MEASURING DIGITAL TRADE: UPDATE ON PROGRESS

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1 MEASURING DIGITAL TRADE: UPDATE ON PROGRESS David Brackfield ITSS WG July

2 Rise of digital trade The internet and the movement of data across borders are changing the nature, patterns and actors in international trade: Unprecedented scale of digitally related cross-border transactions Emergence of new (and disruptive) players Industries, including many previously barely affected by globalisation, are being transformed This trend raises important policy questions (e.g. at G20) Size and importance of flows > for trade, but also for GDP? Opportunities > for SMEs, developing countries? Barriers to digital trade > data/privacy? At present, little cross-country comparable, detailed data is available to answer these policy questions. 2

3 Measuring Digital Trade: state of play Development of a Measurement Framework and Typology Strongly supported by countries and IOs in wide consultations (WPTGS, IMF BOPCOM, TFITS, Eurostat meetings) Create inventory of current measurement practices > 70 countries Via WPTGS stocktaking questionnaires, replicated by IMF for non-oecd countries, to identify biases and gaps in current trade statistics, and methods developed to overcome these Organised TFITS Expert Meeting on Measuring Digital Trade (Oct 2017) Including 18 developed and developing economies and international agencies Agreed on, and informed UNSC about, the start of the development of a TFITS Handbook on Measuring Digital Trade to be released 2019 Ensured alignment of future WCO data collection and exchange frameworks with statistical requirements for Digital Trade Set up pilot project with UPU, WTO and UNCTAD to exploit UPU data on crossborder postal packages Continued alignment with National Accounts initiatives on Measuring the Digital Economy 3

4 CONCEPTUAL MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK 4

5 Conceptual measurement framework for Digital Trade Guiding principle: align (as much as possible) with existing frameworks (BPM6, SNA2008, MSITS2010, IMTS), existing data sources (e.g. surveys on ecommerce, ICT-use, trade), and ongoing work on the Digital Economy Working definition for Digital Trade: All cross-border trade transactions that are either digitally ordered, platform enabled, or digitally delivered. [NB: focused on nature of transaction] 5

6 Nature of transaction: digitally ordered Definition: the cross-border sale or purchase of a good or service, conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing orders (NB: follows OECD 2011 ecommerce definition) Clarifications (existing): Included: orders over the web, extranet or electronic data interchange Excluded: orders by phone, facsimile or manually typed The payment and delivery of the goods/services do not have to be conducted online Ecommerce transaction can involve actors in all institutional sectors Clarifications on cross-border ecommerce (from WPTGS) Included as well: in-app purchases 6

7 Nature of the transaction: platform-enabled (Working!) definition: cross-border trade transactions that take place via technology enabled web-based buying and selling platforms. Typology of platforms: based on e.g. WCO, OECD. Enterprises may combine different types. The recording of trade statistics varies by the type. E-vendor Digital Intermediary Platform (DIP) Webshop Digitally delivered services Number of sellers 1 (the e-vendor) Multiple 1 (the webshop owner) 1 Economic ownership of the products sold Yes No Yes Yes Product offer May include own branded/produced products No own products Predominantly own products May include own branded/produced products Metaphor Online supermarket Online market-place Online specialty shop New delivery channel Examples Amazon ecommerce, JD.com, Zalando, etc. Amazon market place, Alibaba, Uber, Airbnb, etc. Company webshops (e.g. Philips, Samsung, Dell) Netflix, Tencent, Spotify 7

8 Nature of the transaction: digitally delivered Digitally delivered trade: All cross-border trade transactions that are delivered remotely over ICT networks i.e. following the definition of ICT-enabled services (by TGServ Task Group) Mostly applicable to services [but: 3d printing?] While a subset EBOPS 2010 items were identified as potentially ICT enabled, more work is necessary to identify in practice what part of services is actually delivered through digital means Strong connection with work Modes of Supply - Mode 1 8

9 Product ( what ) Traditional distinction in trade: Goods vs services Complementary groupings of existing HS, CPC or EBOPS codes have been/are being developed to identify which goods/services are digital and which ones not (e.g. digital goods, digital enablers, ICT services ) Important to distinguish between the nature of transaction (which may or may not be digital) and the nature of the product (again, may or may not be digital ) BUT: consensus is emerging that digitally delivered services are always digital products BUT: importance of data/information flows that may not result in monetary transaction, but may support one e.g. Facebook: advertising revenue is captured in services statistics, the data flows are currently not e.g. Use of public goods (open-source/free software)> currently no imputations are made 9

10 Actors involved ( who ) Traditionally, international trade primarily involves enterprises (Business-to-Business, B2B) Digital trade: new actors and interactions Cross-border Business-to-Consumers (B2C) Cross-border Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) (the sharing economy) Cross-border Business-to-Government (B2G) (e-procurement) >> framework follows National Accounts breakdown by (domestic) institutional sectors Build upon existing frameworks Potentially introduce further breakdowns such as financial/nonfinancial corporations, or breakdowns by firm size 10

11 Examples of digital trade by category 11

12 DIGITAL TRADE IN TOURISM: EXAMPLES 12

13 Digital trade and tourism > focus on role of digital intermediation platforms Examples: Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, Share of trade facilitated via DIPs (WPTGS 2018 Stocktaking) 5 countries can identify the # of enterprises and/or value of trade using DIPs (but no breakdown between resident and non-resident channels) Travel: 11 countries have tourism expenditure surveys with questions on digital ordering; an additional 5 on whether DIPs were used Challenges remain: Separating the intermediation services fees from the value of service provided Estimations may be developed using known fee-structures of large DIPs Part may already be covered in trade related services, but further investigation would be needed Identifying transactions involving non-resident DIPs Separate identification of DIPs in business register (no formal industry classification) 13

14 NEXT STEPS 14

15 Towards an inter-agency Handbook on Measuring Digital Trade Handbook drafted as Inter-Agency publication, by the TFITS Process coordinated by OECD and WTO (TFITS co-chairs) Incorporate contributions from TFITS members and national compilers Ensure alignment with parallel work in National Accounts Aim to have a first draft by end 2018 for consultation with developed and developing countries Among others, through the existing bodies of TF members (including WPTGS and IMF BOPCOM, amongst others) Results to be presented in a report to 2019 UNSC 15

16 Thank you! Reference documents OECD paper for WPTGS 2017 (conceptual framework) STD/CSSP/WPTGS(2017)3 OECD-IMF paper for IMF BOPCOM 2017 Inventory of measurement practices (BOPCOM 17-07) TFITS report to the UN Statistical Commission 2018 (Handbook) (E/CN.3/2018/28) 16