Conference Highlights U.S. Leadership in the Global Digital Economy
WASHINGTON, D.C.— The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Global Regulatory Cooperation (GRC) today released its new Global Digital Policy Declaration, a series of principles that will help promote competiveness and economic growth, during its TecGlobal 2018 conference.
“U.S. businesses of every size and sector rely on the Internet to serve their customers and keep their businesses operating effectively,” said Sean Heather, vice president of GRC at the U.S. Chamber. “In a 21st century economy, the benefits of the digital economy are not limited to technology companies; the benefits are spread widely across manufacturing, agriculture, and services. The U.S. Chamber is proud to release our new Global Digital Policy Declaration, a roadmap to maintain U.S. leadership in the digital economy.”
The principles in the U.S. Chamber’s Global Digital Policy Declaration aim to establish a global marketplace with smart regulatory practices powered by technology for the industries of today and the future. To successfully harness the benefits of technology, governments around the world should:
- Foster appropriate regulatory environmentsto promote the benefits of the digital economy while also providing the proper amount of oversight.
- Commit to cross-border data flowsby enabling the movement of data across borders, a key aspect of the 21st century economy.
- Embrace international competition and open marketsby removing practices that deter investment, delay innovation, and cut off consumers from the best digital products and services.
- Get data protection rightby avoiding a one-size-fits-all superstructure of data protection, and instead support an approach that recognizes differences among industries in their use of data, allows for the legitimate business uses of personal data, empowers consumers to make informed choices, and enables cross-border data flows.
- Prioritize internet access, consumer choice, and good governanceby fostering a marketplace that promotes legitimate commerce and uses of the Internet to help spur transformative innovations for economies of all sizes.
- Protect intellectual propertyby ensuring patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets can continue to play central roles in driving growth, investment, and competition.
- Abide by market-driven international standardsby avoiding untested, complicated rules that create technical barriers to free and fair trade.
- View cybersecurity as a partnershipby establishing collaborations between the government and private sector and by focusing on protection rather than mandatory incident reporting.
- Modernize customs for the digital eraby supporting supply chains with new approaches to customs, such as raising de minimis levels and streamlining the customs process.
- Seek cooperation and accountability among governmentsby making high-standard, high-accountability commitments through the G7, G20, Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Organisation of Economic Development (OECD), and bilateral agreements.
The principles are available online here.
“The U.S. Chamber recognizes the need to harness the power of technology in order to help businesses stay competitive today and in the future. This declaration acknowledges the often difficult challenge technology poses around the world and put forward smart, thoughtful policy recommendations to guide business to continued success both at home and abroad. As the tech industry knows, our work – and how we carry it out – are borderless,” said Tim Day, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber Technology Engagement Center (C_TEC).
TecGlobal 2018 featured panel discussions and keynote speeches focused on the U.S. global digital strategy as well as how foreign governments view the intersection of technology and policy. The conference brought together international leaders and innovators from across industries for discussions on evolving regulatory approaches to emerging technology, ongoing responses to big data and market competition, and strategies to keep data protected and secure.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations. Its International Affairs division includes more than 80 regional and policy experts and 25 country- and region-specific business councils and initiatives. The U.S. Chamber also works closely with 117 American Chambers of Commerce abroad.
