Barriers to Digital Trade

In January 2017 the Congressional Research Service drafted a report entitled Digital Trade and U.S. Trade Policy. The Report (43 pages long) complies information from across various sectors to describe barriers faced by US companies in exploiting and pursuing digital trade opportunities abroad. The report follows on a US Trade Representative Fact Sheet on Key Barriers to Digital Trade released last year, among several US governmental initiatives to identity and, possibly, remediate trade barriers to digital commerce. The International Trade Administration housed in the US Department of Commerce describes, via their export.gov site, foreign trade barriers as "any barrier that impedes a company's ability to trade in a foreign country." The site gives examples of "common trade barriers" to include "Tariff and Customs[;] Service Barriers [;] Standards [;] Testing [;] Labeling [;] Certification [;] Rules of Origin [;] Government Procurement Contracting [;] Intellectual Property Protection Problems [;] Excessive Government Requirements [;] Excessive Testing or Licensing Fees [;] Bribery [; and] Investment Barriers".

Companies facing trade barriers may report or complain about them to the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Trade Agreements Negotiations and Compliance for investigation. Your US company might also check out the US Department of Commerce's Country Commercial Guides, which contain (in most of the 125 countries covered) concise discussions of trade barriers within each country guide housed as a submenu under the "Trade Regulations, Customs & Standards" sidebar link. There are also a couple of webinars about "Website Globalization" your US company might want to check out, collectively entitled "Preparing Your Website for Global Commerce."

Daniel H. Erskine, an international attorney, practices in New York and Connecticut focusing on international law, civil litigation, appeals, and business transactions. www.erskine-law.com Attorney Advertising; USE OR VIEWING OF THIS BLOG OR ANY OF THE WEB PAGES LINKED TO IT DOES NOT ESTABLISH OR OTHERWISE CONSTITUTE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.

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