World Trade Organization (WTO) members participating in the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on e-commerce discussed the options available and their possible outcomes within the WTO legal framework and the progress made in bridging differences.
At a meeting on 21 June 2021, the co-organisers (Australia, Japan and Singapore) stressed that any future outcome should encompass three main objectives: fit into the architecture of the WTO, allowing a high level of commitment on key issues such as disciplines related to the data and be subject to the WTO dispute settlement system.
Ambassador Hung Seng Tan (Singapore), co-convener of the initiative, noted that the Trade Facilitation Agreement is a good model, where the WTO found an innovative way to address the specific needs of members, using transition periods and allowing for implementation. He said that this agreement could be a model worth emulating to ensure high standards and inclusive participation in the e-commerce initiative.
Likewise, the leaders of the small group discussions They shared progress on the proposals of text referring to Open government data, online consumer protection, paperless trade, open access to the Internet, source code, electronic contracts, customs duties on transmissions and transparency. Meanwhile, Ambassador George Mina (Australia) called for more flexibility, impetus and creativity to deliver clean texts before the summer break, bringing the total to ten clean texts on a range of topics and making “substantial progress” at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12)”, which is scheduled to meet from 30 November to 3 December 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to the WTO press release, Ambassador Kazuyuki Yamazaki (Japan) also urged participants to deepen the discussion on the legal aspect, taking into account all possible options, so that members can achieve balanced and inclusive outcomes.
The WTO said the text on electronic signatures and authentication “will be part of the outcome that the e-commerce initiative seeks to achieve by MC12.”
Seventy-one WTO members announced the JSI on e-commerce at MC11 in December 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Subsequently, WTO negotiations on e-commerce-related aspects were launched in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2019, with 76 members in attendance. Currently, 86 members are participating in the negotiations.WTO Press Release)
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