Study visit to the EU with the Legislative Affairs Commission on e-commerce

IP Key partnered with the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC (in short, LAC) in a 8 days study visit that touched Paris and Brussels, to discuss various policy issues in the reform of China’s e-commerce law.

Meetings involved experts from government agencies, industry, IPR owners and e-commerce platforms in Paris, as well as EU officials from DG TRADE, CNET and JUST in Brussels. A separate meeting with the colleagues of the EU Parliament Legal Affairs committee concluded the mission.

Exchanges were extensive and productive, especially in defining a large common ground of mutual understanding about policy issues to be addressed in legislative interventions, in both China and EU.

E-commerce is a global phenomenon that can’t hardly be constrained within the boundaries of national legislations. New technologies bring new opportunities to enhance buyer’s experience, but also bring about new challenges for legislators, who should ensure a level playing field for operators, where traders’ and consumers’ rights are safeguarded and IPR holders get their exclusive rights protected vis á vis the threat of counterfeiting.

China’s e-commerce draft law was published for public comments at the end of 2016 and will go through a second reading at the LAC in the third quarter of 2017. It’s set to be a comprehensive peace of legislation, that aims at regulating business transactions taking place in the digital environment. In addition to IPR protection, the law addresses data protection, consumers’ rights, liabilities of intermediaries, as well as unfair competition, tax and and other regulatory aspects. 

During the second reading, it is expected to go through thorough review and revision, to achieve better consistency with the current legislative framework on IPR as well as to clarify several open questions.

IP Key is once again thankful to the LAC Economic Law department for this cooperation opportunity, which gave the EU and China a great opportunity for enhancing the dialogue on such an important topic.

For additional information please contact the coordinator of this activity Davide Follador at davide.follador@ipkey.org and for general information on IP Key Jaspal Channa at jaspal.channa@ipkey.org,