The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown exponentially and electronic commerce has transformed many industry sectors and the way business is done.
The Electronic Commerce Steering Group (ECSG) promotes the development and use of electronic commerce by creating legal, regulatory and policy environments in the APEC region that are predictable, transparent and consistent. It performs a coordinating role for APEC e-commerce activities, based on the principles set out in the 1998 APEC Blueprint for Action on Electronic Commerce.
The ECSG also explores how economies may best develop legal, regulatory and policy environments that are predictable, transparent and optimised to enable economies across all levels of development to utilise Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to drive economic growth and social development.
The ECSG recognises the importance of public-private collaboration in developing an environment conducive to e-commerce and encourages the active participation and contribution of the private sector to its meetings and activities. Reports presented by guest organisations to the group, including the Global Business Dialogue on e-Society, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Pan Asian E-Commerce Alliance, the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Internet Society are a welcome contribution to the ECSG.
Originally established in 1999 as an APEC Senior Official's Special Task Force, the ECSG was aligned to the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) in 2007. This alignment enhances the coordinating capacity of the ECSG by ensuring a stronger focus on trade and investment issues.
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The ECSG has guided numerous capacity building projects that promote the development and use of electronic commerce and ICTs within the APEC region including:
APEC Data Privacy Pathfinder
The APEC Data Privacy Pathfinder was established by Ministers in 2007 to achieve accountable cross-border flow of personal information within the APEC region. This goal is to be achieved by developing and implementing a Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system, consistent with the APEC Privacy Framework which was endorsed by APEC Ministers in 2004.
The CBPR system requires organizations to develop their own internal business rules on cross-border privacy procedures, which must be assessed as compliant with the minimum requirements of the APEC system by an independent public or private sector body, called an Accountability Agent. The ECSG has been working toward the development of the APEC CBPR system, which will help build consumer, business and regulator trust in the electronic cross-border flow of personal information.
Progress on the implementation of the APEC Privacy Framework includes the application of Information Privacy Individual Action Plans by 14 economies, and the creation of a study group within the Data Privacy Sub-Group (DPS) to analyze and identify best practices and the role of trust-marks in promoting the cross-border flow of information.
A notable progress in this area is the establishment of an APEC Cross-Border Privacy Enforcement Arrangement (CPEA) in July 2010. This multilateral arrangement provides the first mechanism in the APEC region for Privacy Enforcement Authorities to share information and provide assistance for cross-border data privacy enforcement. The CPEA signifies the ongoing commitment within APEC to increase the protection of cross-border flows of personal information and is a significant step in the effective implementation of the APEC Privacy Framework.
A series of seminars have been held to provide technical assistance to developing economies and to address issues related to the development of CBPR system such as trust marks, regulatory models, accountability, privacy, governance and operational issues, and how the system benefits different stakeholders.
APEC Ministers endorsed the principal documents of the APEC Privacy Pathfinder in November 2011 in Honolulu, Hawaii. APEC Leaders also committed to implement the CBPR System “to reduce barriers to information flows, enhance consumer privacy, and promote interoperability across regional data privacy regimes.”
Paperless trading
The ECSG's Paperless Trading Subgroup develops projects on the use of paperless trading in commercial processes involving business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) transactions and promotes the use of electronic documents and internet technologies in international trade.
These projects aim to use "e-solutions" or electronic procedures and processes in cross-border trade to save time and costs for firms and government agencies seeking regulatory compliance information from traders. Areas covered by these projects include: electronic certificates of origin (ECO), electronic invoicing, business requirements for data harmonisation and single window, best practices in paperless trading, archiving of e-documents and e-trade financing. Among those projects, the ECO project has been implemented in live transactions between member economies beyond its pilot stage, saving substantial cost and time and thus realizing the benefits of trade facilitation.
Work is underway to implement APEC's Strategies and Actions Toward a Cross-Border Paperless Trading Environment to enable the electronic transmission of trade-related information across the region by 2020.
Seventeen economies have submitted Individual Action Plans on Paperless Trading outlining progress made "to reduce or eliminate the requirement for paper documents needed for customs and other cross-border trade administration and other documents and messages relevant to international sea, air and land transport" as set out in the APEC Blueprint for Action on E-Commerce.
The 24th ECSG Meeting was held in San Francisco, California, the United States in September 2011. Items of discussion included:
- The Data Privacy and Paperless Trading Sub-groups' work plans for 2011 and 2012;
- Developments in relation to the APEC Supply-Chain Connectivity Framework and Action Plan;
- The ECSG's contribution to APEC's Second Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP II); and
- Individual action plans for information privacy and paperless trading.
The projects comprising the Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system under the APEC Data Privacy Pathfinder were completed at the meeting, at the conclusion of which the APEC CBPR system was endorsed by the ECSG. The meeting also discussed the pathfinder projects on paperless trading, including electronic certificates of origin.
The ECSG meeting was preceded by the workshops on the APEC CBPR and on Supply Chain Connectivity. The workshop on "APEC CBPR: the Value to Industry, Financing and Technology Compliance Aids” discussed the benefits of the CBPR system to government, consumers and businesses, and the remaining challenges for participation in the CBPR system, as well as the ways to overcome these challenges.
The workshop on “Supply Chain Connectivity: E-Commerce as a main Driver and Integration Tool” focused on the issues related to the development of “soft infrastructure,” such as regulation, licensing, governance and safety, to facilitate the implementation of improved supply chain connectivity in APEC region.
Building upon the mechanism launched last year for regional cooperation on data privacy law enforcement, APEC announced that an additional 15 authorities from Japan have joined the APEC Cross-border Privacy Enforcement Arrangement (CPEA). The 15 Japanese authorities join five existing participant authorities from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the USA. View news release.
Monchito B IBRAHIM (Mr)
ECSG Chair
Commissioner
Commission on Information & Communications Technology
CICT-NCC Building, Carlos P. Garcia Avenue
Diliman 1101, Quezon City
Philippines
Tel: +632 435 4110
Email:
Daniele CHATELOIS (Ms)
Data Privacy Sub-group Chair
Manager, Privacy Policy
Electronic Commerce Branch
Industry Canada
300 Slater Street, Room 1889-D
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C8
Canada
Tel: +1613 990-4255
Fax: +1613 941-1164
Email:
Susan H. S. LU (Ms)
Paperless Trading Sub-group Interim Chair
Executive Secretary
E-Commerce Task Force
Chinese Taipei
Tel: +82 2 2110 4817
Fax: +82 2 504 6000
Email:
Alan DENIEGA (Mr)
Program Director
APEC Secretariat
Email: