Ministers From Australia, Japan and Singapore Note Progress on WTO E-Commerce Talks
Ministers from Australia, Japan and Singapore noted substantial progress made in the e-commerce initiative at the World Trade Organization in a Dec. 14 statement. Australia’s Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan, Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Koichi Hagiuda, and Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong represent the co-convenors of the WTO e-commerce negotiations.
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"We welcome the substantial progress made to date in the negotiations," the statement said. "We have achieved good convergence in negotiating groups on eight articles – online consumer protection; electronic signatures and authentication; unsolicited commercial electronic messages; open government data; electronic contracts; transparency; paperless trading; and open internet access. The outcomes already achieved in these areas will deliver important benefits, including boosting consumer confidence and supporting businesses trading online."
Further, text proposals have been consolidated in areas including customs duties on e-transmissions, cross-border data flows, data localization, source code, electronic transactions frameworks, cybersecurity, electronic invoicing and market access, the statement said. Early next year, talks will "intensify," the ministers declared.
"Although the 12th Ministerial Conference has been postponed, this negotiation on e-commerce remains one of the key areas for the WTO as an organization that promotes global trade," Hayashi said. "I believe it is important to continue delivering results from this negotiation, aiming for further progress in the next year. Japan has been advocating the concept of “Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT)” and sees significant value in realizing this concept. While maintaining inclusiveness for participating members, Japan, as a co-convener of the initiative, will continue to accelerate the negotiation to achieve a high-standard outcome, including on the rules of free flow of data.