E-commerce Negotiation Research Articles

Breaking the Anti-Globalization Deadlock: How E-Commerce Negotiations Drive the Reshaping of WTO Multilateral Cooperation

Amid rising anti-globalization sentiment, the global trading system faces increasing fragmentation and weakened multilateral cooperation. The World Trade Organization (WTO)’s e-commerce negotiations offer a crucial pathway to address these challenges by establishing digital trade rules and fostering market integration and inclusive development. This paper examines key breakthroughs in the e-commerce negotiations, including progress in data flow governance, tariff policies, and the regulation of emerging technologies, highlighting their role in reshaping multilateral cooperation. Drawing on regional agreements and international collaboration, the study proposes strategies for harmonizing data governance, implementing flexible tariff mechanisms, and improving dispute settlement systems. The findings demonstrate that e-commerce negotiations are a vital tool for the WTO to reform the multilateral cooperation framework, tackle pressing global challenges, and promote re-globalization.

Legal Regulation of Transnational Data Flows: International Experience and Chinese Solutions

The arrival of the big data era has made most countries realize the importance of data resources for economic development. On the one hand, data flow promotes trade between countries, and on the other hand, the rapid expansion of the scale of multinational business giants has led to a proliferation of incidents of illegal collection and utilization of user privacy, putting national security at risk.In 2019, WTO members of the e-commerce negotiations put forward proposals for cross-border data flow based on their own positions, and major countries such as China, the United States, Russia and other major countries have all put forward different proposals.It can be seen that data flow regulation has become a key topic in the international arena nowadays, with sufficient necessity and practical significance. As a result, this paper adopts the comparative analysis method, normative analysis method and other research methods to analyze the issue and make suggestions on the direction of China's legislation.

Integrating Intellectual Consciousness AI based on Ensemble Machine Learning for Price Negotiation in E-commerce using Text and Voice-Based Chatbot

Online shopping has experienced an enormous boost in recent years. With this evolution, the majority of internet shopping's capabilities have been developed, but some functions, such as negotiating with store owners, are still not available. This paper suggests employing a chatbot with a voice assistant to negotiate product prices. Customers can communicate with the chatbot to get assistance in finding a reasonable price for a product. In online purchasing, there is a possibility that the consumers or the product seller's budget may be compromised. In order to assist in purchasing, algorithm has been created in machine learning that uses the forecasting of historical data to avoid compromising situations. However, improper dataset or when irrelevant aspects or at- tributes of the data are used, price prediction might become less accurate. Ecommerce companies do not merely depend on price prediction tools due to the significant financial losses brought on even by a single inaccurate price prediction. Additionally, few models fail to perform well when the data saturates or when an attribute becomes inaccessible after the period for which the model's prediction was reliant. By controlling these alterations, the accuracy and dependability are preserved in the model pro- posed in this study.

WTO E-commerce Negotiations: A Path to the Multilateral Digital Trade Rules

A sustainable digital market hinges on digital trade rules. Yet, these rules, currently dispersed across various Regional Trade Agreements, and the conventional trade agreements of the WTO can barely align with the rapid growth of digital trade. In 2019, the WTO Plurilateral negotiation on E-commerce opened a new avenue for a multilateral digital trade agreement. This study compares three typical templates of digital trade rule within RTAs and analyzes proposals from developed and developing economies in WTO e-commerce negotiation. It seeks to reveal and resolve critical challenges in forming multilateral digital trade agreements, including concept confusion, the digital divide, and differences in regulatory requirements of data. With the opportunities presented by the WTO's E-commerce negotiations, each party shall focus on defining related concepts of digital trade to ensure clarity, incorporate discussions on technical assistance for LDCs to guarantee digital equality, engage proactively in plurilateral negotiations on data flow security and personal information protection, to formulate digital trade rules that address the regulatory concerns of all parties.

