Regulations of Electronic Commerce in the WTO, and its Impacts on Developing Countries, and the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Electronic Commerce is a new marketplace that has many advantages. With the help of the internet, electronic commerce has made a major difference in the way business operates globally, offering substantial benefits to all parties: businesses, consumers, and even governments. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is one of the international organizations closely related to electronic commerce. The WTO recognizes the importance of electronic commerce and started acting on its issues at an early age. The examination of WTO treatment of electronic commerce in this dissertation covers both WTO Agreements and WTO administrative work. This dissertation is a comprehensive report on regulations of electronic commerce in the WTO legal regime. It has four main arguments. First argument is that the progress made on electronic commerce issues in the WTO has been disappointing. After an impressive start of the WTO Work Program on Electronic Commerce, the progress slowed following the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005. Second, there is no need for a new WTO agreement dedicated to electronic commerce. The existing WTO agreements can accommodate electronic commerce. Third, there are two unresolved electronic commerce issues: the duty-free moratorium on electronic transmissions and classification of digitally delivered products. WTO Members should work on resolving them. Therefore, this dissertation offers concrete legal and policy suggestions that might lead to resolve these issues. Fourth, Developing Countries, in general, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in particular, must increase their participation in electronic commerce and integrated WTO regulations on electronic commerce in their legal system in order to maximize their benefit from such markets. This dissertation is optimistic about the future of electronic commerce, the capacity of current WTO rules to handle electronic commerce issues, the possibility for resolving the issues of taxation and classification of electronic commerce goods and services, and the prospects of developing countries, including the UAE.