The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the renewal of the mandate of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA and EFDD groups.
Parliament called on the UN General Assembly to renew the mandate of the IGF, and to strengthen its resources and the multistakeholder model of internet governance.
The purpose of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is to carry out its mandate from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) with regard to convening forums for democratic, transparent and multistakeholder policy dialogue. Its main role and function of the IGF is to discuss a wide range of issues related to internet governance and, where appropriate, to make recommendations to the international community.
Members invited the Member States and the EU institutions concerned to keep the IGF high on their agendas and to continue to support the IGF whilst stressing that Parliament should continue to participate in future IGF meetings with a substantial delegation.
Members also welcomed the commitment made by the US Government for the transfer of stewardship over the IANA functions and emphasised the importance of the full accountability and transparency of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to provide a long-term solution for the stability and security of the internet, as in September 2015 the current agreement between ICANN and the US Government on the supervision of the IANA function will expire.
Parliament called on the Member States and the Commission to increase their efforts to support the conclusion of this new timely agreement on IANA functions. It also called on the EU institutions concerned to propose the EU itself as a first international partner with ICANN as regards IANA functions.
The resolution focused on the need to:
Lastly, rejecting the idea of a state-controlled internet and mass surveillance of the internet, Parliament stressed that fundamental freedoms and human rights are not negotiable and must be protected both online and offline and stressed the economic and social importance of online rights for privacy and of users control of their personal data.