Institute for Internet Policy & Law @ Beijing Normal University

2016 Spring Week for UNCITRAL and BNU Joint Certificate Program on International E-Commerce Law (JCP) has successfully concluded with three major academic events.

1. Expert Lecture on Current UNCITRAL projects on E-commerce: ETRs and eIdM

On June 14, 2016, 18:00-20:00, JCP organized the Expert Lecture at the Law School Auditorium 1824 New Main Building, Beijing Normal University. Prof. Xue, the Co-Director of JCP, moderated the Lecture and reviewed the development of JCP, including three JCP weeks organized consecutively since 2014. Dr. Luca Castellani, Co-Director of JCP, gave a presentation on the so-called “uniform legal texts” of UNCITRAL on e-commerce, such as the two Model Laws and UNECC and recent initiatives on electronic transferable records (ETRs) and electronic identity management. More than twenty students joined the Lecture and interacted with the Directors.

2.  INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE LEGISLATION

Program

June 15,2016

Morning Moderator: Mr. Li Shenglin, Director of Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of National People’s Congress, People’s Republic of China

9:00-10:10 Opening

Keynote Speech: E-Commerce Legislation in the Globalized Economy

Mr. Lü Zushan, Deputy Director of Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of National People’s Congress, People’s Republic of China (30 minutes)

Opening Addresses

Mr. Tong Daochi, Assistant Minister of Commerce, People’s Republic of China (10 minutes)

Mr. Hong Hao, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress (10 minutes)

Mr. Luca Castellani, Representative of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (10 minutes)

10:10-10:30 Tea Break

10:30-11:50 Theme I: Scope of Application and Principles of Electronic Commerce Legislation

Speakers:

Prof. Xue Hong, Law School of Beijing Normal University (20 minutes)

Mr. Luca Castellani, Secretary of the Working Group on Electronic Commerce, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (20 minutes)

Q & A (40 minutes)

 12:00-14:30 Lunch Break

Afternoon Moderator: Mr. Lü Zushan, Deputy Director of Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of National People’s Congress, People’s Republic of China

 14:30-15:50 Theme II: Electronic Commerce Operational Subjects’ Rights, Obligations and Liabilities

Speakers:

Prof. Xue Jun, Law School of Peking University (15 minutes)

Mr. Michael D. Panzera, Esq., Attorney, Office of International Affairs, Federal Trade Commission, the United States of America (15 minutes)

Mr. Stefan Schnor, Director of Digital and Innovative Policy Department, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany (15 minutes)

Q & A (35 minutes)

15:50-16:10 Tea Break

 16:10-17:30 Theme III: Electronic Transactions and Services (electronic contracts, payment and logistics)

Speakers:

Mr. Zhao Lei, Deputy Director of Policy and Regulation Department, State Post Bureau (15 minutes)

Prof. Yang Dong, Law School of Renmin University (15 minutes)

Mr. Fukuhara Tadahiko, President of Japanese Electronic Payment Association, Ex-President of Chuo University (15 minutes)

Q & A (35 minutes)

June 16,2016

 Morning Moderator: Mr. Yin Zhongqing, Deputy Director of Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of National People’s Congress, People’s Republic of China

9:00-10:20 Theme IV: Electronic Commerce Data Information

Speakers:

Prof. Li Yuxiao, Director of Internet Governance and Law Research Center, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (20 minutes)

Ms. Elise Latify, Data Protection Authority, Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertés, France (20 minutes)

Q & A (40 minutes)

10:20-10:40 Tea Break

 10:40-12:00 Theme V: Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests and Electronic Commerce Dispute Resolution Mechanisms

Speakers:

Prof. Yang Jianzheng, Shanghai University for Science and Technology (15 minutes)

Mr. Eric Tang Chee How, Assistant Director, International Trade Cluster, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Republic of Singapore (15 minutes)

Ms. Ulrike Lemmel, Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, Germany (15 minutes)

Q & A (35 minutes)

12:00-14:30 Lunch Break

Afternoon Moderator: Mr. Peng Sen, Deputy Director of Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of National People’s Congress, People’s Republic of China

14:30-15:30 Theme VI: Electronic Commerce Transactional Security (Intellectual Property and Market Competition)

Speakers:

Mr. Luo Peixin, Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs Office of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government (15 minutes)

Mr. Benoît Lory, Minister Counsellor in charge of IP and Competition matters at the Delegation of the European Union to China (15 minutes)

Q & A (30 minutes)

15:30-15:50 Tea Break

 15:50-17:10 Theme VII: Cross-Border Electronic Commerce

Speakers:

Mr. Chen Fuli, Deputy Director of Treaty and Law Department, Ministry of Commerce, People’s Republic of China (15 minutes)

Mr. Yann Duval, Chief of Trade Facilitation, Trade and Investment Department, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (15 minutes)

Mr. Kevin Willis, Director of Global Trade Services Department, Amazon.com (15 minutes)

Q & A (35 minutes)

17:10-17:30 Conclusion

Closing Remarks

Mr. Lü Zushan, Deputy Director of Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of National People’s Congress, People’s Republic of China

                    3. 2016 JCP International Expert Advisory Committee Meeting

On June 17, 2016, four Members of the JCP International Expert Advisory Committee (IEAC), Prof. Xue, Dr. Luca Castellani, Dr. Yann Duval and Mr. Alamusi had a study tour at the headquarter of Alibaba Inc. in Hangzhou. The IEAC members listened the introduction on Alibaba’s international business and especially the One-Touch paperless trade system and expressed their willingness to engage the private sector, particularly the platform service providers like Alibaba, in the international law and trade facilitation activities. Both parties agreed that they would continue the corporation and develop new projects for collaboration.

