The Emergence of Digital Trade Regulation

International economic law faces a variety of challenges arising from digital business models and an increasing convergence of global markets in the era of digital globalisation. Against the backdrop of a successful tradition of multilateral regulation, the rule-based system of global trade law has been mobilised to address some of the transnational challenges related to digital globalisation. The convergence of trade governance and digital governance has put significant pressure on the pre-existing international trade regime. The cross-cutting challenges of the digital transformation involve all areas of the multilateral trade framework for goods (GATT), services (GATS) and trade-related aspects of intellectual property (TRIPS) implemented by the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO). This chapter addresses the phenomenon of the digital transformation of cross-border economic activity in the context of the regulation and governance of global trade under multilateral trade law and current trade agreements.