[Chapter-delegates] [governance] Internet restrictions present, new trade barrier: WTO session

[Markus Kummer]

Dear Christopher,
 
Many thanks for drawing our attention to this issue. This is not the first time I hear about attempts to deal with DNS blocking as a Technical Barrier to Trade (TBT). In the GATS framework, Internet services fall under Mode 1 (cross border supply of services) and it makes sense therefore to look at all the GATS rules that apply. 

It is certainly worthwhile following this debate more closely in the future. However, the email you circulated also points out that GATS contains provisions that allow for exemptions on the grounds of protecting national security or public morals. Most governments would presumably invoke this article. (One example we can expect is large scale blocking of .xxx on the grounds of protecting public morals).

Affaire à suivre.  
 
Best regards 
Markus 

On Sep 23, 2011, at 12:39 PM, Christopher Wilkinson wrote:

> Good afternoon:
> 
> Could I suggest that the ISOC Geneva staff look into this, and report?
> I must say, I had always assumed that the WTO GATS applied to Internet services.
> (e.g. ccTLDs can't restrict their registrars to national entities.)
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Christopher Wilkinson.
> 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> From: Riaz K Tayob <riaz.tayob at gmail.com>
>> Date: Fri 23 Sep 2011 12:03:40 GMT+02:00
>> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
>> Subject: [governance] Internet restrictions present,new trade barrier: WTO session
>> Reply-To: governance at lists.cpsr.org,Riaz K Tayob <riaz.tayob at gmail.com>
>> 
>> Internet restrictions present
>> new trade barrier: WTO session Provided by iPolitics Staff
>> Posted on Wed, Sep 21, 2011, 3:55 pm by BJ Siekierski
>> 
>> GENEVA – It’s connected every corner of the world and transformed the way business is done, but individual countries’ restrictions on the Internet have become the biggest new trade barrier, a WTO Public Forum Session argued on Wednesday.
>> 
>> “If you look at the tariff protectionism in the world, if you look at the big trading partners… all of them have a weighted average of around less than five per cent — even the ones who usually get labeled as protectionists,” said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy.
>> 
>> Non-tariff trade barriers are hard to compare, said Lee-Makiyama, but if there was a tariff equivalents, many say it would be several hundred per cent.
>> 
>> William Echikson, the head of free expression at Google had a long list of trade barriers.
>> 
>> “Things like installing surveillance tools onto the Internet infrastructure, blocking online services outright — or regularly disrupting them,” Echikson said.
>> 
>> He said that imposing requirements on the online service providers without making these requirements public and issuing orders to online service providers without any legal process are also considered trade barriers.
>> 
>> Local data storage requirements are another aspect that Echikson said is particularly problematic.
>> 
>> Generally speaking, he said, any Internet regulation that favors local companies should be rooted out.
>> 
>> “A local presence requirement, that’s also a very important thing, because with Google we can serve local countries around the world without actually physically being there,” he said.
>> 
>> Moderator Edward Black, president and CEO of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, encouraged the World Trade Organization to address some of these issues.
>> 
>> “Clearly, I think we think the WTO needs to step forward and address Internet-centric issues in order to stay relevant,” Black said.
>> 
>> Black acknowledged there is an agreement (GATS) in place at the WTO to defend against these types of actions, but it remains to be seen how it will be enforced.
>> 
>> “Although the WTO dispute settlement appellate body rulings made clear that GATS does extend to services provided online, it’s unclear how far the GATS article 14 on public morals and security exemptions will extend this space,” Black said. “We need to test those limits and find out what they are.”
>> 
>> For Lee-Makiyama, who said 50 per cent of all cross-border trade would disappear if the Internet ceased to exist, it might be time to go a bit further than that.
>> 
>> “I think there is a serious case for a separate sector agreement,” he said.
>> 
>> © 2011 iPolitics Inc.
>> 
>> 
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