The ICC made the statement following the signing of a new multilateral agreement on electronic commerce under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, which provides the first-of-its-kind framework for governing digitized trade.
ICC Secretary General John WH Denton said:
“The conclusion of the E-Commerce Joint Statement Agreement is a very welcome step towards modernising global trade rules to the realities of today's digital economy. On behalf of the global business community, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the co-chairs of the negotiations, Australia, Singapore and Japan, for their leadership in delivering this very welcome outcome.”
“From a global perspective, the agreement has great potential to address barriers to the growth of cross-border e-commerce and accelerate the adoption of digitized trade processes, as well as provide greater protection against tariffs applied to data flows.”
“While we understand that some governments have not yet explicitly supported this agreement, it nonetheless marks an important milestone in fostering a global environment in which small and medium-sized enterprises can take full advantage of digital technologies to grow through trade and create new jobs.”
“We encourage all World Trade Organization (WTO) members to support the swift integration of this outcome into the WTO framework. We also encourage them to expedite new discussions on important digital trade issues not covered in the new document, such as the treatment of cross-border data flows.”
“The new joint statement agreement is a great first step towards maximizing the benefits of digital trade. We must continue to move forward.”
