6. Economic cluster Economic activities have been one of the main engines of Internet growth. They also contribute to the overall economic and social growth of modern society. This cluster includes e-commerce, which is an old issue in terms of Internet history, and some new issues such as virtual currency that started emerging recently. 6.1 E-commerce There are various definitions of e-commerce.12 According to the WTO, e-commerce is: ‘the production, distribution, marketing, sale, or delivery of goods and services by electronic means’.13 E-commerce has been one of the main engines promoting the growth of the Internet over the past 15 years. Status of governance mechanisms for e-commerce E-commerce is covered by the general WTO treaties, in particular the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). More specifically, the WTO established the Work Programme for Electronic Commerce in 1998, though activity in this area has been limited; the main achievement is a moratorium on taxes levied on international ‘electronic transmissions’ which is renewed every two years. The WTO’s dispute resolution mechanism had USA/Antigua Online Gambling case which is of relevance for e-commerce. Recently, the OECD has started to deal with taxation issues related to the digital economy. Many consumers and enterprises hesitate to engage in e-commerce due to a lack of trust in online transactions. Concerns may be related to losing payments, having personal data compromised or misused, or to the risk of the goods or services purchased not meeting the quality expected. Lack of trust and poor legal frameworks are key barriers to shopping online. Security and trust are thus fundamental for creating an environment conducive to ecommerce. In order to address these issues, national governments need to adopt relevant laws in areas such as e-signature, consumer protection, data protection and privacy, and cybercrime. Harmonization of laws is important to facilitate cross-border e-commerce. 12 The OECD and the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development use a more narrow definition, emphasizing that the placing or receipt of the order needs to be made electronically, but the delivery and payment may be made offline. OECD (2011). OECD Guide to Measuring the Information Society 2011. Org. for Economic Cooperation & Development. Paris. 13 WTO (1998) Work programme on electronic commerce. http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/ecom_e/wkprog_e.htm [accessed 17 February 2014]. 34 Available at