China’s legal efforts to facilitate cross-border data transfers: a comprehensive reality check

ABSTRACT In the past, the Chinese government mainly focused on the issue of national security and thus created a security assessment mechanism for cross-border data flows (CBDFs) with broad coverage. It is about time for China to reconsider its data governance regime based on a balanced approach. Various initiatives to facilitate CBDF have thus been started in so-called pilot free trade zones (FTZs) and special administrative regions (SARs). The good practice in FTZs would help formulate nationwide rules. With regard to SARs, once the special CBDF arrangements between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong and Macao are concluded, the latter ones could become data centre hubs for the Greater Bay Area as a pilot, and potentially for the entire China in the long run. The reform to facilitate CBDF should be carefully implemented in a manner not favouring domestic companies. Otherwise, it would be inconsistent with the non-discriminatory conditions under the RCEP, as the first international agreement of China that contains provisions to explicitly facilitate CBDF for commercial purposes. Moreover, the negotiations on the accession of the CPTPP and the DEPA would incentivize China to accelerate the pace of reform. From an international perspective, actively engaging China in CBDF negotiations at the regional level would contribute to achieve global CBDF standards through, for instance, the e-commerce negotiations at the WTO.

China’s Concerns on the Core Issues of Digital Trade

In the current era of digital trade, more and more regional free trade agreements regulate e-commerce or cross-border flows of data, and the WTO has started plurilateral e-commerce negotiations as well. With the gradual emergence of China’s industrial advantages in the field of cross-border e-commerce, it has increasingly expressed its point of views on digital trade rules on various occasions. China is currently in RCEP and may soon join CPTPP and DEPA. Moreover, China has already put forward its claims in the WTO. However, although China has introduced a lot of laws and regulations in the field of digital law, it still needs to further improve the legal system of outbound data transfer in the future, and China needs to further clarify its position on controversial digital trade issues, striking a balance between data security and data free flow. component; digital trade;cross-border e-commerce; outbound data transfer; cross-border data flow.

The Principle of Administrative Law and Judicial Application Based on E-commerce Model

Objectives: As a principle that controls the rational exercise of administrative power, the principle of proportionality is adopted by other legal systems because of its reasonable structure and effective control of administrative power. Methods: In this paper, in the information technology environment of mobile internet and based on the e-commerce model, the proportional principle of administrative law and its judicial application were studied. Results: Mainly the principle of proportionality in administrative law was introduced into the e-commerce negotiation system. A specific example in the context of e-commerce was selected to simulate the entire automatic negotiation process. Conclusion: The simulation experiment results were analyzed and summarized, which shows the advantages of the automatic negotiation mechanism proposed in this paper.

E-commerce Negotiation Based on Intelligent Agents and Mathematical Interpolation

E-commerce Negotiation Based on Intelligent Agents and Mathematical Interpolation

WTO电子商务谈判的前景和我国的对策建议

WTO电子商务谈判的前景和我国的对策建议

Agent-based automated dynamic SLA negotiation framework in the cloud using the stochastic optimization approach

Optimization of the broker negotiation strategy is one of the challenging issues observed in the cloud-based e-commerce negotiation framework. This strategy can be optimized either in the context of pre-request optimization or long-term optimization. Most researchers have focused on the context of pre-request optimization using various utility functions (such as time, opportunity, and competition). In the context of long-term optimization, the current state-of-the-art negotiation strategies can increase the utility value and success rate of the parties to some extent, but they do not guarantee minimization of the negotiation states (rounds) involved during the negotiation process. In addition, the existing strategies cannot react to the stochastic, rational, emotional, and unknown behaviour of the opponents due to their deterministic behaviour, which may lead to a negotiation break-off between parties. To overcome such limitations, a novel stochastic behavioural learning negotiation (SBLN) strategy is proposed to further maximize the utility value and success rate.

