Trade in Services Regulation in the Data-Driven Economy

Abstract

The multi-faceted character of the digital challenge combined with the inherent fluidity of digital technologies render the regulatory design that can adequately accommodate them complex and hard to elaborate. This article addresses one particular aspect of the digital trade discourse and seeks to identify its links with the regulation of trade in services in particular. It does so by examining the current state of affairs in those sectors that are most pertinent for digital trade (telecommunications, computer and audio-visual services) under the regulatory framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and then traces more recent regulatory developments in preferential trade venues. The article finally evaluates the process of adaptation of international trade law and addresses broader governance questions about the efficacy of this adaptation and the adequacy of the chosen evolutionary path.