ITU/93-4
12 March 1993
Original: English
The World Telecommunication Standardization Conference concludes:
over 450 standards approved and a new programme of work up to 1996 adopted
The World Telecommunication Standardization Conference concluded its work on Friday, 12 March 1993. The meeting, which took place in Helsinki (Finland) had started on 1 March. 459 delegates from 68 countries and 8 international organizations participated. The Conference was chaired by Seppo J. Halme, Professor at the Helsinki University of Technology, assisted by five vice-chairmen: Messrs J.J. Silva (Brazil), Wang Zhanning (China), Y.A. Tolmachev (Russia), S. Mbaye (Senegal) and E.S. Barbely (United States). 
One of the underlying tasks of the Conference was to further streamline the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the ITU so as to increase its competitivity in the global standardization arena. The process had been initiated at Melbourne, in 1988, at the last meeting of the legislative body governing standardization at the ITU (at the time called Plenary Assembly). The Melbourne meeting overhauled the structure, the organization, documentation, working methods in particular with the adoption of a method to approve standards as soon as they are considered sufficiently mature and stable to meet industry and market needs.
At Helsinki, the ITU went one step further. The Conference decided to set up an Advisory group whose role will be to review priorities and strategies for activities of the Telecommunication Standardization Sector, to review progress in the implementation of its work programme and to recommend measures to foster cooperation and coordination with other standards bodies and with other organizations having interests in telecommunication standardization. In light of changing requirements, the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group – TSAG (pronounced Tee Sag), will provide advice on appropriate changes to be made to the priority and allocation of work of the study groups to adapt the output to market, industry and users' requirements. It will also recommend the setting up of joint coordination groups (see below) when subjects under study so warrant as well as improvements to the working methods of the Sector whenever considered necessary.
TSAG will also provide the possibility to open up ITU to the new forces which are shaping the world of telecommunications. The Conference appointed Mr B. Horton of Australia as the Chairman of TSAG and Mr J.M. Fanjul Caudevilla of Spain at its vice-chairman.
In addition, new mechanisms were created to ensure the coordination of work of broad issues when they span several groups of experts or when questions under study are also of interest to radiocommunication experts. These, called Joint Coordination Groups (for intrasectoral coordination) and Intersectoral Coordination Groups, are aimed at facilitating the coordinated development of standards in a comprehensive and timely manner while ensuring that the work does neither overlap nor leave gaps. The work itself will be carried out by the relevant study groups and will be subject to the normal approval processes. The role of JCG will also include coordination with external standards bodies such as ETSI, TTC or T1. 
The areas proposed to be the subject of JCG are: telecommunication management network (TMN), universal personal telecommunications (UPT), broadband ISDN, audiovisual/ multimedia services as well as quality of service and network performance. As three of these subjects are also core standardization areas considered by the Global Standards Collaboration Group of the Interregional Standardization Conference – a association of standards-setting bodies which includes ETSI, TTC, T1 and ITU – the synergy is expected to produce very positive results in these key areas. 
In addition, the Conference decided to step up plans for electronic document handling given the critical importance of EDH capabilities to the standards-making process. To this end, an EDH group will be set up under TSAG to review and study evolving EDH user needs and monitor the EDH development to meet those needs. The Conference recognized the need for a long-term convergence of EDH standardization tools and an implementation based on an agreed EDH model approved by WTSC. It acknowledged the fact that this will require interim arrangements to the desired basis of ODA and X.400 which in turn will require a migration plan to be developed. The need to satisfy user needs through user-friendly systems and interfaces was also stressed. 
Also, the WTSC launched officially ITUDOC – ITU's electronic document exchange service which not only includes administrative and general information documents but also the full texts of ITU telecommunication standards approved since 1988. ITUDOC users therefore have now immediate access to the latest versions of all recent standards. As information is increasingly becoming a perishable commodity, ITUDOC will increase the value of ITU standard-related documents to the users' community at large. The availability of all ITU telecommunication standards on CD-ROM was also announced at the conference. Addressing the meeting, Dr Tarjanne said "today, the announcement of an entirely new electronic publication provides a perfect illustration of the policy of change which this Conference has attempted to strengthen, demonstrating how we are trying to bring state-of-the-art technology into our publication activities." "In addition to the traditional printed form which will remain an important form of publication for a long time to come and fast delivery via the on-line ITUDOC service", he said "we are now bringing the Recommendations to your desktop on a compact disc. In the competitive world of publications, we are obliged to engage in proper product specification and product pricing, develop new channels of distribution and undertake product promotion efforts." he added.
Finally, the mechanism adopted at Melbourne which resulted in significant improvement in the timeliness of standards (average it went down from 4 years to 18 months), was essentially reaffirmed although some additional safeguards were introduced to take account of the concerns expressed by developing countries. For example, if a country considers itself to be adversely affected by a Recommendation approved under the accelerated approval procedure, it can refer the case to the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau who brings the case before the relevant Study Group for prompt attention. 