Across the Great Wall: E-commerce Joint Statement Initiative Negotiation and China

On 13 December 2017, 71 Members of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) led by the US, EU and Japan issued a “Joint Statement on Electronic Commerce” at the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the Joint Statement, the Members announced that they would “initiate exploratory work together toward future WTO negotiations on trade related aspects of electronic commerce”. At the World Economic Forum on 25 January 2019, 76 WTO Members issued another Joint Statement, which announced their intention to “commence WTO negotiations on trade-related aspects of electronic commerce”. The most notable new participant in the second Joint Statement is China, which has so far resisted the electronic commerce initiative. Why was China reluctant to participate in the e-commerce negotiation at first? Why did it change the position in 2019? What will be the main issues in the negotiation? What are the positions of China and how will its participation shape the negotiation? By answering these questions, this paper provides a critical analysis to the data regulation of China, a world leader in AI and data-driven economy. This paper will proceed in four parts. The first part reviews the development of the internet and e-commerce in China, as well as China’s experiences on e-commerce issues in WTO and beyond, especially in free trade agreements. The second part discusses the history of the e-commerce negotiations in the WTO, from the 1998 e-commerce Declaration and the Doha Declaration, to the joint statement in 2017 and the launch of the plurilateral Joint Statement Initiative (“JSI”) negotiations in 2019, with China joining at the last minute. The third part analyses in detail China’s three submissions in the negotiations, as well as the most problematic issues for China. The paper will conclude with reflections on how the negotiations will unfold, especially how the main sticking points in China’s internet and data regulatory regime could be addressed.

Efficient Performative Actions for E-Commerce Agents

Abstract The foundational features of multi-agent systems are communication and interaction with other agents. To achieve these features, agents have to transfer messages in the predefined format and semantics. The communication among these agents takes place with the help of ACL (Agent Communication Language). ACL is a predefined language for communication among agents that has been standardised by the FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agent). FIPA-ACL defines different performatives for communication among the agents. These performatives are generic, and it becomes computationally expensive to use them for a specific domain like e-commerce. These performatives do not define the exact meaning of communication for any specific domain like e-commerce. In the present research, we introduced new performatives specifically for e-commerce domain. Our designed performatives are based on FIPA-ACL so that they can still support communication within diverse agent platforms. The proposed performatives are helpful in modelling e-commerce negotiation protocol applications using the paradigm of multi-agent systems for efficient communication. For exact semantic interpretation of the proposed performatives, we also performed formal modelling of these performatives using BNF. The primary objective of our research was to provide the negotiation facility to agents, working in an e-commerce domain, in a succinct way to reduce the number of negotiation messages, time consumption and network overhead on the platform. We used an e-commerce based bidding case study among agents to demonstrate the efficiency of our approach. The results showed that there was a lot of reduction in total time required for the bidding process.

Agreement Forthcoming? A Comparison of EU, US, and Chinese RTAs in Times of Plurilateral E-Commerce Negotiations

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the results of a study into the evolution of electronic commerce-related provisions in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and supplements them with a tripartite comparison of the e-commerce provisions in Chinese, EU, and US RTAs. As trade barriers related to electronic commerce are becoming ever more important in the global trade landscape and no explicit provisions exist at the multilateral level, it can be expected that WTO Members increasingly include provisions addressing such barriers, and electronic commerce more generally, at the bilateral and regional levels. This study applies a term-frequency analysis to the whole body of RTAs that contain e-commerce-related provisions, mapping the evolution of e-commerce chapters over time. Subsequently, a legal analysis is conducted on the e-commerce terms that were found in Chinese, EU, and US RTAs. Based on these Members’ position at the multilateral level, the e-commerce topics covered in their RTAs, and the nature of the provisions included, the paper aims to assess the convergences and divergences in their approach to e-commerce at the bilateral level and to draw lessons for the ongoing WTO plurilateral negotiations on the trade-related aspects of electronic commerce.

