Beijing Declaration 6.0-FNL LIUH

As one of the sub-forums of the Global Digital Economy Conference 2022, the International Conference on Global Governance in the Digital Economy was co-organized by Beijing Institute of Technology, the Secretariat of the International Commercial Dispute Prevention and Settlement Organization and Deloitte China. With the theme of "New Rules: Developing a Healthy Ecosystem of Digital Economy", the conference included panel discussions on four topics: Vision of Digital Economy Governance, Cross-border Flow of Data, Digital Taxation and Currency, Digital Regulation, and Digital Dispute Resolution.

In this forum, the participants jointly issued the "Beijing Declaration", and the full text is as follows:

Beijing Declaration on Global Governance in the Digital Economy Ecosystem

We, academics, professionals and practitioners, gathered in Beijing, in person and through virtual participation, to discuss the future of Global Governance in the Digital Economy on 29th of July 2022.

We understand, the continuous reliance on the digital economy, ranking with high priority on the agenda of governments and international organisations, posing a myriad of legal and regulatory challenges in their future governance, and becoming a driving force of geo-political relationships.  

We acknowledge that the digital economy will play a pivotal role of global economic development in the 21st Century.

We realize that it is essential to promote an inclusive, fair, and equitable worldwide participation in forging a sustainable and healthy global digital economy ecosystem, through an improved and effective global governance system, based on robust international cooperation.

We acknowledge, other digital economy-related declarations and initiatives, such as those issued by UN, WTO, OECD, ASEAN, G20 and other international organizations or groups.

In continuation and support of such efforts, we declare our position and make the following statements, for governments and other stakeholders to consider:

1. We call on governments to make joint efforts in developing a digital economy ecosystem conducive for domestic growth, reflecting each country’s own cultural characteristics, consistent with an agreed-upon global governance framework for the growth of a healthy global digital economy, across borders for global common wellbeing.

2. We encourage governments to take advantage of multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral trade forums and reach agreements to eliminate barriers relating to digital trade, endeavor to take every possible measure to facilitate digital trade and e-commerce, in order to build a brighter future for the international community based on common interests, shared values, and mutually beneficial cooperation.

3. We recommend governments to focus on setting up global policies, recommendations and guidance materials for both private and public sectors, on emerging technologies and digital innovations, with a view to managing potential risks of associated global disruptions, enhancing trust in the digital economy and trade, and continuously improving safety security, and privacy protection in the global society.

4. We strongly recommend governments develop and adopt strategies and policies to encourage, support, and empower Micro-Small-Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), through innovating, transforming, and digitalizing their creative processes and trade, acknowledging that MSMEs not only constitute an integral part of the global digital economy, but also play a significant role in the global digital transformation. Such governments’ initiatives are requested to provide digital skills programs to cultural and community artisans to digitalize their trade so that country or culture-specific goods can be marketed internationally.

5. We advocate international solidarity for bridging the digital gap and achieving common prosperity in view of the existing digital global fragmentation and inequity, and hence a critical digital gap between countries. In this regard, we support governments in making every effort to provide aid, funds, technical assistance, encourage investments in technologies to close the digital divide and resolve existing governance policy issues for more inclusive outcomes.

6. We encourage all stakeholders to avoid disputes first or strive to resolve digital trade and commerce related disputes amicably through negotiation, mediation, arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution processes in the virtual or hybrid format, in order to develop a fair, just, safe and secure ecosystem in the global digital economy. In this regard, we suggest all stakeholders to consider and adopt UNCITRAL, ICDPASO rules and other means of dispute prevention and settlement.

Finally, we call on all governments, public and private sectors to unite to strengthen global governance in the digital economy ecosystem and jointly contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.