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TechnologyDaily Mobile
WTO Talks Infused With Tech Issues
By William New
Service industries account for nearly 80 percent of U.S. employment and gross domestic product, and in multilateral negotiations to open foreign markets to U.S. services, e-commerce is playing a big part.
E-commerce issues infuse many aspects of the U.S. goals for the negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to the 2001 Trade Policy Agenda released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). It is no wonder, when one considers that U.S. exports of commercial services were $255 billion in 1999, supporting more than 4 million services and manufacturing jobs in the United States. Cross-border trade in services accounts for more than 25 percent of world trade, or about $1.4 trillion annually.
WTO members finally have agreed on a basic set of guidelines and principles for the negotiations to further the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The services council will hold negotiating sessions in May, July and October, at which it will consider some 70 proposals already received from more than 40 countries, plus any others that arrive by those meetings. Further meetings likely will be held this December and in March 2002.
The objective of the negotiations is to further liberalize markets, and the scope will place special attention on service sectors and modes of supply of export interest to developing countries, according to the guidelines. Flexibility will be given to developing countries for opening fewer sectors or lengthening the phase-in time for opening their markets.
But developing countries sought action in several areas that still are lacking, and that could lead to some disagreement down the road, sources said.
For the United States, e-commerce will be a key focus for the services negotiations in audiovisual and related services, distribution, education and training, express delivery, financial services and telecommunications, according to the USTR agenda.
Audiovisual services are playing a part in the "explosion" in information technology in the past decade, spreading information and ideas and fostering investment in countries' advanced communications infrastructure, USTR said. "Electronically delivered audiovisual products and services ... which increase the use of the network, are helping to create an environment that will encourage investment in the digital networks of tomorrow," the agenda said.
Distribution services provide jobs and income opportunities for information technology, among other things. Also, the United States will work to lower barriers to market access and national treatment for suppliers of education and training services, both cross-border and at facilities abroad.
USTR sees the need for specialized education and training in many countries, particularly in the high-tech fields. Education of foreigners is big business for the United States, with visiting students contributing some $9 billion to the U.S. balance of payments annually, and training services abroad netting another $400 million a year.
Express delivery is critical to the growth of e-commerce, of course, and the $50 billion a year global market is expected to grow rapidly over the next several years, driven by online purchasing and the need for vendors to "match the speed of electronic ordering with rapid physical delivery," USTR said. Express delivery benefits consumers and provides tens of thousands of jobs worldwide, the agenda noted.
USTR is seeking ambitious commitments on liberalization and transparency of rules on financial services from countries that will gain by becoming more attractive for investment in e-commerce networks and associated technologies, the agenda said.
And in telecommunications, USTR notes that countries will need to attract extensive private investment to grow in the increasingly networked world. The WTO can play a role by ensuring open and fair markets for providers of network infrastructure and services, implementing commitments in the WTO Basic Telecommunications Agreement Reference Paper that push competition, and ensuring the avoidance of unnecessary restrictions on services offered by competitive suppliers, as stated in the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services.
The global telecommunications market is now nearing $1 trillion in annual sales, and since the telecom agreement took effect in 1997, U.S. companies have gained access to more than 95 percent of global telecommunications markets, up from 17 percent of the world's top 20 markets. Worldwide spending on telecom transport services, equipment and support services will reach $1.8 trillion by 2003, at a nearly 17 percent compound annual growth rate, USTR predicted.
Free Trade By Any Means Necessary
President Bush told reporters Tuesday after his meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan that the United States "is a country that believes in free trade." He then added, "We look forward to working to get an agreement, one way or the other, out of our Congress, that encourages free trade with Jordan."
Bush did not mention labor or environmental standards, the two sticking points to the agreement's approval in Congress. Those standards were negotiated within the core text of the agreement for the first time ever in a trade pact. Free traders do not want that practice to become a habit.
A senior administration official said Tuesday that Bush and Abdullah met for a half-hour. USTR Robert Zoellick also participated. The leaders did not discuss how to win congressional approval of the U.S.-Jordan deal.
The concern does not lie with Jordan, the official said, but with the United States, regarding the "precedence for further trade agreements." Zoellick and lawmakers would work out any proposed changes to the agreement, and meetings may resume as soon as this week, the source said.
Montanan Max Baucus, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, recently introduced legislation to implement the Jordan agreement and warned Republicans and the administration that a solution must be found to the impasse on labor and environmental standards. He also called for fair trade and defended the U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing laws, which counter foreign subsidies.
EU, Japan Are Certifiable
The European Union and Japan have signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement aimed at recognizing each others' product certifications in four areas: telecommunications equipment, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
India E-Signs On
India's government will introduce the use of digital signatures by June 2002, according to the Economic Times of India. Digital signatures will be available to Internet users of offices, banks and postal services.
Quiet, please
Almost 70 percent of Canadians would back the use of technology to jam cell-phone use in places of quiet such as churches, libraries and movie theaters, according to a survey reported by the Ottawa Citizen. But roughly the same number would oppose blocking cell-phone use in loud venues such as nightclubs, bars and restaurants.
Also in Canada, the U.S. National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) filed a motion with the Canadian government's copyright board to stop JumpTV.com's plan to broadcast television signals over the Internet, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. The NAB said it fears the untested technology will lead to TV leaks to the United States.
Register.com's New Service
Domain-name registration and Internet services company Register.com has announced a partnership with a municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada, to provide service support for the registrar's customers. Three municipal governments are pitching in funds to build the facility, and training classes have begun.
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