The ESCWA Cyber Legislation Digest 5.0 Process and Methodology This section provides an overview of the process and methodology that ESCWA used throughout the development and implementation of the Cyber Legislation Initiative. 5.1 Activities The activities initially planned for this project were the following: 1. To produce a report that will: a) Identify major areas of concern for ESCWA member countries. b) Update the status of cyber legislation in the Arab region. c) Propose a framework for the regional harmonization of cyber legislation in the Arab world. 2. To take into account past international experience (mainly the European Commission's) to produce a set of directives which: a) Comprise text models of cyber laws that may easily be implemented at the national level. b) Cover the six main areas of cyber legislation. c) Include a set of coherent definitions of all legal terms used. d) Include a detailed introductory statement of the fundamental purposes and guiding principles of the directives. 3. To organize an experts meeting, involving professionals from governmental entities, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to review the directives that were proposed for the enhancement and harmonization of cyber legislation in the Arab region. 4. To organize two regional workshops that will provide hands-on training, to policy and decision makers, on the ESCWA cyber legislation Directives and their applications at national and regional levels. 5. To provide advisory services to ESCWA member countries and, upon request, other Arab countries on the drafting of legislation that would be in harmony with the ESCWA cyber legislation directives. 6. To organize a seminar on the legal and regulatory requirements for a sustainable knowledge society in the Arab region, to review the results of the harmonization process at the regional and sub-regional levels and provide recommendations for sustainability. 7. To promote and assist in the establishment of a Virtual Network of governmental, private sector and NGO institutions concerned with the promotion of the ICT sector. This activity will improve the sustainability of the project by helping various 25