WE THE MINISTERS AND REPRESENTATIVES of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, met in the Island of Gran Canaria in Spain, on 14-15 December 2022, under the leadership of Spain as Ministerial Chair and with Denmark, Japan, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States as Vice-Chairs, for the meeting of the Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP) at Ministerial level under the theme “driving long-term recovery and economic growth by building a trusted, sustainable, and inclusive digital future”.
WE RECOGNISE the important role of the OECD in advancing evidence-based policy making and as a forum for OECD Members, partners and stakeholders to share knowledge, experience, and data to identify and improve policy solutions to economic, environmental, and social challenges.
WE CONDEMN , in the strongest possible terms, Russia’s unjustifiable, unprovoked and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine as a flagrant violation of international law that shakes the very foundation of the international order, in line with the 2022 OECD Ministerial Council Statement, and RECALL the decision of the OECD Council of 8 March 2022 to immediately suspend the participation of the Russian Federation and Belarus in OECD bodies.
WE STAND IN SOLIDARITY with the people and the democratically elected government of Ukraine in its efforts to uphold and promote the benefits of an open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, accessible, affordable, secure and resilient Internet.
WE FURTHER CONDEMN disinformation campaigns, government-imposed Internet shutdowns, and attacks on and threats to communication infrastructures, the Internet, technology supply chains and the flow of data and information, including through malicious cyber activities.
WE REITERATE , in particular against this backdrop, our unambiguous commitment to human rights and freedoms, peace, democracy, and the rule of law.
WE RECALL the 2021 OECD’s 60th Anniversary Vision statement , Trust in Global Cooperation: The Vision for the OECD for the Next Decade, which directs the OECD to support countries in harnessing the potential of digitalisation for economic growth and social inclusion to support open societies in the digital and data driven age and to advance responses to the challenges of digitalisation, including guarding against threats to democracy, digital security and privacy and combatting disinformation online, as well as to seek initiatives that enhance and promote data free flow with trust.
WE RECOGNISE that digitalisation has profound and transformational implications for our societies and economies, including immense potential to contribute to inclusive economic and social prosperity, well-being and sustainability, to realising the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and to addressing global challenges such as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 response and recovery; and at the same time, that it presents significant challenges, risks and potential harms.
WE CONSIDER that seizing the opportunities and mitigating the risks presented by accelerating digital transformation is a critical responsibility of our governments.
WE UNDERSCORE the imperative of multi-stakeholder, cross-disciplinary and international collaboration for building inclusive, resilient and secure societies by shaping and advancing human-centric, comprehensive, coherent, actionable, sustainable and forward-looking approaches to digital policies.
WE ACKNOWLEDGE the OECD’s unique position to spearhead such collaboration and its long-standing leadership in identifying good practices and developing international, evidence-based and consensus based digital policy standards.
WE ACKNOWLEDGE the OECD’s work on digital policy undertaken under the auspices of the CDEP since the previous Ministerial meeting chaired by Mexico in 2016, including seminal work under the Going Digital Horizontal Project phases I and II and on artificial intelligence.
WE WELCOME the following outputs launched at this Ministerial meeting:
● Four new OECD Recommendations on digital security policy that provide a broad-based and coherent policy framework to strengthen digital security in a way that promotes incentives for innovation and competition and respects human rights and freedoms, in the context of the rise in malicious cyber activity. These Recommendations promote international and multi-stakeholder co-operation and awareness to enhance the digital security of products and services. They guide countries in developing a strategic, whole-of-government and whole of society policy approach to create the conditions for all stakeholders to manage digital security risk, according to their role, which is essential to the functioning and digital transformation of our economies and societies.
● The outcomes of the OECD Horizontal Project on Data Governance for Growth and Well-being ( Going Digital phase III ), which recognise the importance of data as a driver of the global economy, advance a better understanding and measurement of the value of data, and support countries in developing coherent and holistic data governance policies.
● The Declaration on Government Access to Personal Data Held by Private Sector Entities, which promotes trust in transborder flows of personal data by building a shared understanding of how like-minded democracies protect privacy and other human rights and freedoms when accessing personal data held by private sector entities for law enforcement and national security purposes.
WE ARE COMMITTED to working together and with all stakeholders to promote a safe, secure, inclusive and sustainable digital environment, underpinned by an open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, accessible, affordable, secure and resilient Internet, and by respect for the rule of law, human rights and democratic values in order to enable economies and societies to prosper, by:
● Advancing a human-centric and rights-oriented digital transformation that includes promoting the enjoyment of human rights, both offline and online, strong protections for personal data, laws and regulation fit for the digital age, and trustworthy, secure, responsible and sustainable use of emerging digital technologies and artificial intelligence.
