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It is important to note that regulatory approaches industry players are unwilling to do so, whatever
can be carried out by a variety of different their motives might be. However, a government- Chapter 4
governing entities. At the national level, this mandated approach may be limited in efficiency
could be a legislative body, an executive agency or and flexibility. Administering, monitoring, and
ministry, or an independent regulatory authority. eventually enforcing a standard can be costly.
At the regional or international levels, this could Further, a traditional, government-mandated
be a multinational body or a coordinating agency approach often leaves very little flexibility. Not
like the ITU. The remainder of this chapter only are governments sometimes ill-equipped to
interchangeably refers to these various entities as choose the most suitable standard, but they also
“governments,” “policy-makers” or “regulators.” sometimes fail to respond to market developments
In all cases, the terms are simply referring to or changes in technology.
any regulatory body that exercises some form of
legitimate governmental authority. The following 4.5.2.2 Disclosure of interoperability information
subsections explore the various regulation-based (compulsory licensing)
approaches.

Another regulatory approach to interoperability
4.5.2.1 Mandating standards involves a government mandating the disclosure
of information needed to build interoperable
The role of the regulator in the standards systems, components, and applications. Such
process can range from more unilateral to more a regime may differ with regard to the group
collaborative. Regulators may mandate a standard of people entitled to ask for such information,
that determines how, and under what terms, the possible consideration for the disclosing
entities can interoperate. On the other end of the party, compensation, or the sanctions for non-
spectrum, the regulator might set a timetable for disclosure. In some cases, however, the regulator
industry players and require them to establish and can simply require industry participants to
implement a common standard. Between the two make interoperability information available, and
extremes, all manner of hybrid approaches are leave it to the participants to resolve details
possible. like compensation. That is what occurred with
mobile banking in Ghana, where the mobile
The impact of the European Union’s Data carriers offered financial services in partnership
Protection Directive on the development of cloud with banks. In order to ensure interoperability
computing standards demonstrates the interplay across different banks and mobile carriers,
between regulation and interoperable standards. the Bank of Ghana (the regulator) prohibited
The Directive places strict limits on how personal exclusive partnerships. In other words, the
data can be collected, stored, and processed. regulator required that mobile operators allow
However, because the Directive and the national interoperability with multiple banks. The result
laws that implement it do not specifically address was that every mobile operator offering banking
cloud computing, it has left open the question of services had at least three partner banks.
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how cloud-computing companies should fulfill
their obligations. This situation has prompted The merits of this approach depend on its
standards-setting as entities look for ways to implementation – that is, the design of the
interoperate with each while complying with the relevant disclosure rules. There often can be a
law. Recently, the International Organization direct relationship between the amount (and type)
for Standardization and the International of information to be disclosed, the number of
Electrotechnical Commission, two non- parties granted access to the information, and the
governmental standards-setting organizations, level of interoperability that may be achieved. The
released a joint cloud computing standard that degree of flexibility also depends on the design,
contributes to the already existing “jungle of but disclosure rules can be implemented in a way
standards.” 44 that takes account of real-world conditions (e.g.,
making the obligation to disclose dependent on
The effectiveness of this type of approach market, product and service maturity). Finally,
to interoperability is usually very high. A disclosure of interoperability information is very
government-mandated standard can even unlikely to create any kind of technological lock-in.
establish an interoperable system in cases where

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