Digital Trade Provisions in Preferential Trade Agreements: Introducing a New Dataset

Abstract

The article introduces a new data-set that seeks to comprehensively trace developments in the area of digital trade governance. The TAPED (Trade Agreements Provisions on Electronic-commerce and Data) data-set includes a detailed mapping and coding of all preferential trade agreements (PTAs) that cover chapters, provisions, annexes and side documents that directly or indirectly regulate digital trade. This article presents the methodology behind TAPED and provides an overview of the evolution of digital trade provisions in PTAs, highlighting also some emerging trends. It then takes a look at the substance of selected rules found particularly in electronic commerce chapters and maps the diversity of approaches in tackling issues meant to facilitate online trade, such as the customs duty moratorium on electronic transactions or paperless trading, and discusses the very recent rule-making with regard to cross-border data flows. This is of course merely a glimpse of the wealth of information that TAPED provides and the goal of this article is simply to uncover the great variety and the complexity of the norms found in the PTAs on digital trade governance, which reveals the value of the TAPED data-set.

Keywords: Big Data, Digital Trade, Electronic Commerce, Preferential Trade Agreements, WTO Law, Data-set