[bestbits] Fwd: WTO Needs Far-Reaching Digital Trade Pact, Experts Say

[parminder]

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...

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.

parminder

On Monday 25 January 2016 02:47 PM, Carolina Rossini wrote:
>
>
>   http://www.law360.com/internationaltrade/articles/749648/wto-needs-far-reaching-digital-trade-pact-experts-say
>
>
>   WTO Needs Far-Reaching Digital Trade Pact, Experts Say
>
> Share us
> on:<http://twitter.com/share?text=WTO%20Needs%20Far-Reaching%20Digital%20Trade%20Pact,%20Experts%20Say&url=http://www.law360.com/internationaltrade/articles/749648> <http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http://www.law360.com/internationaltrade/articles/749648> <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> <http://www.law360.com/articles/749648/share?section=internationaltrade>By *Alex
> Lawson*
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> “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.”
>
> The authors specifically cited the recently concluded Trans-Pacific
> Partnership and the still-underway* *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.
>
> “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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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 drawn fire
> <http://www.law360.com/articles/746082/obama-issues-formal-tpp-call-as-gop-clashes-loom> for
> leaving the financial services sector on the outside of those protections.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> “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.
>
> 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.
>
> “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.
>
> --Editing by Bruce Goldman.
>
> -- 
>
> /Carolina Rossini /
> /Vice President, International Policy/
> *Public Knowledge*
> _http://www.publicknowledge.org/_
> + 1 6176979389 | skype: carolrossini | @carolinarossini
>
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> /Carolina Rossini /
> /Vice President, International Policy/
> *Public Knowledge*
> _http://www.publicknowledge.org/_
> + 1 6176979389 | skype: carolrossini | @carolinarossini
>
>
>
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