Trade and Censorship: The EU View

I've mentioned before some suggestions in the U.S. that internet censorship be treated as a trade barrier (see here and here).  Now the EU is getting into the act as well:

The European Parliament recently passed a proposal to treat Internet censorship by repressive regimes as a trade barrier. The proposal, submitted by Jules Maaten of the rightist Dutch VVD party, passed on a 571-38 vote. Maaten describes it as an "unusual, but effective way" to promote freedom of expression on the Internet.

The initiative targets countries that have enacted heavy restrictions what their citizens can do and see online. First and foremost on the list is China and its "great firewall." The Chinese government is well known for blocking certain phrases and web sites from view within its borders, and has also turned its attention to RSS feeds. The country also "encourages" bloggers to register with the government.

"The 'Great Chinese Firewall' should be seen as an international trade barrier," Maaten said according to Livre. "In addition to American companies like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, European Internet companies like Wanadoo, Telecom Italia, and France Telecom have to unwillingly censor their services in authoritarian states."

...

If adopted, Maaten's proposal would require the EU to classify any Internet censorship as a barrier to trade, and would require that the issue be raised in any trade negotiations. Economic sanctions and trade restrictions have been used in the past as means of getting countries to change their policies, but this is one of the first proposals to tie trade to 'Net censorship.

The measure will now go to the European Council for consideration. The Council can either adopt the proposal as passed by Parliament or send it back with further amendments. 

Comments

[Bryan Mercurio]

This is a dangerous path to tread...

[Simon Lester]

I agree, very dangerous. Fun to watch and speculate about, but could be a disaster for the system.

[Aparicio Caicedo]

The US is applying to the international sphere the doctrine of the "dormant commerce clase". According to that constitutional principle, the states can not restrict the trade with other states of the Union, unless it is grounded in legitimate reasons and does not discriminate certain states. They apply this doctrine to almost everything, from the flow of good to the flow of ideas, internet service. In recente cases, it has been discuss about the restrictions appyied by some states to restrict access of underages to pornography in the web. I do not think it woul be good to frame the issue of press and opinion freedom in the universe of trade.

[Aparicio Caicedo]

sorry for typing mistakes. Is the "dormant commerce clause", among many other.

[Vydyanathan Lakshmanan]

Aparicio,

Internet restrictions within the US may well be within the DCC, but is not the EU-Chinese tension on this at a totally different platform? I mean atleast it terms of the applicable law we are looking at?

[Anon]

Most likely, the real agenda behind this law is to make it difficult/impossible for Turkey to join the EU, since Turkey has internet censorship (see http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2008/02/07/turkey-at-the-edge/ ). Turkey banned YouTube for 2 days over a video insulting Ataturk and banned all Wordpress blogs for a while last year. Their blocking is at the domain level.

[Aparicio Caicedo]

Yes, it is a completely platform, indeed. I am just saying that the underliyng logig behind that iniciative (treta Internet censorship as a trade issue) is the American legal perspective, framed by the DCC. Beside, using the WTO for non-commercial porpuses would be working against the Organization.