Digital Trade

The Internet in less than 20 years of common use has radically changed how people communicate, store and find information, entertain themselves, and - among many other things - do business. Huge amounts of global business are now internet based, from the invention of products to their purchase to their transmission. Trade in knowledge may already exceed conventional cross border trade in goods or services - if we could measure it accurately. International trade law 'must' apply at least in good part to the Internet Economy, since it relates to trade in goods or services, but it is not always clear how. The panel will discuss what rules apply now to the internet, including various aspects of regulation of cross-border information flows, electronic financial flows, the regulation of data storage and access, the integrity of commercial data held in the "cloud" or in off-shore storage, and issues not yet invented, and whether and how they can be improved to help attain those goals.
Participants: Gary Horlick, Institute of International Economic Law, Georgetown Law Mira Burri, World Trade Institute, Hamid Mamdouh, World Trade Organization and representatives of the industry.