DIGITAL TRADE Australia promotes trade enabling rules and the free flow of information. But we recognise the importance of allowing governments to respond to legitimate public policy concerns, including consumer and privacy protections. Australia encourages international partners to do so transparently and with appropriate consultation (see Support Transparency and Evidence-based Policy Positions, page 20). Table 1: This table outlines some of the key provisions Australia pursues in its trade agreements to enable digital trade. These objectives are general, may change in specific negotiations and are negotiated in the context that we are able to accommodate our policy sensitivities, including in regard to health, environment, consumer and privacy protections, and security. Provision Description Paperless trading Countries should provide for online availability of import and export documentation and electronic submission of those documents Electronic authentication Countries should not deny a signature on the basis it is in electronic form, and should adopt a flexible approach to authentication technologies Online consumer protection Countries should provide the same protections for online consumers as they do for any other consumer Online protection of personal information Countries should adopt or maintain a legal framework to protect the personal information of electronic commerce users from unauthorised disclosure Unsolicited commercial electronic messages (spam) Countries should adopt or maintain measures to allow consumers to opt out of receiving unwanted commercial messages (for example email and SMS) from various sources and to provide that businesses only send such messages with the expressed or inferred consent of the consumer with the source of the messages identified Customs duties on electronic transmissions Countries should continue the practice of not applying customs duties to electronic transmissions Domestic regulatory frameworks / domestic electronic transaction frameworks Countries should adopt or maintain legal frameworks consistent with the principles of the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce (1996) and the UN Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (2005) 15