Below is an excerpt from the final Ministerial Declaration issued following the European Ministerial Conference on Global Information Networks, held in Bonn, Germany from July 6-8.

The attached portion of the Declaration stresses the importance of encryption to the development of electronic commerce. It affirms the desirability of free availability and choice of encryption products (although it does qualify this with the phrase "subject to applicable law"). It also declares that any lawful access policies (e.g., key recovery requirements) "should be proportionate and effective and respect applicable provisions relating to privacy."

The last phrase is being viewed by the European Commission as opening a large opportunity for the Commission to restrain national encryption regulations.

Ministerial Declaration

The Federal Republic of Germany and the European Commission have jointly organised the European Ministerial Conference entitled "Global Information Networks: Realising the Potential", held in Bonn from 6-8 July 1997.

Ministers from the Member States of the European Union, members of the European Free Trade Association and countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus, members of the European Commission, distinguished guests from the United States of America, Canada, Japan and Russia and representatives from industry, users and European and international organisations have attended the Conference.

The objective of this conference has been to broaden the common understanding of the use of Global Information Networks, to identify barriers to their use, to discuss possible solutions and to undertake an open dialogue on further possibilities for European and international co-operation.

The participating Ministers from the Member States of the European Union, Ministers of countries of the European Free Trade Association and Ministers of countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus hereby DECLARE:

Security And Confidentiality

35. Ministers consider that Information Security is one of the key issues for the emergence of the Global Information Society and recognise the importance of the availability of strong encryption technology for electronic commerce.

36. They will work to achieve international availability and free choice of cryptography products and interoperable services, subject to applicable law, thus effectively contributing to data security and the confidentiality of personal and business information. If countries take measures in order to protect legitimate needs of lawful access, they should be proportionate and effective and respect applicable provisions relating to privacy. Ministers take note of the recently agreed OECD Guidelines on Cryptography Policy as a basis for national policies and international co-operation.

37. Ministers strongly encourage industry to promote the development of secure technologies for information and communication systems. Digital signatures

38. Ministers emphasise the need for a legal and technical framework at European and international level which ensures compatibility and creates confidence in digital signatures, a reliable and transparent way of ensuring data, document and message integrity and authentication both for electronic commerce and for electronic transactions between public bodies and citizens.

39. Ministers call upon industry and international standards organisations to develop technical and infrastructure standards for digital signatures to ensure secure and trustworthy use of networks and respect privacy and data protection requirements.

40. Ministers will initiate the necessary steps to remove barriers to the use of digital signatures in law, business and public administration, and to provide legal and mutual recognition of certificates.

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For further information please contact L. Benjamin Ederington on Tel: + 202-429-6411, Fax: 202-429-3902 or E-mail: bedering@steptoe.com