UIT International Telecommunications Union
The International Telecommunication Union -UIT - is the specialized agency of the United Nations for information and communication technology (ICT’s). ITU was founded in Paris in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, which Colombia adhered in 1914. It took its present name International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 1934, and in 1947 became a specialized agency of the United Nations.
The agency is also responsible for promoting the ICT development worldwide, and ensures the harmonization of national telecommunications policies between Member States. ITU currently has a membership of 193 countries and over 700 private-sector entities and academic institutions. ITU is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has twelve regional and area offices around the world.
The subsidiary bodies of the ITU are:
The Plenipotentiary Conference: is the supreme body of the Union, which sets the general policy of the Union, adopts strategic and financial plans. The Plenipotentiary Conference elects the Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General, the Directors of the Bureaux, the members of the Radio Regulations Board and the Member States that will constitute the next ITU Council.
The Plenipotentiary Conference 2014 was held in Busan (Republic of Korea), from 20 October to 7 November 2014.
The Council acts as the governing body in the interval between Plenipotentiary Conferences. Its aim is to study the major issues of telecommunications policy to ensure that the activities, policies and strategies of the Union meet today's dynamic telecommunications.
The Council also prepares a report on the policy and strategic planning of the ITU and is responsible for ensuring the coordination of the working programmes, approving budgets and controlling finances and expenditure of the Union.
The Council also adopts measures to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of the ITU Constitution, the ITU Convention, the Administrative Regulations and the decisions of the Plenipotentiary Conference.
The final session of the meeting of the ITU Council 2014 was held on October 18, 2014 in Bussan, Korea, prior to the Plenipotentiary Conference.
The mission of the General Secretariat is to provide high-quality and efficient services to the membership of the Union. The General Secretariat manages the administrative and financial aspects of the Union’s activities, including the provision of conference services, planning and organization of major meetings, information services, security, strategic planning, and corporate functions such as: communications, legal advice, finance, personnel, procurement, internal audit, etc.
Colombia and the ITU
Colombia is member of the Union since August 25, 1914. By Law 252 of 1995, the following instruments of the Treaty were adopted: the "Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union," the "Convention of the International Telecommunication Union," the "Optional Protocol on the compulsory settlement of disputes relating to the constitution of the International Telecommunication Union” and the Administrative Regulations, adopted in Geneva in 22 December 1992. The Constitutional Court, declared enforceable by Sentence C-382-96 from August 22, 1996, this law.
By Law 873 of 2004, Colombia adopted the following Amendments of the Instrument to the Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union: Plenipotentiary Conference (Geneva, 1992); Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994); and Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis, 1998). The Constitutional Court declared enforceable by Sentence C-779/04, this law.
The follow-up and implementation of the ITU in Colombia Convention is a competency of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies.
