Thailand, region must work together on digital trade regulations'
The Thai government must work with regional leaders to improve digital trade regulations and tighten communication with the private sector when discussing and drafting new digital trade regulations, a trade analyst from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggested.
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The development of e-commerce and other forms of digital trade has led to the growth of the service sector both in developed and developing economies. Hence, the barriers to trade in services will pose a challenge to the growth of Asean’s digital trade industry, Janos Ferencz, Trade Policy Analyst for OECD (France), said.
Ferencz was speaking on Wednesday (August 7) during the CLMVT (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand) Cross-border Digital Trade seminar organised by the Commerce Ministry’s Trade Strategy and Policy Office.
Cross-border barriers to services trade in regions such as Southeast Asia involve unnecessary regulations between countries restricting the cross-border movement of different types of services, he explained.
To address this issue, he suggested, governments in the region should come together and find ways to deregulate these barriers to enhance the regional service industry.
He added that Thailand needed to have a broader stakeholder engagement when discussing policies and trade regulations so that concerns of the private sector about the regulatory challenges to digital trade could be addressed.
The Commerce Ministry has announced plans to meet with private sector representatives such as the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and the Thai Bankers’ Association on August 14.
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said earlier this week that the meetings involve a brainstorming session on the potential solutions to circumvent the negative impacts of the US-China trade war and build a consensus with the private sector on how to mobilise the economy.
Ferencz suggested that trade officials should focus on addressing regulatory challenges stemming from digital trade when negotiating free trade agreements.
Thailand, as the chair of this year’s Asean meetings, has announced that negotiations of the 16-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be concluded by the end of this year and will likely be signed in mid-2020.
The RCEP negotiations cover 20 chapters in total, including a chapter on e-commerce. However, the details of the e-commerce chapter are being negotiated and have not been made public.
Ferencz stated that digital trade issues which trade deals should address are electronic authentication and paperless trade as well as cross-border private data protection.
