1、Advancing Digital Trade in Asia C O M M U N I T Y P A P E R O C T O B E R 2 0 2 0 Global Future Council on International Trade and Investment Contents Cover: Getty Images/MicroStockHub Inside: Getty Images/Tony Studio; Getty Images/TwilightShow; Getty Images/Helloabc; Getty Images/Tommaso79; Getty I

2、mages/Zhuyufang; Unsplash/Chris Liverani; Unsplash/Ruchindra Gunasekara 2020 World Economic Forum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system.

3、The views expressed in this paper are those of the members of the Global Future Council on International Trade and Investment and not necessarily the World Economic Forum or its Members, Partners or other stakeholders. 3 1. Executive summary 4 2. The rise of digital trade 6 3. Trends in digital trad

4、e 8 4. Tackling digital trade in Asian agreements 13 5. Challenge areas for digital trade policy 14 5.1 Data transfer policies 14 5.2 Consumer challenges 14 5.3 Digital trade facilitation measures 15 5.4 Innovative technologies 15 5.5 Digital taxation policies 17 6. Conclusion 18 Contributors 19 End

5、notes Advancing Digital Trade in Asia2 Executive summary With its striking digital trade growth and innovative trade agreements, Asia has lessons to share, but also new challenges. Advancing Digital Trade in Asia Global Future Council on International Trade and Investment October 2020 1 Digital trad

6、e in Asia had been booming even in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove increasingly large numbers of firms and consumers online. Annual estimates of the size of the digital “pie” were being continuously updated, as new statistics overshot past projections of the size of the digital market

7、for Asia.1 While the early days of the internet were largely unregulated, the situation has undergone significant shifts. By 2020, governments in Asia were negotiating and signing off on “digital only” trade agreements and rapidly increasing the size, depth and complexity of e-commerce chapters in b

8、roader free-trade agreements. This report highlights seven trends of note in the region, including the rise of digital ecosystems, linkages by regional platforms, the importance of technologies at the edge of digital/physical connectivity powered by 5G, the rising role of Asia as a hub for cloud ser

9、vices, innovative use of subscription services including livestreaming, growing numbers of applications that solve digital financial services and payments gaps and the potential for growing misuse or harm that could flow from such digitally connected devices and users. Many, but not all of these key

10、 trends are being picked up in trade arrangements. Three are especially worth noting: the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) and the Digital Economy Agreement (DEA). Finally, while these three trade arrangements tackle ma

11、ny critical issues in the digital economy, they also show how governments are still grappling with some important trends, including inconsistent data policies, coordinating consumer policies, effectively managing digital trade facilitation, overseeing innovative technologies and sorting out inconsis

12、tent digital taxes. Advancing Digital Trade in Asia3 The rise of digital trade 2 The importance of the digital economy has been reinforced by COVID-19 and associated lockdowns. Advancing Digital Trade in Asia4 This paper considers how trade and government officials across Asia have been responding t

13、o the explosive growth of digital trade in the region. Changing definitions of digital trade do not always line up neatly against existing trade arrangements. Traditional trade agreements split out goods from services. Most trade agreements tend to lump digital trade under the heading of “e-commerce

14、”, yet many have chapters that are now relevant to other aspects of digital trade or, conversely, miss these aspects altogether. To manage complexity, the latest generation of trade arrangements that are “digital only” include a variety of innovative responses. This paper examines new trends and con

15、siders how digital trade deals and other regulatory responses, like the application of digital taxation policies, may affect the growth of digital trade in Asia. Digital trade is not new. The World Trade Organization (WTO) began formally grappling with the implications of digital trade and e-commerc

16、e more than 20 years ago with the creation of a work programme in 1998 to consider rules for electronic commerce. By that time, online communications of all types were becoming increasingly important. Over the past decades, the internet has become the linchpin to a much wider array of commerce. The

17、importance of the digital economy has been reinforced by COVID-19 and associated lockdowns across wide swathes of the globe. Firms that have no online presence and limited means to communicate, provide services to customers, suppliers and vendors and deliver goods purchased online have struggled to

18、survive. Digital trade now involves at least four dimensions:2 1. Digital goods and services, like apps, software and video services 2. Tangible goods and services delivered digitally, like buying books or socks, online grocery shopping, booking travel or online banking 3. Digital enablers of trade

19、in tangible goods and services, like digital transactions such as digital logistics tracking, payments or insurance products and cybersecurity 4. Emerging transformative digital technologies, like artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), 3D printing, big data and blockchain Dimensions

20、 of digital trade Source: Adapted from data provided by TRPC, Australia Singapore Digital Trade Standards, March 2020, https:/www.dfat.gov.au/ sites/default/files/australia- singapore-digital-trade- standards-presentation.pdf Digital Goods and Services apps, software, video services, data analysis D

21、igital Enablers of Trade in Tangible Goods and Services digital transactions, cybersecurity Tangible Goods and Services Delivered Digitally online grocery shopping, online travel booking Emerging Transformative Digital Technologies AI, IoT, 3D printing, blockchain Dimensions of Digital Trade FIGURE

22、1 Advancing Digital Trade in Asia5 Trends in digital trade 3 Digital ecosystems, regional unicorns, physical/digital interfaces, cloud services, subscription services, payment solutions and cybersecurity threats are worth watching. Advancing Digital Trade in Asia6 Digital trade does not stand still,

23、 making it challenging to understand the current state of play. Nevertheless, there are at least seven important trends worth noting, drawing from the experiences in Asia. 1. The region is increasingly connected by digital ecosystems.3 These are networks of interconnected elements of digital trade,

24、rather than simply stand-alone services. WeChat may be the clearest example, as it allows firms and users to conduct a wide array of business transactions in one place with one payment system. WeChat allows messages, photo sharing, news consumption from a wide range of sources including social media

25、, purchasing, gaming, health management and payments without ever leaving the app. It also allows users to use their WeChat account to log into other apps without having to register from scratch. Other platforms that have created full ecosystems include Gojek, which allows users in Indonesia to buy

26、everything from local transport on motorbikes or vehicles, as well as delivery of food and shopping. Users can even order service providers to their doorstep for massage or hair services. Alibaba, Grab and the Google-Jio platforms provide similar types of integrated services. 2. Asia is increasingly

27、 linked by regional unicorns, which may be less familiar outside the region. These firms are developing a wide array of new innovations and driving trade patterns inside and between the countries in the region.4 The largest firm by market capitalization in Singapore, as an example, is Sea, which bil

28、ls itself as a “global consumer internet company”.5 Sea provides three key platforms, including Garena for online gaming and publishing, the online shopping site Shopee and a payments and financial services arm called SeaMoney. Other prominent regional unicorns include Lazada, Tokopedia, Line and Ka

29、kao.6 3. Asian firms are at the leading edge of providing physical/digital interfaces. This includes the increasing use of 5G technology to power a growing array of activities, IoT implementation, immersive technology applications and augmented reality platforms of various types.7 4. Asia is increas

30、ingly the hub for cloud services, including the associated roles of data collection and data analytics.8 By 2020, Asia had become home to more data centres than in the United States.9 5. Like many other regions, Asian consumers are increasingly seeking out subscription services of all types.10 This

31、includes the explosion in usage of over-the-top (OTT) internet services,11 as well as streaming and livestreaming.12 Companies in the region have been switching to livestreaming as a means of selling goods as varied as fish13 and agricultural products to items in “virtual” tradeshows.14 Companies, o

32、rganizations and platforms have been stampeding towards online delivery of previously offline content through webinars and other virtual conferences.15 To see the power of streaming services in Asia, the Louis Vuitton fashion show in August 2020 had 84,000 views on the company website, but was watch

33、ed live by 68 million viewers on Weibo, 18 million on Douyin, 8 million on Tencent and millions more on other platforms.16 6. Getting firms online does not work if companies cannot be paid; hence, a large and growing number of firms are offering solutions to manage this problem, including the creati

34、on of digital wallets and other payment solutions embedded in platforms like Grab or WeChat. Firms are also recognizing the opportunity to provide a growing array of financial solutions online, including insurance, lending and so forth.17 In some cases, these solutions can offer new pathways for sma