● Tackling the governance challenges posed by emerging technologies and business models, including online platforms, through inclusive multi-stakeholder discussions among democracies and with policy frameworks that promote technology diffusion, innovation, trust, risk-based approaches, and privacy and data protection, and through approaches such as agile regulation, anticipatory policies, and co-operation on international standards development, while advancing the multi-stakeholder system of Internet governance globally.
● Advancing ubiquitous access to high-capacity, high-quality, affordable, secure and resilient connectivity and computational infrastructure, including through promoting competition and incentivising investment, robust legal and regulatory frameworks, and supporting efficient, transparent and predictable spectrum management, guided by long-term societal and economic benefits.
● Promoting more competitive markets for an innovative and prosperous economy, accounting for diverse business models across firms of all sizes, through policies and regulations for data flows and online platforms and marketplaces including, in particular, in the areas of competition, communication services, digital trade, privacy and data protection, and consumer policy.
● Making digital technology supply chains, including semiconductor design and manufacturing, more sustainable, diverse, secure, and resilient throughout the entire value chain, to protect against shortages and disruptions that would hamper digital transformation and the functioning and safety of economies and societies.
● Addressing all digital divides, including gender divides, so that everyone has equal opportunity to participate, learn, work, explore, innovate, contribute to and benefit from digital transformation. This includes, in particular, investing in connectivity, digital technologies, digital public services, mobile government, skills, training, education, and capacity building to empower people to actively participate in digital societies and succeed in workforce transitions.
● Addressing the underlying factors that foster the creation, spread and acceptance of mis- and disinformation while respecting human rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression.
● Working to keep individuals, especially children, safe online by combatting illegal and harmful online content while respecting freedom of expression, and by protecting all children from online manipulation and abuse.
● Promoting a positive, age-appropriate and safe digital environment for children and young people and providing opportunities for all children to acquire the necessary skills and competences to make active, safe and informed choices online.
● Strengthening digital security as a foundation for digital transformation, economic growth and social prosperity by developing policy approaches that enhance trust, security and resilience.
● Securing the welfare of consumers by empowering them to make informed decisions in the digital environment and by protecting them from misleading, manipulative, deceptive, fraudulent, unlawful, and unfair commercial practices, and unsafe and unsecure goods and services.
● Continuing to develop and implement data governance policies and strategies that support data driven decision-making and innovation and promote economic and social prosperity by enhancing the responsible, transparent, trusted and privacy-respecting use, access to and sharing of data within and across public and private sectors.
● Protecting privacy and other human rights and freedoms in the face of new privacy risks and rapid technological developments.
● Strengthening our efforts to further a common understanding and to work towards identifying commonalities, complementarities and elements of convergence between existing regulatory approaches and instruments enabling data to flow with trust, including across borders, in order to foster future interoperability.
● Leveraging digital transformation to advance economies and societies towards sustainability and net-zero targets, including by mitigating its negative environmental externalities and by developing and deploying digital technologies and solutions with positive effects on the environment.
WE UNDERSCORE the role of the OECD, in particular its CDEP, as a forum for sharing knowledge and experience on digital policies and practices, building and enhancing the evidence base, identifying good practices, and engaging in international and multi-stakeholder co-operation, including in other relevant international fora, to develop policy standards and guidance for a trusted, sustainable, inclusive and gender-responsive digital future for our countries that reflect our shared values and put people at the centre.
WE CALL on the OECD, through the CDEP and in collaboration with other committees, to:
● Further develop thematic and horizontal work to advance a global digital policy framework building on the Organisation’s historical and institutional expertise, analytical tools and proven capacity to work with a wide variety of countries and stakeholder groups, to inform policy making for increasingly interdependent and global digital economies and societies.
● Enhance our understanding of the economic aspects of digital transformation and its overall impact on economic growth, business capabilities, competitive markets, innovation, productivity, societies, the labour market and employment prospects, including across sectors, and developing related policy recommendations. These may address: online platforms and immersive environments; emerging technologies; artificial intelligence; data free flow with trust and cross-border data flows; digital security; intellectual property; privacy and data protection; and communication and other infrastructures.
