Chapman Tripp – The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) concluded last week between New Zealand, Chile and Singapore will establish new international rules and best practice to support and promote digital commerce.
Digital trade is New Zealand’s third biggest revenue earner, having experienced faster growth here over the last ten years as a proportion of GDP than in any other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country.
[adrotate banner=”90″
DEPA is a living document, meaning that other countries may join.
DEPA in detail
As well as building on existing rules on e-commerce, the DEPA negotiations considered a range of emerging digital economy issues, including cross-border data flows, digital identification, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and open data.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules were predicated on identifying whether products are goods or services and the borders they cross but digital trade blurs these distinctions. The need for reform is recognised by the WTO, as evidenced in the WTO E-commerce Initiative whereby 76 WTO member states (including New Zealand) agreed earlier this year to work toward a new WTO e-commerce agreement.
DEPA complements and supports this process.
Before being ratified by the Government, DEPA will be subject to a National Interest Analysis, Cabinet review, and Select Committee examination.
For more information, check out the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade modules here.
What is digital trade?
The term ‘digital trade’ is an evolving concept, capturing not just internet shopping and the supply of online services (e-commerce), but also data flows that enable global value chains, services that enable smart manufacturing, and a myriad of other platforms and applications.
Why DEPA matters to New Zealand
New Zealand now has 29,000 tech firms with nearly 100,000 employees contributing $16.2b to GDP and producing $6.3b in exports.
This gives us a strong interest in ensuring that international trade rules dealing with the challenges created by digitalisation have a strong commercial basis, deal effectively with the social implications of increased data flows, and protect the Treaty of Waitangi, personal privacy and cybersecurity.
More on LawFuel
- New ‘Twin’ Judges Make History With Double Swearing-InNicola Grimes (L) & Michelle Duggan In the tsunami of recent District Court Judge appointments, Nelson appointees Michelle Duggan and … Read more
- Busted! California Lawyer Arrested For Selling Guns and Distributing MethamphetaminePowered by LawFuel – LOS ANGELES – A California lawyer practising in Orange County was arrested today on a federal grand … Read more
- Something Old, Something New – One Barrister’s Love for the Horse Hair Wig . . And His Fight Against Something Far More ModernThey may be relics these days, but for barrister Ray Broomhall, the collection of wigs is part of a desire … Read more
- Law Firm Diversity: Inclusion Blueprint Sets New Standard for Measuring Law Firm Inclusion & DiversityPowered by LawFuel – SAN FRANCISCO (January 28, 2020) – Diversity Lab released today its Inclusion Blueprint findings, which provides … Read more
- The Law Firm P*** Up: How The Drinking Culture at Law Firms Needs to ChangeHard-drinking law firm culture is something that needs to change, most lawyers know, but the culture of the law firm … Read more
- Law Society President to Feature in Movie From ‘Jojo Rabbit’ Producerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hsYKM78Meo LawFuel.com – Law Society president Tiana Epati, LawFuel's Lawyer of the Year, is to feature in a new movie … Read more
- Trump Impeachment: Meet The Cannabis Law Expert Repping Lev ParnasThe Trump impeachment trial is occupying gigabytes of media bandwidth, but one of the surprise witnesses is Russian-born Lev Parnas … Read more
- Crowell & Moring Makes Seventh Hire From Squire Patton BoggsCrowell & Moring has continued its practice of making high profile hires for its London office after taking on a … Read more
- How Can The Law Profession Solve Its #Metoo Problem#Metoo issues have continued to plague the legal profession and it seems that despite the best intentions, some re-regulation, sanctions, … Read more
Leave a Reply