Prof. Amir Qayyum, Dean of Faculty of Enginner, Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan, visited the Institute for Internet Policy & Law (IIPL) and gave an Expert Lecture to the BNU JM, LLM and international exchange students on Mobile Technologies and Relevant Governance Issues on June 6, 2016. Prof. Qayyum talked about the encrytion technology process and method with the PKI to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of communications on mobile network and digital forensics to combat cyber-crimes (including lawful interception). He mentioned that the Pakistan Internet penetration by broadband is aournd 17% while the people who access to mobile data is over 60%. Mobile Internet is the real solution to digital divide and access problem in a devleoping country like Pakistan.

Prof. Qayyum also shared the experence with the Chinese at-large community with respect to the organization of the School of Internet Governance (SIG) in Pakistan. He talked about the curriculum, faculties, fudning, international cooperation and managment of the SIG of which he was on the 2015 Management Committee. The Representatives from the two ALSes, Chinese Domain Name Users Alliance (CDNUA) and At-Large @ China presented at the meeting and had the interesting discussion with Prof. Qayyum.  The discussions are helpful for the Chinese community to improve the APILP and develop the other capacity building programs in China.

On April 20, 2016, ICANN  published its “Proposed New Bylaws” for public comments. The Draft New ICANN Bylaws were drafted in order to reflect the changes necessary as a result of the recommendations contained in the proposals by the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) and Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) as provided to the ICANN Board on 10 March 2016 and transmitted to NTIA. Taken together, the proposals call for significant governance changes within ICANN, such as the development of new community powers, the incorporation of the reviews currently required under the Affirmation of Commitments, and modifications to key accountability mechanisms such as the Independent Review Process and the Reconsideration Process. ICANN’s Bylaws are its fundamental document and impacts all the stakeholders. The Chinese at-large community that has been actively participating the ICG and CCWG process, does mind the importance of the “constitutional” document of ICANN.

With the support of BNU IIPL, the two ICANN accredited At-Large Structures (ALSes), Chinese Domain Name Users Alliance (CDNUA) and At-Large@China, both of which are the Members of the APRALO, convened the Joint Community Workshop on May 16, 2016, 18:00-20:00 (UTC +8:00) at Law School Auditorium, Room 1922, New Main Building, Beijing Normal University. The Chair of Council of CDNUA, Prof. Hong Xue, the Director of ICANN Beijing Engagement Center, Mr. Song Zheng, and the representative from At-Large@China, Ms. Antonia Chu gave the keynote speeches at the Workshop.

Remote participation and webcasting were available at the Workshop. The Workshop was in English to enable equal participation from all countries.

Prof. Xue gave an Overview of newly added and revised contents of the proposed new Bylaws and analyzed the new power structure and its check-and-balance design. Prof. Xue then narrowed down to the key provisions in the proposed new Bylaws,  especially in Article 1, 4, 6, 16, 17, 18, 19 and relevant Annexes and analyzed the ICANN’s new mission, commitments and  core values, new accountability mechanisms and community powers as well as the series of institutional designs regarding the post-transition IANA function. Prof. Xue pointed out that the empowered community and building justice through IRPs and other accountability mechanisms would better oversee the ICANN’s administration and serve the interest of the global Internet community. Mr. Song and Antonia also shared their views in their own area of expertise and provided their comments on the potential effect of the New Bylaws  on the domain name industry and young Internet generation.

Members of CDNUA and At-Large @ China, from Beijing, London, Paris, Aberdeen and African cities, joined the Workshop and interacted with the speakers. The young members’ made the impressive comments on the ICANN’s social responsibilities. All the comments on the proposed new Byblaws were collected and will be drafted and submitted to ICANN.

At its forty-eighth session (2015) the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) requested its Secretariat to convene a colloquium on legal issues related to identity management and trust services with a view to compiling information on the scope and methodology of future work in that area (see Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventieth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/70/17), para. 358). In line with that request, UNCITRAL Electronic Commerce Working Group organized the Colloquium on ID Management and Trust Services on April 21 and 22, 2016 at the Vienna International Centre. The Program and conference materials are available on the UNCITRAL website.

Prof. Xue, as the second speaker of the first Session of the Colloquium, gave a comprehensive presentation on “Scoping Cross-Border e-ID Management and Facilitating International e-Trade”. Prof. Xue pointed out the key legal issues with respect to the eID management and the possible legal framework or solution to address these issues. The new theoretical analysis and framing provided by Prof. Xue were warmly haled as the creative and innovative research that opens up a new legal dimension by the legal professions at the conference. Prof. Xue specifically addressed the open “federal” approach for eID management and the important role of trust service and creatively adopted the three-tier analytical benchmarks for eID law and scoping, i.e. principal IDs, derivative IDs and alternative IDs.

The Colloquium is very informative and invited the representatives of almost all the existing eID management laws and practices, including Estonia, US Virginia, Russia, Peru and China.

Through the discussions at the Colloquium, the UNCITRAL will officially launch the new project on eID management and trust service in the auspices of the Electronic Commerce Working Group, which is expected to conclude its work on the drafting of the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records.