telecommunication services and calls on the Russian Federation to uphold its international obligations, including respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all Member States.

84

Original: English

For the Republic of Botswana:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference, 2022 (PP-22) the delegation of the Republic of Botswana declares that its administration will comply with the provisions of the Final Acts without prejudice to the Republic of Botswana's sovereign right to take any measures that it may deem necessary to safeguard its national interests, should any Member of the International Telecommunication Union, in any way fail to comply with the provisions of the Final Acts of this conference. The delegation of the Republic of Botswana further declares that it reserves for its Government the right to make any statements or reservations it deems fit, when depositing its instruments of ratification of the Final Acts.

85

Original: French

For the Togolese Republic:

In signing the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union, (Bucharest, 2022) the delegation of Togo reserves for its Government the right:

1) to take any measure it may deem necessary to safeguard its rights and interests, should any other member of the Union fail to comply with the provisions of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022) or should any reservation entered by any member interfere, directly or indirectly, with the smooth operation of its telecommunication services or jeopardize its sovereignty;

2) to enter further reservations, should they become necessary, up to the time of and upon the ratification of the Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Bucharest, 2022).

It reserves the right not to apply any provisions of these Final Acts that may be contrary to its Constitution, domestic legislation or international commitments. It likewise reserves the right not to apply them with respect to any other country or institution that does not apply them, whether or not that country or institution is a signatory to such Final Acts.

86

Original: Arabic

For the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria:

The delegation of Algeria, in signing the Final Acts, reserves for its Government the right to take any measures it deems necessary in order to safeguard its interests should any Member State in any way fail to comply with the provisions of the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), as amended at the Plenipotentiary Conference (Guadalajara, 2010), or should reservations entered by other Member States jeopardize its telecommunication services or lead to an increase in its contributory share in defraying the expenses of the Union.

87

Original: English

For New Zealand:

The delegation of New Zealand, noting Statement 38 made by the delegation of the Russian Federation, does not accept any statement implying that our Union should accept the illegal attempted annexation of Ukrainian territories contrary to views reaffirmed by the vast majority of Members States in United Nations General Assembly resolutions A/ES/11/1 of 2 March 2022 and A/ES/11/L.5 of 12 October 2022. Nor does the delegation of New Zealand accept any claim that the Russian Federation has been subjected to discrimination at the ITU because its nominations were not accepted by the Member States of the Union. The delegation further rejects the cynical effort by the Russian Federation to deploy language regarding human rights and discrimination to deflect attention from the consequence of its unjust and unprovoked war against Ukraine. New Zealand dedicated to facilitating peaceful relations, international cooperation among peoples and economic and social development by means of efficient telecommunication services and calls on the Russian Federation to uphold its international obligations, including respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all Member States.

88

Original: English

For Australia, Belgium, the Republic of Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, the United States of America, Finland, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Republic of Slovenia, Sweden, and Ukraine:

The aforementioned delegations, noting Statements 57 and 61, reaffirm our commitment to working with the international community to close digital divides, including the gender digital divide. We call upon all Member States to join us in advancing ITU efforts to connect all the unconnected, with a critical emphasis on women and girls, youth and vulnerable groups, indigenous peoples, the elderly, and persons with disabilities and specific needs.

89

Original: English

For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

The delegation of the United Kingdom, noting Statement 38 made by the delegation of the Russian Federation, does not accept any statement implying that our Union should accept the illegal attempted annexation of Ukrainian territories contrary to views reaffirmed by the vast majority of Member States in United Nations General Assembly resolutions A/ES/11/1 of 2 March 2022 and A/ES/11/L.5 of 12 October 2022. Nor does the delegation of the United Kingdom accept any claim that the Russian Federation has been subjected to discrimination at the ITU because its nominations were not accepted by the Member States of the Union. The delegation further rejects the cynical effort by the Russian Federation to deploy language regarding human rights and discrimination to deflect attention from the consequence of its unjust and unprovoked war against Ukraine. The United Kingdom remains dedicated to facilitating peaceful relations, international cooperation among peoples and economic and social development by means of efficient telecommunication services and calls on the Russian Federation to uphold its international obligations, including respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all Member States.

[1] Note by the General Secretariat - The texts of the declarations are shown in the chronological order in which they were deposited.

In the table of contents, these texts are grouped in the alphabetical order of the names of the Member States which made them.