E-commerce law paves way for digital future in Incheon

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific Regional Head for Asia and the Pacific Joao Ribeiro-Bidaoui contributed the below article. — ED.

The 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the six states with which ASEAN has free trade agreements are in the final phase of negotiating a free trade agreement called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The potential economic impact of the RCEP in terms of new opportunities for economic growth may not be overstated. RCEP as a grouping (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and Republic of Korea) is likely to generate gross domestic product (GDP) of $26.2 trillion (32 percent of the world), covering about 3.5 billion people (48 percent of the world).

The next round of RCEP negotiations will take place in Songdo, Incheon. This provides a unique opportunity to link historically this round of negotiations with Incheon and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), namely on what concerns legal standards on e-commerce.

In fact, Songdo is not new to high-level international trade discussions since it hosts several international organizations, including the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (UNCITRAL RCAP) thanks to the far-sighted support of Incheon Metropolitan City, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Korea and of the Department of Justice of Hong Kong, China. UNCITRAL is the core legal body in the United Nations system for the preparation and promotion of uniform commercial law.

Uniform commercial law is widely seen as the best manner to implement free trade agreements, so that business, including micro, small and medium enterprise, can effectively take advantage of the commercial opportunities that free trade agreements may offer.

RCEP states aim to boost trade with a variety of initiatives. One of them focuses on cross-border e-commerce. For instance, it is vital to adopt laws that ensure that electronic communications and signatures exchanged by business operators will receive the same legal value across borders.