Negotiations on e-commerce advance aiming at new consolidated text by end of 2022

Negotiations on advancing e-commerce progressed with the goal of finalizing a new consolidated text by the end of 2022. Meetings were held in October by the Joint Initiative on e-commerce, pushing for acceleration in negotiations. Small groups focused on topics like e-invoicing, cybersecurity, privacy, and telecommunications, with new groups forming. Key stakeholders emphasized the need to secure a favorable outcome for the articles being discussed.

From 25-28 October the participants of the Joint Initiative on e-commerce (JSI) held a series of meetings aiming to speed up progress in the negotiations. The co-conveners of the Initative – Australia, Japan and Singapore – affirmed that negotiations reached a critical moment and urged participants to “find a good landing zone for the articles of existing small groups”.  A new ‘consolidated document’ – working documents that capture the progress made in the negotiations and serve as the basis for further work – is expected to be published by the end of 2022. Negotiations are currently taking place within small groups. In October, small groups on e-invoicing, cybersecurity, privacy and telecommunications met, and a small group on ‘information and communication technology (ICT) products that use cryptography’ was created.