Andean Community deals with domain issues

Two members of the Andean Community - Colombia and Peru - are dealing with important internet-related issues. The outcomes are expected to impact on the community as a whole.

In Colombia, the Arbitration and Conciliation Centre of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce - the main supplier of mediation and arbitration services in the country - has launched an online dispute resolution programme. The aim of the programme is to create a web site that will allow arbitrators to communicate and share information online, and to lay the foundations for handling dispute resolution procedure electronically (eg, electronic filing). It is hoped that the Arbitration and Conciliation Centre will become the leading entity in the Andean Community for settling domain name disputes.

In Peru, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has empowered the National Institute for the Defence of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property to regulate country-code domain names. NIC-PERU, which manages the '.pe' domain, has criticized the move, stating that the government's regulation of private activities violates the constitutional rights of individuals. The government, the Peruvian Scientific Network (which administers NIC-PERU) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers are in talks to determine which party - the government or NIC-PERU - has jurisdiction to regulate the registration of country-code domain names and solve any domain name disputes. The decision is expected to have implications for other Andean Community member states.

Daniel Peña, Cavelier Abogados, Bogotá