Australia: Announced substantial conclusion of negotiations on a number of global digital trade rules in the WTO Joint Initiative on E-Commerce

On 20 December 2023, Australia, Japan, and Singapore announced the conclusion of negotiations on global digital trade rules as co-convenors of the WTO Joint Statement Initiative on Electronic Commerce (JSI). These rules, developed with JSI members, aim to facilitate electronic transactions, enhance digital trade, and support an open, trusted digital economy. In particular, the parties stated that the negotiations concluded on 13 articles, namely the measures regarding e-authentication and e-signatures, paperless trading, e-contracts, unsolicited commercial electronic messages, online consumer protection, transparency, cybersecurity, open internet access and personal data protection. Finally, the parties stated that they would continue the negotiations on measures related to ICT products that use cryptography, e-Payments, telecommunication services, data transfers data and localisation, source code and customs duties on electronic transmissions.