E-commerce mercantilism-practices and causes

Purpose This paper aims to highlight in particular one commercially influential but subtle constituent of China’s mercantilist stratagem – asymmetrical internet access. The wider aim of the paper is to provide a solid basis of real-world facts and knowledge to the e-commerce discussions at the World Trade Organization and the ongoing plurilateral e-commerce negotiations. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses an empirical approach to reflect the general experiences of consumers connecting from China to e-commerce platform websites in other countries and vice versa consumers connecting from other countries to China’s e-commerce platform. Findings The empirical data show that Chinese potential customers trying to connect to the websites of foreign internet retailers in 17 other sample countries are faced with prohibitively long waiting times. In contrast, the average waiting time that it takes for customers in those other 17 countries to link up to China’s major internet retail platforms is much shorter. Practical implications The hard evidence presented here serves to strengthen the arguments that such internet censorship is used by China to establish unfair e-commerce advantage. This paper further argues that the General Agreement on Trade in Services is restrained from providing systemic solutions to the digital mercantilism problem. It is essential, therefore, that the ongoing plurilateral e-commerce negotiations address this issue. Originality/value This paper is the first to publish detailed results of a systematic survey designed to analyze the impact of asymmetrical internet access in China. It is also the first to examine the extent and effect of differing internet connection speeds in the context of international trade. The outcome of the survey provides a factual base for future rule-making at the multilateral level.

Towards a Robust Architecture for the Regulation of Data and Digital Trade

The digital transformation occurring worldwide poses significant challenges for a governance framework that evolved gradually and incrementally over centuries, shaped by lessons learned during the long era of industrialization and globalization in which much of today’s technology was still science fiction. At the heart of the governance challenge is “datafication” — the capture of truly astronomical amounts of information on the functioning of societies, economies and even the industrial processes of firms. Once transformed into data, information can be analyzed and used to modify the behaviours that generated the information in the first place for economic, political or geopolitical advantage. Given the multiple roles that data plays — as the medium of digital commercial transactions and digital trade, as a valuable capital asset, as part of the intangible infrastructure of the digital economy, and as the very fabric of a modern information society — the governance challenge is immense. Moreover, given the multitude and pervasiveness of data analytics applications, there is urgency in coming to grips with the regulation of data, since other governance challenges, ranging from climate change to income distribution, depend on safeguarding democratic processes and functional markets. Numerous efforts are under way to address aspects of the regulation of data. These efforts include the recently launched e-commerce negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), other work programs under the WTO, and the initiatives of the Group of Twenty (G20) on the free flow of data based on trust. There is as well work in more specialized areas, such as competition policy and intellectual property (IP), taxation in the digital realm, and multi-stakeholder processes addressing the plethora of other digital governance issues ranging from privacy to cyber security. This paper suggests a conceptual framework for addressing the multi-dimensional policy dilemma that societies now face of reconciling the many competing policy priorities raised by digital transformation domestically and of preparing the ground for negotiations toward a robust and broadly acceptable governance regime internationally, fit for purpose for the age of data.

Adjudicating Cryptocurrencies at the WTO: Potential Threshold, Substantive and Compliance Issues

