E-Commerce as a key facilitator for SME Competitiveness, Geneva, May 2008

Professor Ian Walden, Of Counsel, Baker & McKenzie & Head of the Institute of Computer and Communications Law, Queen Mary, University of London

Building a legal framework for eCommerce

• Fundamental changes resulting from Internet– intangible information assets, questions of identity & location,

speed & mobility…..

• Policy – the promise of electronic commerce– ‘digital divide’ issues

• Law and regulation– enabler & facilitator or constraints on behaviour

Introductory remarks

• Law– public law (e.g. criminal) and private law (contract)

• Norms– e.g. ‘netiquette’, ‘flaming’

• The market– e.g. cost of access

• Architecture: ‘code as code’– infinitely flexible - possibility of design

Forms of regulation

• Non-discrimination– e.g. US Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act 2001

• Emerging custom and practice– from Lex Mercatoria to Lex Informatica?

• Non-territorial treatment– international laws of space & the sea

• Media censor– e.g. Singapore, China

Regulatory precedents

International aspects• Questions of applicable law

– “….. the principles of the international legal system cannot impose obligations on everyone to comply with all law” (David Post, 2004)

• As comparative advantage – or regulatory arbitrage?

• ‘Country of origin’ principle– mutual recognition

Who regulates?• Law-making bodies

– WTO, EU, WIPO..…• formal, e.g. GATT, GATS, Copyright Treaty

• informal, e.g. Doha WTO Ministerial Declaration (Nov. 2001)

• Model-making bodies– UNCITRAL Model Laws and Convention (2005)– Commonwealth Model Law on Electronic Transactions (2003)

• Standards-making bodies– e.g. International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Internet Engineering

Task Force (IETF)

• Legal certainty– Validity, enforceability & admissibility

• Legal security– Digital signatures & data protection

• Legal protection– IPR Rights-holders & consumer protection

• Legal deterrents– Criminal law

Regulatory topics

• Political commitment– E.g. ASEAN member states

• Ownership by government ministry• Technical and legal expertise• Stakeholder review group

– Public and private sector

• Parliamentary process

The Law Reform Process

Concluding Remarks

• Law as an enabler and facilitator– as a tool of comparative advantage

– at an infrastructure & service/product level • Advantages of a regional approach

– harmonisation

– multiplier effect

– sharing resource/experience