The Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority (NPT) Internationally

International cooperation is becoming increasingly important in pace with the development of globalisation. NPT participates in a range of international fora. Harmonisation of regulations and cooperation on standards are of great significance in providing the end-users with services that match the needs and developments of the future.

Through the EEA, Norway is obliged to conform to EU directives and to implement them in Norwegian regulations. At the same time Norwegian membership in the Conférence Européenne des Administrations des Postes et des Télécommunications (CEPT) is a good channel for advancing Norwegian interests in both the post and the telecommunications sectors.

NPT has three important goals in its international activity:

• to advance Norwegian interests internationally
• to keep up to date with international conditions
• to make a contribution to international cooperation

NPT participates in the following organisations (among others):

ITU (the International Telecommunication Union)

The ITU - the International Telecommunication Union - is a UN organisation with 189 member countries and with the main aim of contributing to global cooperation and development in the telecommunications sector. The ITU';;s work is organised in three sectors - radio regulation, standardisation and aid. The Council comprises 46 member countries elected for a period of four years. For more information, please visit http://www.itu.int/aboutitu/overview/council.html.

UPU (Union Postal Universelle)

The UPU is a body under the UN and comprises more than 190 member countries. The highest authority of the UPU is the Congress that is held about every fourth year. UPU consists of two bodies; CA (authorities) and POC (operators) and has its own secretariat in Bern.

CEPT (Conférence Européenne des Administrations des Postes et des Télécommunications)

CEPT is an organisation of European national postal and telecommunications authorities. Through a range of committees and working parties the organisation works for European coordination and efficiency in the postal and telecommunications area. In addition CEPT has a separate committee for postal regulation, CERP (European Committee for Postal Regulation) and for telecommunications/resource managment, ECC (Electronic Communications Committee).

CEPT has one specialist office:
- ERO (European Radiocommunications Office)

ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute)

As a telecommunications authority NPT is a member of ETSI, which leads the European work on telecommunications standardisation. The main aim is to develop telecommunications standards, primarily for Europe, but with a global vision that ETSI standards should be useable worldwide.

GAC (Governmental Advisory Committee)

The Governmental Advisory Committee is an advisory committee to ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), (http://www.icann.org). GAC members are representatives from national governments, Distinct Economies as recognised in international fora, multinational governmental organisations and treaty organisations such as EU Commission, ITU, OPEC and WIPO.

The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) shall consider and provide advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, multinational governmental organisations and treaty organisations, and distinct economies as recognised in international fora, including matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN’s policies and various laws and international agreements and public policy objectives.

The GAC shall provide advice and communicate issues and views to the ICANN Board. The GAC is not a decision making body. Such advice given by the GAC shall be without prejudice to the responsibilities of any public authority with regard to the bodies and activities of ICANN, including the Supporting Organisations and Councils.

There has been a gradual development in the recent years where GAC advice to ICANN has got greater significance. To find more information on GAC advice to ICANN and about GAC, please visit http://gac.icann.org/

CEN [Council of European Normalisation]

NPT is the national specialist body in regard to the work on development of European standards concerning postal services. This includes coordination of Norwegian views and statements to CEN.

EFTA/EU

NPT participates in EFTA activities and within the framework of the agreements that Norway has with the EU.

RIPE (Réseaux IP Européens) 

RIPE (Réseaux IP Européens) is a collaborative forum open to all parties interested in wide area IP networks in Europe and beyond. The objective of RIPE is to ensure the administrative and technical coordination necessary to enable the operation of a pan-European IP network.

The RIPE NCC (Network Coordination Centre) is one of five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) providing Internet resource allocations, registration services and co-ordination activities that support the operation of the Internet globally.

ERG (European Regulators Group)

ERG has been set up by the Commission to provide a suitable mechanism for encoding cooperation and coordination between national regulatory authorities and the Commission. NPT participate as an observerer as only authorities from EU member countries can hold a formal membership.

IRG (Independent Regulators Group)

IRG was established in 1997 as a group of national telecommunications regulatory authorities. The aim is to share experiences and points of view and IRG has set up a number of working groups and project teams, and NPT participate in most of them. IRG consist of members from all EU and EFTA countries in addition to regulators from coutries which candidate for EU membership.

Other important organisations in which NPT participates are:

NPT has concluded a framework agreement with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) on providing advice and carrying out individual aid tasks. For example NPT was the advisor for the telecommunications authority in Eritrea in establishing an independent regulatory authority.

NPT participate also in a wide range of activities in a Nordic cooperation, in particular within telecom. regulations.