The ECSG recognizes the importance of public-private collaboration in developing an environment conducive to e-commerce and encourages the active participation of and the contribution of the private sector to its meetings and activities. Reports presented by guest organizations to the group, including the Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Pan Asian Alliance on E-Commerce, the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development are a welcome contribution to the ECSG.
Originally established in 1999 as an APEC Senior Official's Special Task Force, the ECSG was aligned to the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) in 2007. This alignment enhances the coordinating capacity of the ECSG by ensuring a stronger focus on trade and investment issues.
Initiative for APEC Women's Participation in the Digital Economy (2005-2009). This project jointly endorsed by the ECSG and the Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN) aims to promote the use of electronic means and generate e-business opportunities for women entrepreneurs. The initiative comprises four components that will be conducted annually from 2005 to 2009: 1) research, 2) capacity building, 3) e-community building and 4) policy forum.
The APEC Privacy Framework aims to promote a consistent approach to information privacy protection, avoid the creation of unnecessary barriers to information flows and prevent impediments to trade across APEC member economies. The Framework provides technical assistance to those APEC economies that have not addressed privacy from a regulatory or policy perspective.
Progress on the implementation of the APEC Privacy Framework includes the application of Information Privacy Individual Action Plans by 12 economies, and the creation of a study group within the Data Privacy Sub-Group to analyze and identify best practices and the role of trust-marks in promoting the cross-border flow of information.
Significant progress was made in Cairns, Australia on 29 June when the ECSG approved the APEC Data Privacy Pathfinder and its work plan. The Pathfinder seeks to create implementation frameworks by pursuing projects that work toward achieving an overarching set of objectives and accountable cross-border information flows, progressing the implementation of the APEC Privacy Framework. The Pathfinder was launched and formally adopted at the AMM and AELM in September 2007. The ECSG adopted the APEC Data Privacy Pathfinder Projects Implementation Work Plan at a meeting in Lima in February.
The APEC Data Privacy Pathfinder will promote consumer trust and business confidence in cross-border data flows. It will support business needs, reduce compliance costs, provide consumers with effective remedies, allow regulators to operate efficiently, and minimize regulatory burdens.
Paperless trading
The goal of paperless trading is integral to the work of the ECSG. Work is underway to implement APEC's Strategies and Actions Toward a Cross-Border Paperless Trading Environment to enable the electronic transmission of trade-related information across the region by 2020.
Projects are being developed by ECSG on the use of paperless trading in commercial processes. These projects will have an impact on the business operations of companies and assist them in adopting business management practices and supporting technologies to comply with regulations and customers' demands. Areas covered by these projects include electronic certificates of origin, electronic invoicing, business requirements for data harmonization and single window, best practices in e-government procurement, e-documents and e-trade financing. These projects involve business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) transactions and promote the use of electronic documents and internet technologies in the process of international trade. This responds to an important aspect of APEC's second Trade Facilitation Action Plan, namely accelerating the use of electronic commerce.
Numerous capacity building activities, including training courses and seminars on paperless trading instruments, data protection, financial supply chain and e-invoicing are taking place in 2008. The APEC Training Course on E-Trade and Supply Chain Management (Phase II: Financial Supply Chain Management) was held in Sanya, Hainan province, China on 11-12 November, and the 2008 APEC Conference on Reference Model of APEC Transborder E-Trade Hub was held in Beijing, China on 14-15 November. The Train-the-Trainer Workshop on Data Harmonization towards Single Window Paperless Environment will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 8-12 December 2008.
