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USTR National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers
Why is it in news?
- The US has criticised India's data localisation norms and draft e-commerce policy terming certain proposals as "most discriminatory and trade-distortive".
More in news
- India’s new electronic commerce policy:(1) India is currently developing a new electronic commerce policy, early drafts of which have contemplated broad-based data localisation requirements and restrictions on cross-border data flows.(2) It expanded grounds for forced transfer of intellectual property and proprietary source code, preferential treatment for domestic digital products, and other discriminatory policies.
- USTR National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers:(1) US Trade Representative's 2019 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers said that India has recently promulgated a number of data localisation requirements that would serve as significant barriers to digital trade between the US and India.(2) These requirements-
- Raise costs for suppliers of data-intensive services by forcing the construction of unnecessary, redundant data centres.
- Prevent local firms from taking advantage of the best global services available.(1) The report also said the proposals of India's draft national e-commerce policy such as data localisation requirements and restrictions on cross-border data flows are "discriminatory in nature".(2) Report said that US strongly encourages India to reconsider the most discriminatory and trade-distortive aspects of this draft policy.
Source
The Hindu