ARTICLE · 08 OCTOBER 1997

European Ministerial Declaration

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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.

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