Summary

  • CEPT proposes a four-year public call for countries wishing to host major ITU conferences away from Geneva, with six months for expressions of interest and a public portal for bids and host agreements.
  • Host assessments would cover visas, safety, hotels and open secure Internet, including permission for encrypted connections such as VPNs. The Council would still choose the venue.

Before an ITU conference gets a podium, someone has to win the room. Europe’s addendum 18 to contribution 75, carried in the ITU conference record, proposes to put that choice on a public timetable. The Secretary-General would circulate hosting requirements, generic costs and deadlines to all Member States four years before the scheduled year. Interested countries would have six months to respond. A public web portal would show the calls, rules, formal proposals and signed host agreements from the preceding three conferences or assemblies. New formal proposals would appear within 12 days after the deadline.

The existing Resolution 5, adopted in Kyoto in 1994, said world conferences should normally meet at ITU headquarters in Geneva and an outside host should cover extra expense. Resolution 144 later required model host-country agreements at least two years before a conference. CEPT’s draft goes upstream: it would expose who entered the race, when, on what cost and access terms, before the Council decides. Regional rotation would guide choices; two or more countries could bid together.

The shortlist is more than a ballroom inspection. Proposed criteria include participation in the 1947 privileges convention, a suitable venue, affordable nearby hotels, safe transport, simplified visas, emergency care, and reliable Internet at the venue and official hotels. Delegates and ITU staff must be permitted open, secure connections, including encrypted connections and VPNs. The Secretariat would assess every expression of interest against those criteria and report to the Council at least three years before the conference, retaining Geneva as an option.

The calendar has teeth for missed bids and abandoned ones. With no initial interest, a second call goes out three years ahead; with none two years ahead, Geneva hosts. If a chosen host withdraws, the Secretary-General would notify members within 14 days. A signed agreement would go onto the portal. These clauses are a proposal for PP-26, not a record of a failed host. They address a governance problem: a meeting venue determines what delegates must pay, whether they can arrive, and whether their connection works once they sit down.

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