The Osaka Declaration on the Digital Economy was issued on June 28 under the witness of 27 leaders of the countries participating in the Leaders' Special Event on the Digital Economy on the sidelines of the G20 Osaka Summit. Those countries included China, the United States and Japan. The event declared the launch of the Osaka Track.

In the declaration, the Japanese proposed a broad concept to achieve support. They resolved to make further efforts to achieve substantial progress in negotiations by the 12th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in June 2020.

The prime minister of India did not attend the event, while the leaders of Indonesia and South Africa refused to sign the declaration.

Freedom and reliability of data circulation become global focus

The digital economy was one of the main topics actively planned by Japan, host of this year's G20 Summit. Early in the year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in the Joint Statement on Electronic Commerce issued in Davos that the engine of today's world economy has changed from fuel engines to the digital economy, and data resources will become an important support for technological innovation.

Therefore, how to protect digital information and enhance its credibility while making good use of data resources has become the focus of the world. The Japanese plan to further develop the Osaka Track to guide the future development of the digital economy through the G20.

At the Leaders' Special Event on the Digital Economy in Osaka, the 27 leaders of the countries participating in this summit and representatives of participating international organizations attending the event made speeches and concurred on the need to develop rules for the global digital economy.

The declaration mentioned the intention to "renew our commitment to work together in building on the joint statement in Davos and confirm our commitment to seek to achieve a high-standard agreement with the participation of as many WTO members as possible".

On Jan 25, 2019, following an informal meeting of ministers on electronic commerce held in Davos, Switzerland, China, together with 75 other WTO members including Australia, Japan, Singapore and the US, issued a Joint Statement on Electronic Commerce, in which they confirmed their intention to commence WTO negotiations on trade-related aspects of electronic commerce, building on existing WTO agreements and frameworks with the participation of as many WTO members as possible.

During the G20 Ministerial Meeting on the Trade and Digital Economy in early June, participants reached a consensus in principle on the freedom and trustworthiness of data circulation, although they did not completely agree on all aspects. The United States, which has many of the world's leading information technology companies, insisted on the independent judgment of enterprises, while the European Union paid more attention to protecting personal information and privacy.

On June 28, Shinzo Abe stressed that digitalization could foster innovation, promote economic growth and contribute to social well-being in all countries. He appealed for substantial progress in the negotiations by the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in June 2020.

According to Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 24 countries and regions have signed the declaration. They are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the US, Spain, Chile, the Netherlands, Senegal, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

G20 countries such as India, Indonesia and South Africa refused to sign. In fact, India and Indonesia raised objections to global e-commerce negotiations, especially on cross-border data flows. For example, India agreed to store data locally and build more data centers and server farms in its territory. Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale said discussions and negotiations should be conducted within the framework agreed at the WTO event on June 28.

WTO members started negotiations on new e-commerce rules May 13. China distributed the first round of proposals through WTO April 24, Gao Feng, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a news conference. Ten members, including China, the EU, Japan, the US, Brazil and Singapore have submitted their first round of proposals.

Taxation on cross-border network transactions by information technology (IT) companies was also one of the key points discussed at this year's G20 summit. Lack of uniform rules has led to much tax evasion by IT companies. The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors agreed to set minimum corporate tax standards for these companies, but there still exist technical difficulties on how to collect taxes on information technology transactions by companies that do not have operating entities in countries trying to collect the taxes.