The need for rules on ecommerce and digital trade, its extent and scope have been a subject matter of heated multilateral discussions at the WTO. However, like many other subjects of negotiations, it hasn't made headway at the multilateral forum. The fora for ambitious rules on digital trade have been the plurilaterals and bilateral free trade agreements. The CP-TPP is said to have one of the most ambitious chapters of liberalising digital trade. The recent US-Japan Digital Trade Agreement is also an example of digital trade rules gaining ascendency.
In the midst of these "gold standard" developments, news of a Australia Singapore Digital Trade Agreement which pushes the envelope further is coming in. Australia and its largest ASEAN trading partner have signed a digital trade agreement covering digital trade, data localisation, e-invoicing which,when ratified, will replace the ecommerce chapter in the Australia Singapore Free Trade Agreement.
This is a fact sheet about the agreement gives a gist and the agreement is here. It is called the Digital Economy Agreement (DEA).
The Australian government website states:
The DEA will upgrade the digital trade arrangements between Australia and Singapore under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement – which are already among some of the most ambitious globally. For example, it: delivers more robust rules that ensure businesses, including in the financial sector, can transfer data across borders and will not be required to build or use data storage centres in either jurisdiction; improves protections for source code; establishes new commitments on compatible e-invoicing and e-payment frameworks; and delivers new benchmarks for improving safety and consumer experiences online.
One would now have to do a comparative "commitments" chart of the CP-TPP, US-Japan digital agreement and the DEA to see how far commitments go, what are the exceptions and what is subject to dispute settlement. How "more robust" are the rules than earlier agreements is a subject matter of debate. A definitive field for research as well as for eager trade negotiators!
For the moment, one more trade agreement on ecommerce is on the table for multilateralisation. Is this the beginning of the gradual shaping of plurilateral and multilateral framework on ecommerce?Or is it just limited to a small set of countries reiterating set standards amongst themselves?
No comments:
Post a Comment