SIIA today called on U.S. and EU negotiators to lower barriers to digital trade as part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
Together America and the EU account for around $30 trillion in annual output, almost half the world total. Of that production, Digital services are a growing, and increasingly essential, part of both the U.S. and EU economies, and they play a huge role in supporting job creation and economic growth worldwide. For these economic benefits to continue, software and information companies must have the ability to easily move data across borders and to locate computer facilities where it is most economically feasible. We urge negotiators to recognize this important high-tech reality and to lower barriers to trade in digital services.
SIIA believes that a primary goal of the ongoing negotiations should be to establish a trade agreement, between the world’s two largest digital services economies, that can serve as a model for 21st Century trade agreements. Preventing restrictions on cross-border data flows and technology localization infrastructure requirements are absolutely critical to the reality of a trade environment that spurs digital trade and allows countries to prepare all of its citizens and enterprises for the global 21st Century economy.
SIIA also wants the TTIP to ensure that digital products, regardless of their classification as a good or service, receive market access, national treatment, most favored nation treatment, and other benefits of open markets. And finally, we urge negotiators to recognize that intellectual property protection is crucial element to enable digital trade in services.
David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPolicy.