AANZFTA

An American Digital Trade Agreement?

An American Digital Trade Agreement?

In short, there are some sensible reasons for pushing the US to pick up and lead a new digital agreement. However, the Americans are not—to use a sporting metaphor—stepping onto a clean pitch. The game has already been underway for some time, particularly with important American trading partners and likely participants in any digital arrangements. The US will have to operate within an increasingly crowded landscape. More than 80 WTO members have been working on e-commerce through a Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) for some time. Other ongoing digital activities include the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and also, as noted, upgraded commitments in AANZFTA or Japan’s various trade deals, as well as ASEAN’s E-Commerce Agreement which is entering into force this year. There are also two types of digital-only trade deals already in place. The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) is a stand-alone deal. It builds on the CPTPP commitments and included three original members of the agreement: Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. It is currently in force for the latter two countries and is likely to undergo expansion with the addition of new members shortly. There are also growing a number of Digital Economy Agreements (DEA) in place for Singapore. One is already in force with Australia with two more nearing the finish line: with South Korea and the UK. The DEAs are designed to build on existing bilateral free trade agreements. This means that they need not replicate all the features of a comprehensive agreement, including dispute settlement or the agreement management infrastructure, but compliment existing policies and procedures. If the US shows up and is prepared to work on a digital economy agreement, the first question will be what is to be included in such an arrangement that is not already covered under the JSI, CPTPP, RCEP, AANZFTA, DEPA, DEAs or other e-commerce and digital trade chapters in bilateral trade agreements?

The Critical Role of Qualifications in Supporting Student and Worker Movements

The Critical Role of Qualifications in Supporting Student and Worker Movements

It is therefore necessary to have some common standards and qualifications in order for governments to adequately assess the opportunities and risks that can come with the movement of any specific individual. But this is easier said than done. In regions like ASEAN, governments have adopted different approaches to the management and recognition of qualifications and qualification bodies. Some ASEAN member states have established comprehensive National Qualifications Frameworks (NQF) the provide a comprehensive overview of the structures and activities that led to the award of qualifications and recognition of learning outcomes, while others have yet to develop national qualification system at all. This makes it challenging to understand, compare and evaluate qualifications between countries. An inability to reference, compare and recognize different qualification systems will become more complex in a post-COVID environment, with the proliferation of academic and professional online learning. While online education opens the door to thousands of professional and academic certifications across the world, it also complicates the process of certifying and recognising multiple qualifications.

RCEP: Creating Rules for Trade in Goods

RCEP: Creating Rules for Trade in Goods

Under RCEP, with 16 member countries involved, making a chicken pie should be quite easy with content inside members.  The ROO threshold could be quite high without unduly hampering the ability of firms to comply with the rules.  Of course, not every product is a chicken pie.  This is why RCEP negotiators are working off what are called product-specific ROOs to ensure that the ROOs make sense for different types of products.  The rules for chemicals should be different than the rules for textiles which should be different than the rules for pies.  But all should ultimately be crafted to allow firms to source across the 16 member states without too much hassle.  The point of the agreement is to facilitate trade in the region.  It should help unlock new opportunities for companies to make pies or juice or plastics.  These rules should work for large and small firms by avoiding cumulation rules that add unnecessary complexity by asking companies to calculate value addition by stops in the supply chain.   The ROOs are an important element in getting the final RCEP agreement to do what it is meant to do—facilitate trade better across the 16 members.