A total of 75 of the 164 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including the European Union (EU), the United States and China, have declared This Friday (25.1.2019) it announced its intention to start negotiations next March to establish global rules for electronic commerce.
The initiative, presented on the closing day of the 49th World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, envisages the start of these talks next March and will be open to the incorporation of all WTO members who so wish.
Purposes
WTO rules on e-commerce will seek to improve opportunities and address the challenges of e-commerce in both developed and emerging countries and negotiations should result in a multilateral legal framework that consumers and businesses can trust to make it easier and safer to buy, sell and do business online.
The new rules will seek to improve consumer confidence in the digital environment and combat spam, as well as address barriers to cross-border sales, ensure the validity of electronic contracts and signatures, permanently ban customs duties on electronic transmissions, and address forced data localization and source code disclosure requirements..
New framework for the global economy
The last two decades have seen exponential growth in e-commerce at domestic and international level, although, despite this rapid growth in electronic transactions, there are no specific multilateral rules in the WTO regulating this type of trade," explained the European Commission, pointing out that, in this way, consumers and companies depend on a compendium of rules agreed by some countries on a bilateral basis.
“It is encouraging to see so many partners united in this important trade initiative,” said EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, adding that the EU seeks to work with all WTO members interested in the initiative in a “flexible and pragmatic” way to create an ambitious and truly comprehensive regulation.
"With these negotiations, members are addressing the challenges and opportunities of the digital economy and the fourth industrial revolution. This is a major step in modernising the work of the WTO," said WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo.
Source: EUROPA PRESS
Big news on E-commerce. Over 70 @WTO members have declared their intention to start negotiations on e-commerce. I was pleased to address the group at the launch event in #Davos just now. Congratulations to all pic.twitter.com/E3p5vpaJbR
— Roberto Azevêdo (@WTODGAZEVEDO) January 25, 2019
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