US Industry Warns Of Restrictive Policies In ICTs, Including On IP Rights

“Serious concerns” have been raised by the United States Chamber of Commerce that policy measures increasingly restrict investment in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, following its comprehensive examination of ICT laws and policies around the world. Intellectual property rights are among the areas the Chamber says are being targeted.

Preventing Deglobalization: An Economic and Security Argument for Free Trade and Investment in ICT, a report [pdf] released yesterday by the Chamber, found that many governments were enacting policies in the name of national security.

These policies however create “a competitive advantage for domestic companies” by requiring products to contain domestically developed intellectual property, it found. Such policies also led to discriminatory enforcement of competition laws, targeted at the IP of particular foreign companies to support home-grown ICT hardware alternatives. Consequently, this would lead to trade barriers and impede the globalised ICT industry, the industry group said.

The report examined Brazil, China, India, Russia, several individual European nations, the European Union as a whole, and the United States.

It identified that policies restricting trade and investment not only affect the ICT sector, but also carry potential economic and security costs. In China, for example: getting rid of foreign ICT product and service market providers would eventually lead to a reduction in China’s GDP amounting to nearly $3 trillion annually, the report asserted.

The report further provides a series of recommendations to governments to balance their national security and economic interests and to allow for the free flow of ICT products, services and data. One recommendation calls for security measures to be consistent with the most-favoured nation and national treatment principles as set out in WTO agreements. Any deviations should be proportional and clearly fall under a specific national security exemption, it said.

Alexandra Nightingale is a researcher at Intellectual Property Watch. She completed her Bachelors in Law at the University of Sussex and holds an LLM in International Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. During her Masters, she developed a strong interest in Intellectual Property, particularly patents and the aspects relating to global health. Her research interests now also include geographical indications and trademarks.