Source Code Trade Agreement

The Parties should provide for online consumers the same protections against fraudulent or misleading commercial activities as for all other consumers. The measures should be transparent and effective in order to protect consumers and to prohibit activities that may harm or harm consumers who carry out online commercial activities. This provision is important to improve consumer well-being and build strong consumer confidence in digital commerce. Unwanted commercial electronic communications are commonly referred to as “spam” messages sent in large quantities to recipients in the form of forms such as advertising, product updates or commercial offers from different sources. Recognizing the negative effects that such communications can have on consumers` digital experience, some free trade agreements have taken steps to regulate unsolicited commercial electronic communications. These measures include obtaining personal consent from consumers to receive such messages, their right to opt out of receiving unwanted messages, and appropriate redress if providers do not comply with these rules. Quan Zhao (Trade Consultant, International Trade Centre (ITC) stressed that there is not yet an obvious answer to determine the balance between public and private interests in trade agreements. He continued to share the arguments of each side. When it comes to private interests, providing access to source code is not beneficial to commercial actors. They fear that disclosing the source code could compromise the security of the software, as it could be attacked by hackers.

Public interests in the supervision and regulation of source codes include: improving consumer protection; improving national security; and to study the integrity of AI and algorithms. As the line between private and public interests increasingly blurs, Zhao said regulators need to anticipate to predict and assess the impact of digital. Did you know that digital trade is an increasingly important issue in EU trade agreements and that recent EU free trade agreements address a wider range of digital trade issues? In the next section, you will find an overview of other important e-commerce provisions in eu bilateral trade agreements Ms Marilia Maciel (Digital Policy Senior Researcher, DiploFoundation) explained how digitalisation has impacted global trade. Many services have become negotiable and new business models have emerged, such as Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a service. Services depend on computer programs that in turn depend on source code to function. Maciel mentioned that several trade agreements prohibit governments from requiring access, transmission and disclosure of source code. .