ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION
TRANSPORTATION WORKING GROUP
EIGHTEENTH MEETING – MIYAZAKI, JAPAN
OCTOBER 2000
STEERING COMMITTEE ON MORE COMPETITIVE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY (INCLUDING INFRASTRUCTURE)
Progress Report on APEC paperless trading INITIATIVE - electronic COMMERCE STEERING GROUP (ECSG) matrix
Submitted by Australia
September 2000
LEAD ECONOMY: AUSTRALIA
EIGHTEENTH APEC TRANSPORTATION WORKING GROUP
MEETING – MIYAZAKI, JAPAN – OCTOBER 2000
AGENDA ITEM : Progress Report on the APEC paperless trading initiative - electronic commerce steering group (ECSG) MATRIX
Australia
Background
Trade Ministers Meeting, Darwin 6-7 June 2000
At the Darwin meeting, Ministers instructed relevant APEC fora to develop capacity building programs, particularly on skills required to enable economies to implement paperless trading, and to use the paperless trading matrix being developed by the ECSG, the SCCP and the TPT-WG for reporting on capacity building activities to SOM1. Ministers also welcomed China’s offer to host a high-level paperless trading symposium in 2001 (Australia and China are working on a draft agenda and a preliminary report will be submitted to SOM III. Economies have been invited to submit ideas for the agenda).
Ministers also endorsed government’s leading role in a number of areas related to the paperless trading initiative. Among other things Ministers called on economies to increase efforts to foster e-government initiatives; acknowledged the importance of user requirements for open standards to facilitate interoperability; and noted the importance of strengthening convergence in development of a legal framework for e-commerce and paperless trading, especially in digital signatures and electronic documents.
APEC Electronic Commerce Steering Group (ECSG) paperless trading matrix
Australia, on behalf of the TPT-WG, gave a presentation on the ECSG paperless trading initiative (outcomes of the Darwin Ministerial and status of the ECSG paperless trading matrix) at the second ECSG meeting held in Bangkok on 20-22 July 2000. The meeting discussed the proposed questionnaire for the matrix. Following concerns from some ECSG members, it was agreed that Australia would revise the questions based on comments received from economies after the meeting.
Some potential overlap was also identified between the work of the Sub-Committee on Customs Co-operation (SCCP) and the TPT-WG. The ECSG chairs agreed to help coordinate among the APEC fora involved, especially the SCCP and the TPT-WG. A final questionnaire will be agreed to by the end of September and circulated and completed in time to provide a report to SOM I 2001.
Attached is the revised questionnaire following the ECSG meeting. It has been provided to the SCCP for comment. Australia will be circulating the final questionnaire to all economies for response soon. The contact person in Australia is Ms Poh Aye Tan (phone: +61 2 6274 7579, fax: +61 2 6274 7744, email: pohaye.tan@dotrs.gov.au
Recommendation
It is recommended that the above progress report be noted and that economies respond to the final questionnaire in order that a report could be provided to SOM1 in 2001.
This page was last updated on 22 Sept., 2000
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