35、ller firms or individuals to access services based on diverse data collection that assesses risk in different ways compared to traditional banking services. 7. As more firms and consumers move online, the opportunity for misbehaviour is also growing. This includes familiar cybersecurity threats like

36、 phishing, ransomware attacks and malicious bots on e-commerce websites, as well as new issues like IoT hacking or crypto-jacking.18 Advancing Digital Trade in Asia7 Tackling digital trade in Asian agreements 4 Agreements from the region have been at the forefront of rule-making on digital trade iss

37、ues. Advancing Digital Trade in Asia8 Trade officials in Asia have been trying to tackle digital trade for some time. As an example, the ASEAN/Australia/New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA), first signed in 2010, has a lengthy chapter on e-commerce.19 It included important elements such as requiring parties to

38、 adopt measures on electronic authentication and accept digital certificates based on international norms, providing online consumer and data protection and moving towards paperless trade. The 10 member countries of ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapo

39、re, Thailand and Viet Nam) have also been engaged in a series of exercises to improve digital trade in the region.20 But the most important advances to try to lock in digital trade rules can be found in a group of regional trade agreements, starting with the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacif

40、ic Partnership (CPTPP) that includes Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Viet Nam.21 The CPTPP provided a range of commitments in an e-commerce chapter and elsewhere that tackled issues related to digital trade. Building on the CPTPP,22 Chile, New Zealand and Singapore wen

41、t on to sign the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA)23 in early 2020, and Australia and Singapore signed and approved the Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) in August 2020.24 While the exact content for these three agreements varies, they all have a similar set of overall objectives, including

42、 the need to: Reduce trade barriers to the digital economy Build compatible standards and create greater regulatory harmonization to facilitate interoperability and trust Include cooperation and capacity-building mechanisms, especially for smaller firms in the digital space Agree to transparency and

43、 public-private consultation Encourage online cross-border consumer trust Consider innovative regulatory areas for future cooperation The DEPA, in particular, was designed to provide modular solutions for governments anywhere.25 The various modules contained in DEPA are meant to be “picked up” and i

44、nserted into ongoing trade agreement negotiations, to become the basis of additional “digital only” trade arrangements or to be inserted into other regional or global digital initiatives. The main point is to foster the spread of similar types of approaches in settings that can better match the comf

45、ort level of participants. Table 1 highlights similarities and differences between these three agreements. Comparison of digital trade provisions in CPTPP, DEA and DEPA No.Digital trade provisionsDEADEPACPTPP 1Commitments to facilitate digital trade 2 No customs duties on electronic transmissions Ar

46、ticle 5 Article 3.2 Article 14.3 3Non-discrimination of digital products Article 6 Article 3.3 Article 14.4 4Domestic electronic transactions framework Article 8 Article 2.3 Article 14.5 5Electronic authentication and signatures (+) Article 9 (-) Article 14.6 6Paperless trading (+) Article 12 (+) Ar

47、ticle 2.2 (+) Article 14.9 7Electronic invoicing (+) Article 10 (-) Article 2.5 8Electronic payments Article 11 Article 2.7 9Express shipments Article 13 Article 2.6 Article 5.7 10Online consumer protection Article 15 Article 6.3 Article 14.7 TABLE 1 Key Provision is identical (or very close to iden

48、tical) (+) Provision article is more comprehensive (-) Provision article is less comprehensive No similar provision articles Advancing Digital Trade in Asia9 No.Digital trade provisionsDEADEPACPTPP 11Cooperation on competition policy Article 16 Article 8.4 12Personal information protection (-) Artic

49、le 17 (+) Article 4.2 (-) Article 14.8 13Unsolicited commercial electronic messages (+) Article 19 (-) Article 6.2 (-) Article 14.14 14 Submarine telecommunications cable systems Article 22 15 Location of computing facilities for financial services Article 25 16Data innovation (-) Article 26 (+) Article 9.4 17Open government data Article 27 Article 9.5 18Source code (+) Article 28 (-) Article 14.17 19Digital identities Article 29 Article 7.1 20 Standards and conformity assessment for digital tr