Common Contracts
1 similar Economy Agreement contracts
Future-proofing world trade in technology: Turning the WTO IT Agreement (ITA) into theEconomy Agreement • December 12th, 2011
Although the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) in the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a sector agreement tailored for the fast-moving ICT industry, the signatories have failed to re-negotiate its scope since 1996. In the meantime, the digital economy has reshaped the industry with emergence of Internet and a range of new products, where many of them are dependent on network services. Supply chain fragmentation has integrat- ed the developing economies in the ICT trade, and they stand to enjoy most of its trade, welfare and efficiency gains. Despite proliferation of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) in recent years, they cannot replace a plurilateral ‘critical mass’ agreement under the auspices of the WTO. This article proposes the creation of an International Digital Economy Agreement (IDEA) by augmenting the ITA through full coverage on trade in goods; including non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and trade in telecommunication and comput- er and related services in all modes of de
