Korea Trade Review (무역학회지)

Korea Trade Research Association (한국무역학회)
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Evolution and Evaluation of Digital Trade Rules in Regional Trade Agreements in the Asia Pacific Region

아·태지역 디지털 무역 관련 지역무역협정을 통한 규범화 발전 동향과 평가

  • Received : 2021.07.28
  • Accepted : 2021.08.29
  • Published : 2021.08.30
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Abstract

Despite the fast growth and rising importance of digital trade, there still exists no multilateral agreement governing digital trade. Significant differences in policy directions regarding key digital trade issues among the U.S., EU and China are the main stumbling blocks for reaching agreement on the multilateral front. To overcome this deficiency in digital trade rules, there has been active movement among mainly countries in the Asia-Pacific region for rule-making on digital trade. Starting with the CPTPP chapter on E-Commerce in 2018, there has been a series of digital trade rules agreed in bilateral or plurilateral formats, such as the USMCA, USJDTA, DEPA, DEA and RCEP. Korea is currently only member of RCEP, which contains an e-commerce chapter with lower levels of commitment as compared to other digital trade agreements. This paper provides a broad analysis of the recently concluded digital trade agreements, comparing the different coverage of rules, levels of commitment, and rules templates. The analysis aims to provide implications for the desirable direction of rule-making on digital trade and Korea's digital trade strategy.

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References

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