Quick Win No. 10
Increase transparency and engagement with non-governmental actors in the JSI on E-commerce
The Fourth Industrial Revolution ushered in a brand new era in global trade. The emergence of digital technologies had a profound impact on production, distribution, marketing, sale and trade of traditional goods and services, and gave rise to digitized services, powered by data-intensive technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things. These characteristics of the digital economy present intrinsic complexities that demand specialized knowledge and collaboration among governmental and non-governmental actors to effectively regulate them.
The rise of the data-driven economy has resulted in a wide variety of policies targeting digital technologies or their components, including a surge in measures aimed at restricting cross border data flows, the appearance of mandatory requirements to disclose proprietary information in algorithms and source codes, and an increased interest in the removal of access restrictions to key computing power components (e.g., microprocessors). More recently, governments have started to design technology-specific measures, and the European Union is set to become the first WTO Member to adopt a regulation to minimize the risks associated with the deployment, use, and supply of AI technologies.
Old ways of doing trade policy are obsolete. There are three specific elements that characterize trade and the trade policy response needed today. First, governments are no longer alone in the quest to address the legal and policy challenges brought forward by digital technologies (e.g., firms and other non-governmental entities are now involved in the creation of AI standards). Second, numerous policy initiatives are now taking place outside of the trade community and the WTO, since the impact of digital technologies extend well beyond trade, touching human rights, security, competition, law enforcement, and other societal concerns. Meanwhile, policies targeting emerging technologies do not take place in a vacuum, and they risk creating unnecessary restrictions on trade that may violate existing rules in multilateral and preferential trade agreements. Lastly, several governments have opted to adopt new rules and regulations that target digital technologies due to concerns that existing legal frameworks, including WTO agreements, are obsolete and ill-equipped to respond to both the risks and opportunities arising from the emergence of the data-driven economy.
Given the complexity surrounding the functioning, use and regulation of emerging technologies as well as the impact that they can have on trade, there is an urgent need to ascertain how to best ensure that the WTO is fit for the digital era. Reviewing how the JSI on E-commerce negotiations take place at the WTO would be a good first step. WTO Members should consider implementing measures to increase transparency and ways to encourage the active engagement of non-governmental actors (e.g. firms, NGOs, academics) in the negotiating process. This would allow trade negotiators to have a better technical understanding of the subject matter, to be kept updated on theoretical and practical advances in the computing field, and to design rules that do not unnecessarily stifle innovation or the pursuit of legitimate non-trade related policy objectives associated with the use of emerging technologies, such as the protection of human rights.