[bestbits] Fwd: WTO Needs Far-Reaching Digital Trade Pact, Experts Say
parminder
parminder at itforchange.net
Mon Jan 25 06:00:53 EST 2016
On Monday 25 January 2016 04:09 PM, Carolina Rossini wrote:
> 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....
That is true, but hardly addresses the point that trade governance
forums are not the best place to evolve Internet related policies...
Meanwhile do note that the author commends the TPP and TTIP treaties and
seek to make them " a basis for developing a specific agreement on
digital trade that should be negotiated at the WTO on a plurilateral basis".
Also, do see that the authors are not asking for multilateral
negotiations, but even within the WTO just plurilateral ones, so that
the 'default frameworks' are not threatened by something as dumbly
democratic as majoritarianism .
This is the typical global governance for the powerful today; develop
the basic governance paradigm and frameworks among a selective group,
entrench it through the economic might of the select group, and then
seek all countries to get co-opted through accession, or taking these
frameworks to plurilateral/ multilateral venues, with the basic
frameworks already entrenched and very little leeway left for new
'participants'.
I do not think that civil society speaking out against such a
pro-powerful governance model would be considered a philosophical
exercise. One sees a very larger number of global civil society groups
and networks routinely do it.
parminder
parminder
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 25, 2016 at 5:34 AM, parminder <parminder at itforchange.net
> <mailto:parminder at itforchange.net>> wrote:
>
> 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
>>
>>
>>
>> ____________________________________________________________
>> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>> bestbits at lists.bestbits.net <mailto:bestbits at lists.bestbits.net>.
>> To unsubscribe or change your settings, visit:
>> http://lists.bestbits.net/wws/info/bestbits
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
> bestbits at lists.bestbits.net <mailto:bestbits at lists.bestbits.net>.
> To unsubscribe or change your settings, visit:
> http://lists.bestbits.net/wws/info/bestbits
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> /Carolina Rossini /
> /Vice President, International Policy/
> *Public Knowledge*
> _http://www.publicknowledge.org/_
> + 1 6176979389 | skype: carolrossini | @carolinarossini
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/bestbits/attachments/20160125/8e9ef699/attachment.htm>
More information about the Bestbits
mailing list