Recognizing the critical importance of the internet to international business, trade, education, and communications,
Aware that the internet often has no centralized governance, and that access to the internet is largely provided by private sector entities in many World Assembly member nations,
Believing that limited international regulation of the internet is necessary to prevent anti-competitive behaviour by internet service providers,
Seeking, however, to prohibit the World Assembly from engaging in more intrusive regulation in future,
The General Assembly,
- Defines "the internet", for the purposes of this resolution, as any system of interconnected telecommunications networks using a packet-switched, end-to-end protocol to communicate between endpoints that is:
- generally accessible to the public, and
- intended to be used by the public to publish, distribute, and use content, applications, and services;
- Further defines "internet service provider" as any entity that provides access to the internet as a service to the general public, for free or in exchange for compensation, but only if the service can reasonably be used in a residence or workplace;
- Declares that member nations must require internet service providers to:
- allow authorized users of their network to access and use the legal internet content, applications, and services of their choice within the bandwidth limits and quality of service of their service plan,
- allow authorized users of their network to connect to the internet using a legal device of their choice,
- clearly inform authorized users of their network of any discrimination between legal internet content, applications, and services on their network, and
- refrain from unjust discrimination between legal internet content, applications, and services on their network, including but not limited to discrimination that has a substantial anti-competitive effect;
- Recommends that member states extend the mandate of their respective telecommunications or antitrust regulatory agencies or other appropriate bodies with the enforcement of internet neutrality, especially the timely investigation of consumer complaints regarding potential violations of applicable internet neutrality regulations;
- Further declares that member states have the right to determine for themselves whether to adopt more restrictive internet neutrality regulations, within the confines of this and previous World Assembly resolutions;
- Clarifies that nothing in this resolution:
- creates an affirmative obligation for internet service providers to provide access to their networks or to refrain from charging for access to their networks,
- requires internet service providers to, through action or inaction, endanger national security, law enforcement activities, or the security or stability of their network, or
- prohibits member nations from regulating internet-enabled devices or internet content, applications, and services.
