<div dir="ltr">Not entering in the more philosophical discussion now...(and still saving the right to disagree with myself later) ...negotiations at the WTO are more transparent than all of those tons of trade agreement negotiations happening around the world behind closed door....<div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jan 25, 2016 at 5:34 AM, parminder <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:parminder@itforchange.net" target="_blank">parminder@itforchange.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<font face="Verdana">If we keep pushing away credible global means
of discussing and articulating global Internet policies at
Internet-centric forums where there can be expected a much better
chance to take a social- centric (where human rights, equality,
social justice would certainly have more prominence) treatment of
issues, we would end up with trade (and security) -centric forums
making global Internet policies for us... Civil society must
therefore take its share of the responsibility for this
unfortunate trend. While the civil society has been given the
multistakeholder teddy bear (or as a colleague called it, a rattle
toy) to keep itself occupied with, real work goes on elsewhere...
<br>
<br>
Thinkers have warned of a situation where instead of our economy
being embedded in the society, we will have a society embedded in
the economy. The very important social artefact of the Internet -
which is kind of the DNA of new structures of an emerging digital
network society - being primarily governed by trade treaties is
big step towards the latter, undesirable, state. <br><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<br>
parminder <br>
</font></span></font><div><div class="h5"><br>
<div>On Monday 25 January 2016 02:47 PM,
Carolina Rossini wrote:<br>
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<h1 style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#444444"><span style="line-height:30px"><a href="http://www.law360.com/internationaltrade/articles/749648/wto-needs-far-reaching-digital-trade-pact-experts-say" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.law360.com/internationaltrade/articles/749648/wto-needs-far-reaching-digital-trade-pact-experts-say" target="_blank">http://www.law360.com/internationaltrade/articles/749648/wto-needs-far-reaching-digital-trade-pact-experts-say</a></span></font><br>
</h1>
<h1 style="margin:0px 0px 10px;font-size:30px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:1.1;color:rgb(68,68,68);padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">WTO
Needs Far-Reaching Digital Trade Pact, Experts Say</h1>
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us on:</label><a href="http://twitter.com/share?text=WTO%20Needs%20Far-Reaching%20Digital%20Trade%20Pact,%20Experts%20Say&url=http://www.law360.com/internationaltrade/articles/749648" title="Share us on Twitter" style="color:rgb(0,160,209);text-decoration:none;margin:0px 0px 0px 4px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;background:transparent" target="_blank"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;font-family:FontAwesome;line-height:1;background:transparent"></span></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http://www.law360.com/internationaltrade/articles/749648" title="Share us on Facebook" style="color:rgb(59,89,152);text-decoration:none;margin:0px 0px 0px 4px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;background:transparent" target="_blank"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;font-family:FontAwesome;line-height:1;background:transparent"></span></a> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http://www.law360.com/internationaltrade/articles/749648&summary=Policymakers+around+the+globe+should+begin+thinking+about+negotiations+for+an+expansive+World+Trade+Organization+agreement+devoted+solely+to+digital+trade%2C+e-commerce+and+telecommunications+issues%2C%26nbsp%3Baccording+to+an+expert+paper+circulated+at+the+World+Economic+Forum+Friday.&title=WTO+Needs+Far-Reaching+Digital+Trade+Pact%2C+Experts+Say&source=Law360" title="Share us on LinkedIn" style="color:rgb(72,117,180);text-decoration:none;margin:0px 0px 0px 4px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;background:transparent" target="_blank"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;font-family:FontAwesome;line-height:1;background:transparent"></span></a> <a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/749648/share?section=internationaltrade" title="Email Article" style="color:rgb(0,66,127);text-decoration:none;margin:0px 0px 0px 4px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;background:transparent" target="_blank"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;font-family:FontAwesome;line-height:1;background:transparent"></span></a></span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent">By <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent">Alex
Lawson</strong></span></p>
Law360, New York (January 22, 2016, 3:03 PM ET) --
Policymakers around the globe should begin thinking about
negotiations for an expansive World Trade Organization
agreement devoted solely to digital trade, e-commerce and
telecommunications issues, according to an expert paper
circulated at the World Economic Forum Friday.<br>
<br>
While acknowledging the progress made on digital trade in
recent regional trade deals, the paper — prepared jointly
by the WEF and the the International Centre for Trade and
Sustainable Development — said the time has come for an
agreement that tackles those issues head-on at the World
Trade Organization.<br>
<br>
“There is a need to develop greater consensus or a
critical mass around core concepts regarding cross-border
data flows,” the paper said. “Rules and principles to
support and expand digital trade are being inserted in
some trade agreements. This is a positive step that should
be discussed and expanded to more jurisdictions.”<br>
<br>
The authors specifically cited the recently concluded
Trans-Pacific Partnership and the still-underway<strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"> </strong>Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership as examples of
significant trade deals tackling e-commerce, which they
said should be used as a springboard for similar work on a
broader platform.<br>
<br>
“This work provides a basis for developing a specific
agreement on digital trade that should be negotiated at
the WTO on a plurilateral basis — open to those interested
in joining, with consideration given to applying any such
agreement on a [most-favored-nation] basis to all WTO
members,” the paper said.<br>
<br>
On an overarching policy level, the paper argued that a
new agreement should allow for the unconstrained flow of
data across borders between willing partners, and that the
only exception should be one that is narrowly tailored and
based on national security considerations.<br>
<br>
Furthermore, the experts said there ought to be
wide-ranging rules barring countries from requiring data
to be stored only on local servers as a condition for
market entry. This concept is enshrined within the TPP,
but that agreement has also <a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/746082/obama-issues-formal-tpp-call-as-gop-clashes-loom" style="color:rgb(0,66,127);text-decoration:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;background:transparent" target="_blank">drawn fire</a> for leaving the financial
services sector on the outside of those protections.<br>
<br>
Even before launching new WTO talks on digital trade, the
paper recommended updating certain existing WTO pacts to
better accommodate 21st century traders, beginning with
the Trade Facilitation Agreement.<br>
<br>
The TFA — which was completed in 2013 and has been
ratified by 68 WTO members — aims to streamline the flow
of goods across borders around the globe, but could be
modernized by installing a unified de minimis customs
level under which no duties will applied, according to the
experts’ recommendations.<br>
<br>
“For trade in lower value goods that the Internet is
enabling, such costs account for a relatively larger share
of the total value, making it an even more serious trade
barrier,” the paper said.<br>
<br>
More broadly, the World Economic Forum and International
Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development experts said
that throughout these processes, there should be a robust
dialogue between governments, the private sector and
advocacy groups that often pushed back against digital
trade liberalization because of privacy concerns.<br>
<br>
“Ensuring security of the network is one of the key issues
that affects consumer and business confidence in addition
to the direct costs that security breaches have on
individual businesses,” they said.<br>
<br>
--Editing by Bruce Goldman.</div>
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