The decree defines the digital economy as being composed of three components: ICT infrastructures, digital business processes and e-commerce transactions. Accordingly, the CIDED is composed of the following members:
the Minister of ICTs, which leads policies for ICT access and use
the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, which leads policies to promote digital uptake by businesses, including e-commerce, online platforms and the collaborative economy
the Minister of Education, with leads skill policies for the digital transformation
the Director of the DNP, which is responsible for the PNDs, including policy objectives related to ICTs
the Director of National Tax and Customs, which is competent for the “commercial, economic and legal conditions” that are conducive to digital transformation, particularly in relation to e-commerce, online platforms and the collaborative economy.
The decree provided that the CIDED be chaired by MinTIC, which will also act as the Technical Secretariat to the Commission, through its Directorate of Digital Transformation.
The committee may invite other public entities to its meetings, whose representatives will have the right to vote when the issues addressed by the CIDED fall within the functions and powers of the entities they represent. Representatives of the private sector, academia and the civil society may also be invited to intervene depending on the topics addressed at the meetings, but with no voting power.
The functions of the CIDED are to:
serve as a forum for dialogue and co-ordination for the implementation of socio-economic activities enabled by ICTs
recommend the formulation and implementation of policies, plans, programmes, projects and draft law proposals that may serve to support agencies and entities to take actions in relation to economic and social activities enabled by ICTs in their sector of competence
recommend to local authorities the formulation and implementation of guidelines, policies, programmes, plans and projects related to socio-economic activities enabled by ICTs, in compliance with the autonomy and the functions conferred to local authorities by the law
advise the government on the position to take before the public opinion and in national and international organisations on issues related to economic and social activities enabled by ICT
issue its own rules.
In relation to the latter point, the rules of the CIDED are approved by simple majority in the first session of the commission. They shall set the frequency of meetings, the quorum required to deliberate, the co-ordination mechanisms with other commissions and any other aspects necessary to ensure the functions of the commission.
By addressing the cross-sectoral implications of the digital transformation, the CIDED is an attempt to improve policy co-ordination within government. There are, however, several issues that may limit its effectiveness.
The first issue relates to its composition. The scope for policy co-ordination required by the digital transformation is much broader than the policy fields covered by the current members of the CIDED. In order to be effective, the CIDED should ensure that the perspectives of all governmental stakeholders are voiced in its discussion and contribute to its decisions. For instance, the Ministries of Finance, Labour and Transport or the Administrative Department of Public Service have an important role in the digital transformation. Similarly, it is not clear why the National Tax and Customs is a member of the commission while its ministry of reference (the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory) is not.
The second issue is related to the rules for decision making in the CIDED. In order to implement a decision taken by majority, the CIDED should have the power to enforce such decision on CIDED members who may have voted against it. As the commission does not have this power, its decisions may remain ineffective if not taken unanimously.
The decree provides that the CIDED may invite other ministries and agencies, but does not set an obligation to do so. In principle, therefore, the commission may take decisions in some policy areas without the participation of the ministries and agencies competent for these areas. Not only would such decisions be difficult to implement, they would also miss the very aim of the CIDED: policy co-ordination.
An additional issue arises from the choice of the Technical Secretariat and its functions. The decree grants the Directorate of Digital Transformation in MinTIC the power to “monitor compliance of decisions, agreements and commitments” originated from the activities of the commission. Granting this authority to the Technical Secretariat, but not to the CIDED, tends to create an imbalance in favour of MinTIC, which is also the chair of the commission. Furthermore, it is unclear whether, given its mandate, the technical expertise in MinTIC extends to the much broader range of policy fields that the CIDED is expected to address.
More fundamentally, the CIDED seems to lack political support even by some of its members. The PND 2018-2022 argues that the CIDED continues to have a sectoral focus on ICTs, unaware that the digital economy is transversal and that the ICT sector is only an enabler. It further argues that intersectoral commissions in Colombia have a history of low effectiveness, providing as an example the Intersectoral Commission for Information Policy and Management in the Public Administration (COINFO) as well as the National Commission for Digital and State Information (CNDIE). Since all members of these intersectoral commissions are at the same hierarchical level, it is difficult to reach binding decisions or ensure effective co-ordination. Therefore, the DNP’s view seems to be that, in order to be effective, the CIDED should report directly to the president.