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e-commerce | digital economy

Japan seeking wider coverage of trade agreement
5-Nov-2018 Manila Standard
Japan plans to expand the coverage of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement to include the e-commerce sector and more concessions in agriculture.
How the USMCA falls short on digital trade, data protection and privacy
4-Oct-2018 Washington Post
The digital trade chapter restricts data localization policies and bans restrictions on data transfers across borders.
New NAFTA could include tough intellectual property laws that Canada fought against in TPP
29-Aug-2018 Global News
The new trade deal reached between the US and Mexico contains a myriad of rules and tariffs, and among them include tougher rules on copyright and intellectual property.
EU Parliament questions US compliance with data privacy shield, calls for suspension
12-Jul-2018 ICTSD
The European Parliament adopted a resolution to suspend the EU-US Privacy Shield agreement, saying the US’ compliance efforts to date “fail to provide enough data protection for EU citizens.”
COMESA seeks solutions to digital free trade area
24-Jun-2018 KT Press
Implementation of the much anticipated Digital Free Trade Area (DFTA) in central-Eastern Africa bloc will have to wait until member states agree on harmonization of policies.
Tokyo approves bill in next step toward enactment of new Trans-Pacific Partnership
13-Jun-2018 The Japan Times
Japan’s bicameral legislature, The Diet has approved a bill on to ratify the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
CPTPP jeopardises the future of open source software: OSIA
13-Jun-2018 Spatial Source
Open Source Industry Australia (OSIA) is calling upon the federal government to scrap the CPTPP over provisions that could decimate the Australian open source community.
Business and tech groups call for more review of ePrivacy regulation
7-Jun-2018 Information Technology Industry Council
The group expressed concern about the extremely broad scope of the draft ePrivacy Regulation, which would greatly limit the processing of a broad array of both personal and non-personal data and lead to inconsistencies with the GDPR framework.
Horizontal provisions for cross-border data flows and for personal data protection (in EU trade and investment agreements)
28-May-2018 European Commission
As released by the European Commission
Big tech companies are trying to rewrite the rules to get your data
23-May-2018 The Guardian
The “e-commerce agenda” – which aims for a “free flow of data” across the globe – is being included in new trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trade in Services agreement.
The e-commerce agenda and the gender gap
27-Apr-2018 Emergentes
The e-commerce agenda reinforces the role women have been apportioned in society, giving them furthermore a false ‘sensation of happiness’ in the face of increasing labor flexibilization and the transformation of production.
Australia, ASEAN leaders pledge commitment to free trade, highlight regional cooperation
22-Mar-2018 International Centre for Trade & Sustainable Development
Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia met in Sydney on 18 March to discuss the next steps for their Strategic Partnership, initiated in 2014, with regional trade agreements, digital trade, and sustainable urbanisation high on the agenda.
Fair use and platform safe harbors in NAFTA
8-Mar-2018 EFF
What’s needed is a much more open and inclusive process, to ensure that trade agreements such as NAFTA reflect the needs of all rather than just those of well-connected corporate lobbies.
The post-TPP future of digital trade in Asia
6-Mar-2018 Electronic Frontier Foundation
On March 8, trade representatives from eleven Pacific rim countries including Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Australia are expected to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The agreement has been slimmed down both in its content—22 items in the text have been suspended, including the bulk of the intellectual property chapter—and also in its membership, with the exclusion of the United States which had been the driver of those suspended provisions.
Eleven Pacific nations move on trade pact with data transfer provisions…without US
28-Feb-2018 BNA
The 11 countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP are retaining all of the digital trade and electronic commerce provisions from the original agreement.
The battle over TiSA: when everything is a service, a Trade in Services Agreement affects everyone
26-Feb-2018 IUF
A new report reveals the scope of the corporate power grab through a close examination of TiSA’s potential impact on workers across the IUF sectors and TiSA’s broader implications for the labour movement, society and democratic governance.
EU moves to remove barriers to data flows in trade deals
13-Feb-2018 Reuters
The European Union will seek to break down barriers to the flow of data between businesses in future trade deals, as it tries to promote a more digital economy while also protecting privacy.
EU-MERCOSUR FTA: Ecommerce draft chapter (Nov 2017)
19-Jan-2018
Risks for agriculture in developing countries of new e-commerce rules
11-Jan-2018 Alai
Reliance on digital technologies can further concentrate the market dominance of vertically integrated agribusinesses and transnational corporations who control national and global supply chains.
Data is the new oil, so big tech is pushing for a digital free trade deal
14-Dec-2017 BuzzFeed
Decades ago it was pharmaceuticals, oil and food. Now tech giants want data to be the next frontier in the free trade agenda.