Taking Venezuela’s complaint against the United States at the World Trade Organisation (“WTO”) as the inflection point, this article will explore whether a characterisation of cryptocurrencies as a ‘currency’ (similar to fiat currency) would ensure that cryptocurrencies are not covered by WTO disciplines on goods and services. Despite customary international law principles such as ius cudendae monetae and the persuasive argument that a ‘currency’ is neither a good or service - the article answers this question in the negative. In doing so, the article builds on the author’s blog post which was the first to analyse Venezuela’s complaint. It will divide issues that can arise during such a WTO dispute into three categories: threshold, substantive and compliance issues. Threshold issues would involve interpretative challenges to determine whether the General Agreement on Trade in Services (“GATS”) and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (“GATT”) regulate cryptocurrencies. Since the GATS Schedule of Commitments has historically been interpreted in a technologically neutral manner, identifying cryptocurrencies as a ‘service’ may not prove to be insurmountable. However, Howden’s claim that cryptocurrencies are barter goods that will be subject to disciplines of the GATT deserves critical scrutiny – more so because the GATT regulates tangible products and it also contains specific provisions relating to balance-of-payments. The article also undertakes a theoretical analysis of the heterodoxical nature of the cryptocurrency to evaluate whether it can be classified as a ‘security’ within the meaning of the GATS’ Annex on Financial Services. These threshold issues are, however, the tip of the iceberg. Once a WTO Panel commences its analysis, the substantive issues for consideration would involve determining whether a unique product such as cryptocurrencies has a ‘like product’ in the respondent member’s market. Further, the Panel’s analysis would involve a consideration relating to ‘general exceptions’ under Article XIV, GATS or Article XX, GATT which would entail an examination of whether the measure was necessary to achieve, amongst other regulatory objectives, either compliance with domestic regulations or the maintenance of public order. If the measure adversely impacting cryptocurrencies is determined to be WTO-inconsistent, issues of compliance and suspension of concessions are imminent. WTO Panels have historically estimated the quantum of suspensions of concessions by determining the trade volumes affected by the WTO-inconsistent measure and factoring it for a future time period. The decentralised nature of the distributed ledger technology underlying cryptocurrencies complicates any country-specific quantification of the impact on trade volumes of cryptocurrencies affected by the WTO inconsistent measure. Accordingly, determining suspensions of concessions in relation to cryptocurrencies would require significant judicial innovation by the arbitrator. The institutional perils of subjecting cryptocurrencies to WTO's disciplines highlighted in the article necessitate collective action by the WTO members to arrive at a normative framework to regulate cryptocurrencies at the WTO. The article concludes by arguing that the ongoing e-commerce negotiations between 76 member states at the WTO would be the most suitable forum for formulating such global rules. This is a Working Paper prepared for presentation at the conference on International Economic Law in the Era of Distributed Ledger Technology at the University of Turin, Italy on April 9, 2019. The full paper would soon be published in a leading journal.

JADETraderPal – JADE mobile agent embedded with flexible negotiation strategies for dynamic e-commerce environments

Automated negotiation on qualitative issues taking linguistic values poses the challenge of computation of their offer values while generating proposals/counter-proposals. In order to make the offer values computable for the qualitative issues just as quantitative issues, the proposed flexible negotiation strategies (FlexiNegoS+) for e-commerce negotiations, generate a triangular fuzzy number corresponding to each linguistic value of the qualitative issue from which numerical reservation values are identified. JADE based mobile agent named as ‘JADETraderPal’ has been designed and embedded with FlexiNegoS+ which can act on behalf of its owner in bilateral/multilateral single-issue/multi-issue dynamic e-commerce negotiation environments. The negotiation model of FlexiNegoS+ enables JADETraderPal to make adjustable rate of concession during each proposal/counter-proposal depending upon the dynamicity of the e-market. Performance of JADETraderPal and effectiveness of FlexiNegoS+ are evaluated by developing a prototype multi-agent system representing bilateral/multilateral negotiation scenarios with parameters such as turnaround time, deal success rate and traders’ utility. The empirical results prove that JADETraderPal outperforms static agents, improves the rate of reaching consensus and maximizes the utility of its owner. JADETraderPal demonstrated robust performance even in multi-lateral negotiations and is able to increase negotiation success rates and traders’ utility in multi-lateral negotiation scenarios than in bilateral negotiation environments.

E-Commerce Decision Model Based on Auto-Learning

The proposed model utilizes the information implied in the history of E-commerce negotiation to automatically mark the data to form the training samples, and apply the clues binary decision tree to automatically learn the samples to obtain the estimate of the opponent difference function. Then, an incremental decision-making problem is constituted through the combination of its own and the opponent's difference functions; and the dispersion algorithm is adopted to solve the optimization problem. The experimental results show that, the model still demonstrates relatively high efficiency and effectiveness under the condition of information confidentiality and no priori knowledge.

Agent Mediated Negotiation in E-Commerce : a Review

Agent Mediated Negotiation in E-Commerce : a Review

Trade Rules and the Digital Economy: A White Paper

This White Paper was the first elaboration by the global technology giant of its position on the emerging set of international trade rules to govern the digital economy in fora such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the WTO e-commerce negotiations.