LegiStorm

Summary:

From retail to agriculture or healthcare, digitization has affected all sectors and allowed more industries to engage with customers and partners around the globe. Many U.S. companies thrived in the initial online environment, which lacked clear rules and guidelines, quickly expanding their offerings and entering foreign markets. As the internet has evolved, however, governments have begun to impose national laws and regulations to pursue data protection, data security, privacy, and other policy objectives. The lack of global rules and norms for data and digital trade is leading to differences in these domestic internet regimes. Competing internet regimes and conflicting data governance rules increase trade barriers and limit investment flows and international commerce, restricting the ability of U.S. businesses and consumers to enter and compete in some markets. For example, foreign internet regimes may use national security regulations to block cross-border data flows, disrupting global supply chains and limiting the potential use of and gains from emerging technologies. The creation of national technology standards can also limit market access by foreign firms. As the digital economy expands, the diversity in digital rules is poised to grow in complexity and create new trade restrictions. The resulting patchwork of technical standards and national systems creates challenges for international trade, and may signal an impending fracturing of the global internet. Without agreement on global norms or common trade rules, some analysts foresee a splitting of the internet into distinct nation-led "dataspheres" and virtual trading blocs. The internet is global, governed by common technical protocols; it may also be regulated at the national level, although there is no international consensus on the proper role for governments. The lack of multilateral trade rules governing the digital economy has led to efforts to establish common global rules and norms. Over 75 countries, including the United States, are participating in World Trade Organization e-commerce negotiations, which aim to establish a global framework and obligations to enable nondiscriminatory digital trade. Proposals by the United States, the European Union (EU), and China illustrate the variation in member objectives, highlight potentially controversial issues, and raise questions about the likelihood of meaningful consensus. In general, the United States adopts a market-driven approach that supports an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable internet that facilitates the free flow of online information and supports other policy objectives such as privacy and national security. The EU, while supporting the role of the market and free flow of information also emphasizes the need for data protection, internal regional integration, and "technological sovereignty," a recent and evolving concept in the EU. In contrast to the U.S. and EU approaches, which both emphasize the open global internet, China pursues a state-led approach that maintains a firewall between the Chinese internet and the rest of the world. China's government strictly controls the flow of information on its networks and restricts the companies who can participate in its digital economy. Many aspects of internet service and content in China are prohibited to U.S. firms. China is exporting its system through its direct export of goods and services, including surveillance technologies, and is trying to influence international standards and norms to allow space for China's model of strict state controls. Other countries, such as India and Vietnam, are building their own internet regimes, borrowing from the Chinese, European, and U.S. approaches. Congress has an interest in addressing growing protectionist policies and trade barriers, and in developing U.S. rules and standards for internet governance that promote digital trade and economic growth, balanced among other policy objectives. The divergence in national internet regimes and its impact on digital trade raises numerous complex issues of potential concern to Congress. These include whether to support initiating new bilateral trade negotiations specific to digital trade; how the United States can conclude a successful plurilateral WTO e-commerce negotiation that achieves greater reciprocity and market access for U.S. exporters and removes barriers to trade; how such an outcome can be balanced with other policy objectives; and whether federal engagement in and support for international standards-setting bodies is sufficient.