● Advance a comprehensive digital measurement agenda to enhance the OECD’s evidence base in support of digital transformation with a particular focus on areas that present challenges to traditional measurement approaches, including but not limited to: the impact of digital transformation and digital divides on the economy, society, human rights, and individual well-being; affordability of communication services; the value of data and data flows; illegal, harmful and misleading content online and their impact on individuals, society and democracy; the impact of digital technologies on the environment and their contribution to the green transition; advancements in research and the use of AI and emerging technologies; as well as privacy and digital security issues.
● Identify and analyse new technology trends, related societal and economic impacts and the implications for policy and regulatory frameworks in support of innovation and of responsible and trustworthy use of digital technologies for the benefit of society, including through continued guidance to promote the implementation of related OECD Recommendations, for example with regards to the development of trusted and secure digital identity systems that will become increasingly essential for citizens and businesses to take active part in social and economic activities in domestic and cross-border settings.
● Realise the OECD Global Forum on Technology to foster multi-stakeholder collaboration on digital and emerging technology policy, to facilitate future-facing strategic discussions on technology governance and inform the development and use of technology in line with shared democratic values.
● Provide guidance to help countries benefit from artificial intelligence as a general purpose technology across all sectors; support the development of forward-looking, coherent and implementable frameworks for governing artificial intelligence and managing its risks effectively; and provide evidence, foresight, tools and incident monitoring for effective policy planning and execution to implement trustworthy artificial intelligence.
● Review the OECD Recommendation on Principles for Internet Policy Making to assess its impact and consider trends that may pose a threat to the open, interoperable, distributed and interconnected nature of the Internet, as reflected in the Recommendation.
● Facilitate knowledge-sharing to advance a common understanding of how rights and freedoms should be respected and applicable online as they are offline, including through policy analysis and guidance on how to foster a digital transformation that puts people and the protection of human rights at its centre.
● Identify and analyse trends in the connectivity ecosystem and market structures to support the development of future-proof connectivity policies and regulation, which foster ubiquitous access to high-capacity, high-quality, affordable, secure and resilient communication infrastructures and services for all.
● Develop a comprehensive understanding of and policy recommendations to help countries address all digital divides and boost the human-centric adoption and diffusion of digital technologies to promote inclusive growth and help everyone thrive in the digital world.
● Analyse the impact of digital transformation and data-driven practices of online platforms on individual well-being and on societies focusing on issues such as mental health, work life balance, digital literacy, labour standards, and social cohesion, with a particular emphasis on people in vulnerable situations and underrepresented groups in society.
● Support the enhancement of consumer protection and empowerment in digital transformation and the green transition, including by promoting evidence-based policy and decision making and cross-border co-operation.
● Take stock of emerging approaches to advance online safety and improve the evidence base to support related policy recommendations and consistent and complementary regulatory approaches that respect human rights, including freedom of expression and other freedoms. This includes gathering insights and improving transparency on countering harmful and illegal content and conduct online, including terrorist and violent extremist content and child sexual exploitation and abuse.
● Expand the evidence base about mis- and disinformation online to further develop policy approaches to address the causes and effects of such content, while respecting protections for human rights and freedoms including freedom of expression.
● Support efforts to further build a common understanding of commonalities, complementarities, and elements of convergence between existing regulatory approaches and instruments enabling data to flow with trust, such as Model Contractual Clauses and other transfer tools, in order to foster future interoperability.
● Support the development of comprehensive and effective data governance frameworks that facilitate data access and sharing and that are consistent and complementary to support economic progress and societal goals.
● Support personal data and privacy protection by assessing the impact of related technology trends, and by fostering regulatory and cross-border co-operation, as well as trust, innovation and competition based on fair and responsible data practices.
● Provide further policy guidance to strengthen digital security, with a particular focus on a risk-based approach and areas such as the security of products and services, communications infrastructure security, vulnerability treatment, capacity building for vulnerable users and developing countries, and co-ordinated incident response, based on a better understanding of the economic incentives and the effectiveness of policy approaches to digital security.
● Take stock of and identify policy recommendations and good practices in support of a twin transition that fosters sustainable business models and consumer engagement, promotes the development of green technology that is sustainable by design and by default, and leverages digital technologies to contribute to meeting net-zero targets and mitigating climate change.
WE ARE DETERMINED to work together as our countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and in view of threats to sovereignty and individual rights and freedoms worldwide, through the OECD, to uphold our shared values and pursue the path charted in this Declaration for a human-centric and rights-oriented digital transformation that benefits all.