ECOM-LAC
eCom-LAC is the abbreviation for Federacion Latinoamericana y del Caribe para Internet y el Comercio Electronico or Latin America and Caribbean Federation for Internet and Electronic Commerce. Established in the year 1988 in a meeting held in Rio de Janeiro, eCom-LAC’s main mission is to promote the development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the Caribbean region and Latin America. It also works towards supporting the initiatives which help to lower the digital gap in these regions. [1]
The eCom-LAC also represents the ICT private sector of these regions at an international level such as:
- IGF - Internet Governance Forum
- WSIS – World Summit of the Information Society
- LACNICL – Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry
- ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers[1]
Members
The members of eCom-LAC are mostly companies and entities from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. [1]
Activities
eCom-LAC had earlier organized two regional electronic commerce summits. The first was held in Sao Paula in the year 2000 and the second summit took place in Buenos Aires in the year 2001. The Buenos Aires summit saw the presence of Mr. Donald Evans, U.S. Secretary of Commerce. eCom-LAC was also a part of an International Consortium which was basically established by the Fundació Aplicació of Barcelona (Spain), for which the European Commission (EC) had also awarded a 3.000.000 Euros subsidy under the @lis RFP. The project which was being worked was named ATLAS de la Diversidad – Mi Lugar. As many as 400 schools in Latin America were instructed about publishing tools and web site development. Under this project, a network of schools was also created with a view to share the customs, history, music and so.
eCom-LAC was assigned with the task of providing broadband connectivity to the schools that lacked the necessary resources. Recently, the eCom-LAC has undertaken some preliminary activities which aim to implement a TLD, which will help to identify the Latin American region and its culture. It is almost as similar as to ‘.asia’ or ‘.eu’. It will give the individuals and organizations from the Latin-American and Caribbean region from across the globe an identity of their own with the rest of the Internet. [2]
Relation with ICANN
eCom-LAC negotiated with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for four years to establish the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry, which was later established in the year 2003. The LACNIC was a Multi-sector partnership involving academic, private, civil society and NGO sectors from the region. The policies of LACNIC are defined by the regional Internet community, which deals with the handling of IP address blocks for Latin America. The LACNIC handles this from its headquarters in Montevideo (Uruguay). [1]
References