ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION
TRANSPORTATION WORKING GROUP
FIFTHTEENTH MEETING – SANTIAGO, CHILE
APRIL 1999

STEERING COMMITTEE ON MORE COMPETITIVE
TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY (INCLUDING INFRASTRUCTURE)

PROGRESS REPORT ON TPT-WG ELECTRONIC COMMERCE INITIATIVES

Submitted by Australia

March 1999

LEAD ECONOMY: AUSTRALIA

FIFTHTEENTH APEC TRANSPORTATION WORKING GROUP
MEETING – SANTIAGO, CHILE - APRIL 1999
AGENDA ITEM : PROGRESS REPORT ON TPT-WG ELECTRONIC

COMMERCE INITIATIVES

Australia

 Electronic Commerce Seminar

The TPT-WG has been active in on electronic commerce activities since 1993. The electronic commerce work program has progressively expanded culminating in the paperless trading initiative endorsed by Leaders in November 1998. The TPT-WG is expected to lead this initiative jointly with the Telecommunications Working Group (TEL) and the Sub-committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP). To achieve the 2005/2010 paperless trading goal, the TPT-WG will need the support and commitment from both, APEC governments and businesses.

The seminar 'Electronic Commerce 2010 - Producing Better Business Outcomes with Electronic Commerce in the New Millennium' is therefore an excellent follow-up to TPT-WG's electronic commerce commitment in the APEC Blueprint for Action. The Seminar will enable TPT-WG to:

• Make progress on its electronic commerce work program including the paperless trading initiative.
• Ensure that its work is relevant to businesses.
• Increase cooperation with other APEC fora (eg. TEL, SCCP, etc.).

The main objective of the seminar is to demonstrate the practical application and derived benefits of using electronic commerce for transport and trade activities and to look to the challenges to be met in electronic commerce for the transport sector in the next decade.   It is also an opportunity to seek active engagement of APEC governments and businesses in the region in pursuing TPT-WG electronic commerce initiatives.

The content of the seminar is intended to be forward looking with speakers focussing on analysing implications and directions, rather than only describing what has been done in a technical sense. Speakers include representatives from industry as well as APEC working groups and APEC economies. Please find attached the seminar agenda (Attachment A).

The report of the seminar will be considered at the meeting of the Steering Committee on More Competitive Transportation Industry (Including Infrastructure).

Requirements for Paper Documents (Paperless Trading Initiative)

At the TPT-WG meeting in Seoul it was agreed to continue the work on the removal of requirements for paper documents. All economies were encouraged to update the current listing of institutional and legislative requirements for paper documents by advising Australia of any changes. The result is summarised in the attached table (Attachment B).

The paperless trading initiative contained in the APEC Blueprint for Action is an extension of this work. Under this initiative economies will endeavour to reduce or eliminate regulatory and institutional barriers to electronic commerce, where possible, by 2005 (for developed economies) and 2010 (for developing economies), or as soon as possible thereafter.

The seminar 'Electronic Commerce 2010' will act as an impetus to this work program.

Collective Action Plan

The TPT-WG collective action plan was endorsed at the 14th meeting. Economies were encouraged to respond to the following three questions posed by Australia as soon as possible.

1. What is the current state of electronic commerce implementation in the customs, quarantine and banking sectors?
2. What can individual economies contribute to the TPT-WG electronic commerce work?
3. What would individual economies like to see TPT-WG do in electronic commerce?

China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Chinese Taipei, Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei have provided their input. Please see the attached table (Attachment C).

The collective action plan currently contains six action priorities drawn from experiences of member economies. Each of the priorities, if achieved, will contribute to achieving the goals of the paperless trading initiative. The collective action plan will provide further impetus to electronic commerce work in the transportation and related trading sectors as well as facilitate uptake of electronic commerce in cross-border trade.

To further progress this work, cooperation from APEC economies and sub-fora (eg. TEL, SCCP, etc.) is necessary. The electronic commerce seminar will address this issue.

Phase 1 – Electronic Commerce Project

Please refer to the separate paper entitled 'Progress Report for Phase 1 of the Program to Assist the Implementation of Electronic Commerce for Commercial Messages'.

TPT-WG Web Site

Please refer to the separate paper entitled 'Discussion Paper on the Future Development of the APEC TPT-WG Web Site'.

This page was last updated on 12 March, 2008