The Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace

ICOMP’s mission is to promote widespread support for principles that are essential to a healthy online environment. Our key goals are to encourage competition, transparency, data privacy, security and respect for intellectual property protection. Furthermore, ICOMP brings together participants from across the Internet to identify and promote best practices aimed at stimulating creativity and innovation and foster an online environment founded on security, respect and trust. ICOMP’s members collectively support principles which they believe promote:

- Healthy competition in online advertising to fund online innovation and content.

- Consumer understanding of the ways in which information about them is used and how consumer privacy will be respected to help Internet and e-commerce reach their full potential.

- Intellectual property rights to foster creativity and innovation by enabling firms and individuals to capture the commercial value of their efforts.

ICOMP’s work is guided by the following principles:

1. Competition: Advertisers, web publishers and consumers all rely on healthy competition in online advertising to generate online innovation and content. Online advertising will continue to serve as the engine that drives the online economy, but only if vibrant competition in this critical sector is preserved.

2. Transparency: Companies benefiting from a very strong market position can sometimes achieve the status of “gate-keepers to the Internet”. There is a special obligation on such companies to be completely transparent about their business practices.

3. Privacy: The Internet and e-commerce will reach their full potential only if consumers are informed of the ways in which their information is used and are confident that their privacy will be respected.

4. Security: Today’s online consumer is subject to a variety of information security threats, including hacking, data spills, malware and identify theft. Companies that collect and store personal data must take all reasonable measures to ensure it remains safe and confidential.

5. IPR: Intellectual property rights foster creativity, innovation and online growth, by enabling firms and individuals to enjoy the commercial fruits of their hard work and investment.

ICOMP follows EU initiatives and policies on European Digital Agenda, Digital Single Market, EU Data Protection Reform, Competition Policy, Copyright and IPRs.

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No lobbyists with EP accreditations

ICOMP has identified some 2 people in total who are from time to time involved in providing varying levels of support on activities falling with the scope of the Register. These include inter alia Timothy Cowen (ICOMP’s Legal Counsel) and Michael Weber (Director and Chair of ICOMP).

ICOMP is currently in the process of reviewing its membership and there may be further members who may, from time to time, need to become involved in providing varying levels of support on activities falling with the scope of the Register. At this stage, however, there are no other known individuals.

All those individuals included in the data provided above spend significantly less than 25% of their time on activities falling under the scope of the Register (and, normally, less than 5% of their time per week on average on activities falling under the scope of the Register).

Mr Tim Cowen (Partner, Preiskel & Co LLP (appointed solicitor))

Mr Michael Weber (Chair)

II - In-house lobbyists and trade/business/professional associations

Other organisations