Research On Legal Issues Of FTA Digital Trade Rules

Digital trade,as an emerging trade,is causing major changes to the international economic and trade order.Digital trade originates from digital economy and is the advanced form of digital development of electronic commerce.Due to the lack of WTO digital trade rules,FTA has become a laboratory for rule innovation.At present,there are three main FTA digital trade regulation modes in the international community.They are American FTAs that emphasize the flow of cross-border data,European FTAs that emphasize the protection of personal information,and Chinese FTAs that emphasize national security.By comparing the FTA digital trade rules of various countries around the world,it is found that on the issue of digital trade market access,major countries have reached an agreement on the temporary exemption of tariffs for digital trade,but developing countries generally oppose the permanent exemption of tariffs proposed by the United States.And the United States makes non-discriminatory treatment of digital products clauses in many FTA texts with positive or negative lists.On the issue of digital trade facilitation,all countries have recognized the importance of electronic authentication,electronic signature and paperless trade.They have reached cooperation in promoting the mutual recognition of electronic authentication and electronic signature,and improving the standards of paperless trade,but most of these provisions are not binding.In terms of data flow and data security,the United States strongly advocates the free flow of cross-border data,prohibits localization of data,and prohibits the compulsory disclosure of source code in the FTA digital trade rules.All of these bring challenges to developing countries.Based on national security and personal privacy protection,China restricts the free flow of cross-border data,adopts data localization measures and requires open source code,which are obviously different from the core demands of American FTA digital trade rules.In terms of the protection of the rights and interests of e-commerce users,the EU FTA digital trade rules have set relatively high standards in the field of online consumer protection,personal information protection and the suppression of unsolicited electronic information.China has a large gap compared with EU.In order to cope with the challenges brought by the FTA digital trade rules in developed countries,China can reduce the entry threshold of digital trade market by formulating reasonable digital trade tariff rules and clarifying the scope of non-discriminatory treatment of digital products.To promote digital trade facilitation,China can improve domestic electronic authentication and electronic signature laws,and the government can guide the establishment of a paperless trade standard system.In terms of data flow and data security,China should strive to balance the relationship between them,including improving the management system of cross-border data flow,improving the rules of data localization,and prohibiting mandatory open source code in specific areas.In order to strengthen the protection of the rights of e-commerce users,China should elaborate rules for protecting the rights and interests of online consumers,establish a legal system for the protection of personal information,and curb the proliferation of unsolicited electronic information.In addition,China can actively formulate and promote the "Chinese model" of digital trade rules by conducting bilateral and multilateral digital trade rules negotiations,building the electronic world trade platform and digital trade pilot zones.