These measures should further help the ITU to respond to the dynamic and on-going forces which characterize the standardization environment by producing standards faster and more efficiently, by making them available rapidly, by strengthening concerted action with other global and regional standardization organizations, by continually monitoring market, industry and users' needs and adjusting the work of the Telecommunication Standardization Sector to meet them and more generally by providing strategic direction to the work of the ITU. The question of broader participation (including participation in the decision-making process) in the standardization work of the ITU with reassessed rights and obligations is a matter which will be taken up by the next Plenipotentiary Conference on the basis of recommendations put forward by the ITU Council.
The Conference approved the programme of work of the fifteen study groups which will be meeting throughout the next three years. Study groups are groups of experts whose role is to prepare standards for telecommunication systems, networks and services as well as the operation, performance and maintenance of equipment. Their work also cover tariffs principles and accounting methods for international telecommunications. The work programme for the 1993–1996 period comprises 289 questions covering nearly every aspects of telecommunications and include such a diversity of subjects as new ISDN services, directory services for telematic services, tariffs principles for global virtual network services or for intelligent networks, customer network management service, colour faxes, Programming Communication Interfaces, telematics on ISDN, long term intelligent network architecture and intelligent network capability sets, signalling requirements for FPLMTS, telecommunications for the physically impaired, integrated video services, broadband connectionless data service on broadband ISDN, optical systems, SDH and ATM equipment, to name but a few.
The Conference also addressed the transfer of questions from the Radiocommunication Sector to the Telecommunication Standardization Sector to consolidate the standard-settings activity. A number of issues are to be included in the work programme of the Telecommunication Standardization Sector as quickly as practicable. Items which the Radiocommunication Sector has identified as appropriate for transfer to the Telecommunication Standardization Sector but which are also relevant to the Radiocommunication Sector will be open for participation of interested radio specialists of the Radiocommunication Sector without added financial obligations. 
Essentially, the WTSC identified coordinating study groups for each item. All questions as currently formulated in the Radiocommunication Sector together with those elements identified for transfer will be passed to the chairman of each coordinating study group.  The role of the Coordinating study groups is to coordinate the claims of other Study Groups on elements of the work to be transferred. 
Chairmen of coordinating study groups will examine with the relevant Study Groups of the Radiocommunication Sector as appropriate how to integrate the issues in their work programme and will propose questions to address the issues. They will also identify which Study Groups of the Telecommunication Standardization Sector or of the Radiocommunication Sector will be charged with the study of these questions and will then advise the Director of the TSB accordingly. The Director of the TSB will then submit the results of the exercise to the June meeting of TSAG. A joint meeting of the TSAG meeting and the Ad Hoc Group for the Radiocommunication Sector to take place in June 1993 will decide the formal integration of the questions into the work programme through established approval procedure or other means as recommended by TSAG. The deletion of the items from the work programme of the Radio sector will be made by the next Radiocommunication Assembly next November.
In his closing address, ITU Secretary-General Pekka Tarjanne stated that the action taken at this conference was additional steps in the on-going ITU reform process, which should contribute to maintaining the pre-eminent role of the Union in the area of standardization. He added: "The only way to succeed is to look forward. The results of this conference, in my mind, offer a good platform, together with the results of the additional Plenipotentiary Conference, for future action." "The Nice Plenipotentiary Conference of 1989", he continued, "led to a major change for the Development Sector; the Geneva Additional Plenipotentiary Conference led to major changes in the Radiocommunication Sector. The Telecommunication Standardization Sector has taken small steps forward in Melbourne in 1988, in Nice in 1989, in Geneva in 1992 and in Helsinki in 1993". "However these steps do not suffice" Dr Tarjanne stressed. "In order to be able to live up the our challenges", he said, "much more is needed. I am thus looking forward to a lot more work, many more changes both in Kyoto in 1994 and at the next WTSC in 1996 or 1997."
Prof. Halme, chairman of the conference, giving an overview of the main achievements of the conference indicated that the adoption of over 450 standards where the largest number belonged to the Q-series, reflected the growing emphasis in networks and distributed intelligence. He also said that one of the crucial tasks of the WTSC 93 was to set up the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group which will be a very important body in the future of the Telecommunication Standardization Sector. The designation of the experts who will lead the work of the study groups for the next few years was also high on the agenda. "After long discussions we were able to find acceptable compromises which will guide our future work," the Chairman said.
The Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Ole Norrback, hailed the work accomplished by the Conference and called it "a long step forward in standardizing new networks and applications". "The development of broadband integrated services digital networks will bring new possibilities to working places and homes" he said. The opportunities for new kinds of telematics and broadcasting will expand enormously and the further development of intelligent networks techniques will alleviate the problems which we have encountered in Finland while re-doing the numbering plan," the Minister added. Mr Norrback recalled that wars and disturbances in certain parts of the world was rendering telecommunications useless and tended to destroy the results achieved with patient work. "Let us all hope that we can develop and construct the global network in peace and people are given the freedom to exchange information and thought with their fellow human in all countries," he concluded.