State of play of WTO negotiations on e-commerce, investment facilitation and services domestic regulations

• Date: 07/03/2023, 14:30-16:30
• Location: WEBEX

Meeting details

Registration closes on: Wednesday 1 March at 12:00

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Electronic commerce

The e-Commerce Joint Statement Initiative in the WTO aims at developing global rules to facilitate e-commerce transactions. There is a wide range of issues on the table, including in the areas of trade facilitation, cross-border data flows, consumer protection, the facilitation of electronic transactions (e.g. e-signatures, e-contracts) and the protection of software source code. Currently 87 WTO Members are engaged in the negotiations, which were launched in Davos in January 2019, including a high number of developing countries. The Commission will inform civil society organisations about the EU objectives in this negotiation and about the state-of-play.

Investment Facilitation for Development

The WTO Joint Statement Initiative on Investment Facilitation for Development gathers more than 110 WTO members from all continents and levels of development. The objective of the participants is to agree on a multilateral framework to increase the flow of foreign direct investment, notably towards developing countries. For that purpose, the future agreement will make investment conditions more transparent and predictable, and it will streamline administrative procedures. The agreement will also foster the use of focal points for helping investors establish and expand their activities, while also encouraging the uptake of responsible business practices. The implementation of the agreement will be accompanied by technical assistance and capacity building for developing countries.

Services Domestic Regulation

The EU has been at the forefront of negotiations on a landmark deal to facilitate trade in services, amongst others, by improving transparency and streamlining authorisation procedures for service suppliers. In December 2021, 67 WTO members, including the EU, successfully concluded the negotiations of the Joint Statement Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation (two more members have joined the Initiative since then). It is the first WTO deliverable in the area of trade in services in more than twenty years. The negotiated outcome will simplify unnecessarily complicated regulations and ease procedural hurdles faced by service suppliers. The Commission will inform civil society organisations about the state of play, including as regards the entry into force of the negotiated outcome.

Speakers

Lead speakers

• Head of Unit Services and Digital Trade, Directorate-General for Trade, European Commission
• Head of Unit Investment and Intellectual Property, Directorate-General for Trade, European Commission

Moderator

• Civil Society Coordinator - Transparency, Civil society and Communication Unit, Directorate-General for Trade, European Commission

Agenda

1. Introduction.
2. Update on the three Joint Statement Initiatives.
3. Open discussion with stakeholders.

The meeting will take place via WEBEX. Webex access code and password will be sent to registered participants. We would be grateful if participants could launch their WEBEX connection at least 30 minutes in advance of the meeting so that any technical problems can be arranged in time before the meeting.

Related documents

• Presentation on e-commerce
• Presentation on domestic regulation
• Presentation on investment facilitation
• Report on Joint Statement Initiatives