Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace

The Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace was launched by French President Emmanuel Macron on 12 November 2018 at the UNESCO Internet Governance Forum in Paris, on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum and the centenary of the WWI Armistice. It is a non-binding, multi-stakeholder declaration that invites states, private companies, and civil society organisations to endorse a common set of principles for securing cyberspace.

The Call articulates nine principles, including:

• Protecting individuals and infrastructure from malicious cyber activity
• Defending the public core of the internet
• Safeguarding electoral processes from foreign interference
• Protecting intellectual property from ICT-enabled theft
• Preventing the proliferation of malicious software and practices
• Strengthening the security of digital products and the supply chain
• Building cyber hygiene capacity
• Restricting offensive cyber operations by non-state actors (the "hack-back" prohibition)
• Promoting international norms of responsible behaviour in cyberspace

The Call explicitly anchors itself in existing international law, including the UN Charter, international humanitarian law, and the consensus reports of the UN Group of Governmental Experts (UN GGE). It does not create new legal obligations.

At launch it was endorsed by 51 states, roughly 130 companies (notably Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and IBM), and around 90 civil society and academic groups. Endorsement has since expanded to more than 80 states and over 1,000 total supporters, though notable absences at launch included the United States, Russia, China, Iran, Israel, and the United Kingdom. The US government endorsed the Call in November 2021 under the Biden administration.

The initiative is closely associated with Microsoft's earlier proposals for a "Digital Geneva Convention" and forms part of a broader trend of multi-stakeholder cyber norms efforts running parallel to the UN GGE and the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) processes. Critics note its voluntary nature and the absence of enforcement or verification mechanisms.