Increasing Trust in the Digital Market Through Regional Rules: the Case of Asia

Abstract

Our daily lives get increasingly more digitalised, with cyberspace taking a central role in many different contexts in the public and private sectors. The nature of digital tools is such that they challenge the traditional notion of national borders and jurisdictions of nation states. The discussion about how the protection of rights is affected by modern technologies is ongoing globally, including new ways to make rules – in multistakeholder fora, as a mixture of soft and hard law, etc. In an increasingly globalised world, the notion of universal rights should provide a useful instrument with which to mitigate any negative effects of the challenges to traditional jurisdiction that the borderless cyber environment poses. Regional rulemaking can serve as a stepping-stone on the way to global rules. Although Europe is the most advanced continent generally when it comes to regional integration and regional protection of rights, various initiatives exist also elsewhere. Asia has traditionally not had strong regional integration systems or regional protection of rights. A specific ‘Asian view’ that is not open to regional initiatives has been mentioned, but this is challenged as digitalisation raises similar issues in all countries and a lack of harmonisation of rights protection can hinder trade. The nature of rights in the digital environment, with standards and less ‘political’ rights may speak in favour of greater possibilities for a regional approach in Asia.