In recent years, parliaments have begun to exploit advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) to support their many functions and modernize their institutions. However, to date, there has not been an assessment on how these technologies are being employed across the array of activities for which a parliament is responsible.

The World e-Parliament Report 2008 represents a first effort to establish a baseline of how parliaments are using, or planning to use ICT to help them fulfill their responsibilities and to connect to their constituencies. The Report also provides an opportunity for sharing lessons learned and good practices from different regions of the world.

The Report is based on the responses and comments provided by 105 assemblies from around the world to a survey on the use of ICT in parliament conducted between July and November 2007. It also draws on experiences exchanged during the World e-Parliament Conference 2007 and relevant publicly available information.
The WePR 2008 is a joint product of UNDESA and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, prepared as part of the work of the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament.

The WePR 2008 was launched on the occasion of the second high-level meeting of the Board of the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament.
The launch of the Report was followed by a high-level dialogue on the right of access to information.