International Trade Lawmaking @ Beijing Normal University

Beijing Normal University Global Development Strategic Partnership Project

外国专家网上讲座第二讲

Foreign Experts Virtual Lecture Series (Lecture 2)

互联网政策与法律研究中心主办

Moderator

Prof. dr. Hong Xue, Director of Institute for Internet Policy & Law, Beijing Normal University

Date, Time and Connection Details

30 April 2021, 18:00 -20:00

Lecture via Zoom connection

2021年4月30日晚, 联合国国际贸易法委员会秘书处的法律干事Dr. Luca Castellani 为北师大中国、意大利、伊朗等国的中外研究生以及国际经济贸易仲裁员等做了专题网络学术报告。从中国的角度，介绍了贸易法委员会在数字经济法方面的相关工作。Dr. Luca Castellani首先介绍了数字经济的特性和重要性，数字经济是一个很广泛的概念，其成功离不开连贯一致的政策、强大有力的技术支持以及适当可行的法律环境。数字经济交叉贯穿于各个领域，与之联系密切的有数据隐私和保护、网络犯罪、知识产权等，因而涉及到众多法律的适用。Dr. Luca Castellani列举了一些与数字经济有关的法律，并专门介绍了《数字经济法与自由贸易协定》，重点解读了协定中有关电子商务和无纸贸易便利化的章节。《联合国电子通信公约》、《贸易便利化协定》等专门条约影响着国内法的制定，对没有直接参与的国家也具有重要意义。《全面与进步跨太平洋伙伴关系协定》第14章和《区域全面经济伙伴关系协定》第12章旨在促进电子商务和无纸贸易的便利化，全面制定了电子商务的有关规定，主要表现在：寻求法律上的相互承认和相互操作性；支持不歧视和技术中立原则，包括电子签名；允许对某些特定交易类型使用特定的技术；明确表明采用贸易法委员会法规。贸易法委员会早在19世纪80年代就开始研究电子数据交换和跨境电子支付，是联合国电子商务与数字经济工作的核心法律机构，为数字经济的发展作出了较大贡献。1996年通过了旨在使现代通信和信息储存手段能够商业化使用的《贸易法委员会电子商务示范法》。2005年通过了《联合国国际合同使用电子通信公约》，建立并更新了电子商务法的规定，提高了跨境使用电子通信的法律确定性。2017年又通过了《贸易法委员会电子可转让纪录示范法》，完善了贸易法委员会的一系列法规，是数字经济和无纸贸易的重要推动力量。Dr. Luca Castellani专门从中国的角度分析了《贸易法委员会电子可转让示范法》和《联合国国际合同使用电子通信公约》的适用性，中国签署了《亚太跨境无纸贸易便利化框架协定》，为数字丝绸之路的法律建设提供了重要支撑。贸易法委员会第四工作组目前在进行电子身份管理和可信服务方面的磋商工作，示范法草案的商议也进入到了高级阶段，服务提供商的权利义务、服务和系统的可靠性、合同协议的效力等问题亟待解决。由于全球法律框架仍然处于缺失状态，跨境方面的工作尤为重要。Dr. Luca Castellani的讲座得到了中外与会者高度评价与赞誉，激发同学们的学习热情与信心，共同希望系列学术讲座能越办越好。

Expert Guest Lecture

Dr. Luca Castellani, legal officer in the Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) lectured on the Relevance of the Work of UNCITRAL for the Law of Digital Economy with a Focus on China for the BNU Law School students, particularly for the LLM in Chinese Law and other postgraduate students, and other legal professionals such as the CIETAC arbitrators.

Expert Lecturer

Dr. Castellani, after graduating in law in the University of Torino, received a doctoral degree in comparative law from the University of Trieste and a master in international law from New York University. Dr. Castellani joined the Office of Legal Affairs of the secretariat of the United Nations in 2001 and the UNCITRAL secretariat in 2004, working in the areas of international sales and of electronic commerce. As secretary of UNCITRAL Working Group IV (Electronic Commerce), Dr. Castellani oversaw the preparation of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records and the negotiation of the Provisions on IdM and Trust Services. Dr. Castellani is also active in the field of paperless trade facilitation and has contributed to drafting the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific. From March 2012 to November 2013 Dr. Castellani was assigned as first Head of the UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific, located in Incheon, Republic of Korea. Dr. Castellani has published several articles and other materials on international trade law and comparative law, namely sale of goods, e-commerce and trade law reform in developing countries.

International and Comparative Law Research Center (ICLRC), along with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation , organized the online discussion session “Digitalization of International Trade” on March 30, 2021, from 1:00 to 6:30 p.m (UTC+3).

ICLRC is a Moscow-based non-profit non-governmental organization conducting research on various issues of public and private international law, as well as holding events on pertinent issues within the sphere.

As stated in the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects mid-2020 report, “nearly 90 per cent of the world economy has been under some form of lockdown, disrupting supply chains, depressing consumer demand and putting millions out of work”. The digitalization of international trade is one of the key factors which could ensure global trade growth in time of a crisis like COVID-19 pandemic and reduce contractor costs in general.

Given the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to discuss the role of digital technologies in restoring the interrupted commercial ties and in establishing new ones, to analyse approaches to creating effective national and international regulation facilitating the introduction and use of digital forms of communication by market players as well as making them more reliable.

Prof. Xue was invited to give a keynote speech at the Panel 1 “Digital trading platforms”. Prof. Xue provided a comprehensive overview on the Online Trading Platforms in Trade Law and outlined 3 clusters of the platform services that have the most significant impacts on the international trade law. The speech was well received by all the audience and highly recognized by the experts. Prof. Xue also effectively responded to a variety of questions from harmonization of cross-border regulation to application to blockchain technology.