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E-Commerce as a Tool to Achieve Universal Sustainable Goals

Received: 13 May 2023     Accepted: 25 June 2023     Published: 21 July 2023
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Abstract

E-commerce introduces a market full of opportunities by engaging more individuals in trade, creating space for new traded products by businesses (such as electronic transitions, electronic services, and 3D printing algorithms.), and allowing global communications and connections for trade through interactive platforms. It is inevitable to ignore COVID-19 in this sense, as the pandemic only emphasized the presence of e-commerce and boosted it to the extreme, forcing the world to shift to e-commerce consumption of goods and e-services to avoid further pandemic spread. As e-commerce becomes a dominant source of economic growth, employment, social empowerment, and political involvement, worldwide, one would expect that it would be governed under a multilateral agreement that establishes e-commerce as a form of trade, from an inclusive perspective. However, the lack of a comprehensive governing law in the multilateral level leaves Regional Trade Agreements the responsibility to regulate e-commerce and to ensure equal global reach to e-commerce opportunities. By examining dominant RTAs in force in a five-year period (2015-2020) that include a specific e-commerce chapter, and using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, this piece examines the best practices for allowing e-commerce to be globally and equally available for all, recognizing 4 sets of provisions that is found today in Regional Trade Agreements: Capacity building provisions; Facilitation provisions; Protection provisions; and E-cooperation provisions. Including such sets of provisions in Regional Trade Agreements, in the manners offered by this piece, will have a great probability of promoting global quality of education; gender equality; decent work and economic growth; the enhancement of industry; innovation and infrastructure; and justice and strong institutions; as called for by the UN SDGs.

Published in International Journal of Business and Economics Research (Volume 12, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijber.20231204.12
Page(s) 134-146
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

E-Commerce, COVID-19, Digital Trade, UN Sustainable Development Goals, Regional Trade Agreements

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Mye Elnir. (2023). E-Commerce as a Tool to Achieve Universal Sustainable Goals. International Journal of Business and Economics Research, 12(4), 134-146. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20231204.12

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    ACS Style

    Mye Elnir. E-Commerce as a Tool to Achieve Universal Sustainable Goals. Int. J. Bus. Econ. Res. 2023, 12(4), 134-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ijber.20231204.12

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    AMA Style

    Mye Elnir. E-Commerce as a Tool to Achieve Universal Sustainable Goals. Int J Bus Econ Res. 2023;12(4):134-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ijber.20231204.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijber.20231204.12,
      author = {Mye Elnir},
      title = {E-Commerce as a Tool to Achieve Universal Sustainable Goals},
      journal = {International Journal of Business and Economics Research},
      volume = {12},
      number = {4},
      pages = {134-146},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijber.20231204.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20231204.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijber.20231204.12},
      abstract = {E-commerce introduces a market full of opportunities by engaging more individuals in trade, creating space for new traded products by businesses (such as electronic transitions, electronic services, and 3D printing algorithms.), and allowing global communications and connections for trade through interactive platforms. It is inevitable to ignore COVID-19 in this sense, as the pandemic only emphasized the presence of e-commerce and boosted it to the extreme, forcing the world to shift to e-commerce consumption of goods and e-services to avoid further pandemic spread. As e-commerce becomes a dominant source of economic growth, employment, social empowerment, and political involvement, worldwide, one would expect that it would be governed under a multilateral agreement that establishes e-commerce as a form of trade, from an inclusive perspective. However, the lack of a comprehensive governing law in the multilateral level leaves Regional Trade Agreements the responsibility to regulate e-commerce and to ensure equal global reach to e-commerce opportunities. By examining dominant RTAs in force in a five-year period (2015-2020) that include a specific e-commerce chapter, and using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, this piece examines the best practices for allowing e-commerce to be globally and equally available for all, recognizing 4 sets of provisions that is found today in Regional Trade Agreements: Capacity building provisions; Facilitation provisions; Protection provisions; and E-cooperation provisions. Including such sets of provisions in Regional Trade Agreements, in the manners offered by this piece, will have a great probability of promoting global quality of education; gender equality; decent work and economic growth; the enhancement of industry; innovation and infrastructure; and justice and strong institutions; as called for by the UN SDGs.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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  • Law Centre, Georgetown University, Washington D. C., U.S.A

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