Negotiations between China and the United States and 74 other World Trade Organization (WTO) members on e-commerce issues have been on the line. On May 13-15, Geneva time, WTO members will start negotiations on new e-commerce rules. However, from the texts submitted by countries, there are many differences in the content. Although the proposals of each member were based on the "Joint Statement on Electronic Commerce" ("Declaration") signed on January 25th, the appeals and points of attention of the parties are subtly different. For example, the EU mentioned that the negotiation needs to address data localization requirements and personal information protection, source code and other issues; the United States is concerned that digital content products cannot enter discrimination in other countries' markets and cross-border data flows freely; the Chinese proposal emphasizes development. The rights and interests of the Chinese.

 

On the other hand, in China, familiar e-commerce forms mainly include cross-border goods trading platforms such as Alibaba and Jingdong. According to the "E-commerce Law", e-commerce refers to the business activities of selling goods or providing services through information networks such as the Internet; but in the United States, the subject of digital trade is focused on services, including transmission through ICT (Information and Communication Technology). Intellectual property-intensive trade in services, including digital content products (music, video, books), search engines, social platforms and networks, cloud-based data processing services, and more. In fact, from the "General Data Protection Regulations" promulgated by the European Union and the regulatory situation of Internet companies in the United States, it can be seen that countries have different needs, and this time the negotiation of e-commerce rules is actually the forces of all parties. Grab the right to speak on the rules of digital trade