The Risks for ASEAN of New Mega-Agreements that Promote the Wrong Model of e-Commerce

Jane Kelsey

No DP-2017-10, Working Papers from Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)

Abstract: Digital technology offers exciting new opportunities and advances for ASEAN member states, individually and as a region. The benefits have so far been captured by first movers, especially in the United States. ASEAN countries need time and flexibility to develop their own digital industrialization strategies that can harness the potential gains and minimize the risks, and regulate accordingly. This paper explains how that opportunity would be foreclosed by a new normative framework on electronic commerce and cross-border services that is being systematically advanced by developed countries on behalf of their globally dominant digital industries. Starting with the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the template is being promoted through a network of mega-regional trade and investment agreements, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and potentially the World Trade Organization. Instead of delivering a digital dividend to ASEAN countries, this model of e-commerce could impede their development, create negative fiscal and employment consequences, and leave them dependent on an oligopoly of private corporations that control the global digital infrastructure and mass data. ASEAN member states will need to resist those proposals if they are to maintain their regulatory sovereignty and the policy space to capitalize on the 21st century digital revolution.

Keywords: e-commerce; ASEAN; mega FTAs; WTO; RCEP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 pages.
Date: 2017-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int, nep-pay and nep-sea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.eria.org/ERIA-DP-2017-10.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2017-10

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ranti Amelia ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).