Digital Megaregulation Uncontested? TPP’s Model for the Global Digital Economy

Benedict Kingsbury et al (eds), Megaregulation Contested: Global Economic Ordering After TPP (OUP 2019) 312–342 (ch 14)

41 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2021

See all articles by Thomas Streinz

Thomas Streinz

European University Institute - Department of Law (LAW); European University Institute - Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS); NYU School of Law - Guarini Global Law & Tech

Date Written: March 15, 2019

Abstract

The United States championed the creation of new rules for the digital economy in TPP. Analyzing this effort as “digital megaregulation” foregrounds aspects that the conventional “digital trade” framing tends to conceal. On both accounts, TPP’s most consequential rules for the digital economy relate to questions of data governance. In this regard, TPP reflects the Silicon Valley Consensus of uninhibited data flows and permissive privacy regulation. The paper argues that the CPTPP parties endorsed the Silicon Valley Consensus due to a lack of alternatives and persistent misperceptions about the realities of the global digital economy, partly attributable to the dominant digital trade framing. It suggests a new approach for the inclusion of data governance provisions in future international trade agreements that offers more flexibility for innovative digital industrial policies and experimental data regulation.

Keywords: TPP, CPTPP, megaregulation, digital trade, electronic commerce, digital economy, data flows, data localization, data governance, Silicon Valley Consensus, GDPR

JEL Classification: F02, F13, F15, F42, F55, F63, L52, L81, O24, O30, K24

Suggested Citation

Streinz, Thomas, Digital Megaregulation Uncontested? TPP’s Model for the Global Digital Economy (March 15, 2019). Benedict Kingsbury et al (eds), Megaregulation Contested: Global Economic Ordering After TPP (OUP 2019) 312–342 (ch 14), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3784503

Thomas Streinz (Contact Author)

European University Institute - Department of Law (LAW) ( email )

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NYU School of Law - Guarini Global Law & Tech ( email )

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