Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement

CHAPTER NINE
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Article 9.1: Objective, Scope and Coverage

1. The Parties recognise that electronic commerce increases economic growth and trade opportunities in many sectors and confirm the applicability of WTO rules to electronic commerce.

2. The Parties confirm that this Agreement applies to electronic commerce.

3. This Chapter does not impose obligations on a Party to allow a digital product to be transmitted electronically except in accordance with the obligations of that Party under the other Chapters of this Agreement.

Article 9.2: Customs Duties on Digital Products Transmitted Electronically

1. A Party shall not apply a customs duty, fee, or charge on a digital product transmitted electronically.

2. For greater certainty, paragraph 1 does not preclude a Party from imposing internal taxes or other internal charges on digital products transmitted electronically, provided that such taxes or charges are imposed in a manner consistent with this Agreement.

Article 9.3: Online Consumer Protection

1. The Parties recognise the importance of maintaining and adopting transparent and effective measures to protect consumers from fraudulent and deceptive commercial activities, as well as measures conducive to the development of consumer confidence, when they engage in electronic commerce.

2. Each Party shall adopt or maintain consumer protection laws to proscribe fraudulent and deceptive commercial activities that cause harm or potential harm to consumers engaged in electronic commerce.

Article 9.4: Protection of Personal Information

1. Each Party shall adopt or maintain legal, regulatory and administrative measures for the protection of personal information of a user engaged in electronic commerce and, when doing so, shall give due consideration to international standards for data protection of relevant international organisations of which both Parties are a member.

2. For greater certainty, this Chapter does not restrict the right of a Party to protect personal data and other information protected under the law of that Party.

Article 9.5: Cooperation

Recognising the global nature of electronic commerce, the Parties affirm the importance of:

• (a) working together to facilitate the use of electronic commerce by small and medium sized enterprises;
• (b) sharing information and experiences on:
• • (i) laws, regulations and programs involving  electronic commerce, including those related to data privacy, consumer confidence and protection, security in electronic communications, authentication, intellectual property rights and electronic government; and
  • (ii) fostering electronic commerce through the encouragement of the private sector to adopt codes of conduct, model contracts, guidelines and enforcement mechanisms;
• (c) working to maintain cross-border flows of information as an essential element in fostering a supportive environment for electronic commerce; and
• (d) actively participating in regional and multilateral forums, to promote the development of electronic commerce.

Article 9.6: Definitions

For the purposes of this Chapter:

digital product means a computer program, text, video, image, sound recording, or other digital product that is digitally encoded;

personal information means any information, including data, related to an identified or identifiable natural person;

telecommunications means the transmission and reception of signals by electromagnetic means; and

transmitted electronically means delivered through telecommunications, alone or in conjunction with other information and communication technologies.