White Paper Trade Rules and the Digital Economy Key Points and Findings

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Huawei | Trade and the Digital Economy | White Paper Key Points and Findings International Trade Rule‐Making for the Digital Economy As governments have started to intervene more actively in the digital economy, different industry players have sought to lobby their governments in order to establish international treaty commitments that set limits on such intervention and establish both a level playing field as well as predictable terms of market access for foreign and domestic actors. Governments have also seized the opportunity presented by various new trade negotiating forums to adopt rules and enact disciplines that promote international cooperation and a degree of harmonization or at least coherence in this sphere. However, it should not be overlooked that the WTO already governs a large degree of the international trade that takes place in the digital economy as defined in the White Paper. There remains some contention among WTO members as to whether new rules and disciplines are even needed. Nevertheless, the trend is pointing towards, and many industry actors in different parts of the digital economy continue to advocate in favor of new rules to clarify their freedom of action and their rights in the face of increasingly interventionist governments. See Chapter Four of the full White Paper to learn more. Figure 4.1: Trade Rules Old and New 15
Chapter Five | A Vision for an Optimal Trade Regime for the Digital Economy CHAPTER FIVE | A VISION FOR AN OPTIMAL TRADE REGIME FOR THE DIGITAL ECONOMY This chapter of the White Paper outlines what an optimal framework for the digital economy could look like, namely one that is characterized by a level playing field and non‐discriminatory access to commercial opportunities in a spirit of fair and open competition. It also addresses the importance of global investment rules and trade in achieving the goal of bridging the digital divide. It then discusses how the domestic policy frameworks and corresponding international trade agreement rules can be formulated and implemented in such a way that both meet reasonable regulatory objectives and do not act as a disguised restriction on international trade, or in a manner which unfairly favors one set of industry players to the detriment of others. Chapter Five also discusses the potential benefits of rules that enable innovation, that encourage deployment of ICT solutions in order to bridge existing digital divides, that promote technology neutrality, an open internet, flexible and compliant approaches to increasing domestic value‐add requirements among others. Finally Chapter Five makes a set of compelling policy and economic arguments in favor of the positions taken. Key Points Summarized 16
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White Paper Trade Rules and the Digital Economy Key Points and Findings

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