JOB/GC/182  
 
16 April 2018  
(18-2313) Page: 1/2 
General Council  Original: English  
 
 JOINT STATEMENT ON E LECTRONIC COMMERCE I NITIATIVE  
COMMUNICATION FROM T HE SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF  
TAIWAN, PENGHU, KINM EN AND MATSU  
 
 
The following communication, dated 16 April 2018, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.  
 
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1.1.  The Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu participates in the 
joint statement on electronic commerce1 in the hope that we can advance our work in th e WTO 
and undertake WTO negotiations on trade -related aspects of electronic commerce.  
1.2.  Based on the detailed analyses and reasons set out in our four technical papers2 already 
presented to several WTO bodies, we wish to pursue as a priority the goal of sec uring fair trade 
opportunities among suppliers and demanders in the digital era. The most important value that the 
Internet brings to international trade is that suppliers are enabled to reach potential overseas 
customers direct across great geographical d istances and strict political or state boundaries instead 
of relying solely on physical contacts, and consequently to gain access to the markets. In this 
regard, governments' regulatory measures on cross -border online information transmission, which 
have t he effect of limiting market access, may amount to trade barriers to electronic commerce. It 
is our belief that such measures should be disciplined and restrained, otherwise the primary merit 
of improving market accessibility of electronic commerce vanishe s.  
1.3.  Noting, on the one hand, the undesirable effects of such regulatory measures and 
recognizing, on the other, the possible needs for governments to properly regulate some online 
activities in pursuit of certain legitimate policy objectives, we propose th at the following elements 
be discussed in this group:  
1. Ensuring market accessibility for electronic commerce : Participants should recognize 
that the free and timely cross -border transmission of information by electronic means is essential 
for maintaining m arket accessibility for electronic commerce. Here, participants should commit to 
not adopting or applying any measure that would intervene in the cross -border transmission of 
information by having restrictive or prohibitive effects on electronic commerce, unless under the 
exceptional circumstances as referred to in the paragraph below.  
2. Guidelines for regulating the cross -border transmission of information : Participants 
should acknowledge that it is preferable for an authority to seek general acceptance or 
understanding from known interested parties before it imposes any measure as referred to in the 
second sentence of the paragraph above. In addition, participants may agree to set out certain 
principles or guidelines for the development or application of suc h regulatory measures.  
These principles or guidelines may:  
 
a. indicate the exceptionality of the circumstances under which such regulatory measures 
should be applied;  
                                                
1 WT/MIN(17)/60   
2 JOB/GC/128, JOB/GC/129, JOB/GC/170 and JOB/GC/171  JOB/GC/182  
 
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  b. exemplify certain legitimate and widely recognized policy objectives, which governments 
may pursue by applying such regulatory measures;  
c. urge participants to endeavour to avoid creating unnecessary obstacles to electronic 
commerce; and  
d. urge participants to develop and apply such regulatory measures on a transparent and 
non-discriminatory basis ; opportunities for public participation should be secured.  
3. The meaning of "information":  For greater certainty in this context, the term "data" or 
"information" should refer to its broadest scope, covering all types of information transmitted 
electronica lly. 
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