The Problem of Digital Trade Regulation: Silences Regarding Labour and their Potential Disruption by a Sustainability Agenda

The growing impact of digital trade on work in global supply chains is readily detectable but there are curious regulatory silences on labour-related issues. The key problem identified in digital trade law is national obstruction to the free flow of data needed to promote online ordering and delivery of goods and services. In comparison, the concerns of those whose work is constitutive of digital trade, such as platform workers, are largely overlooked. Arguably, provisions often found in trade agreements relating to digital privacy and the effects of algorithmic management could be utilised by those at work. However, there remain uncertainties regarding their scope and therefore their effect on labour markets. Meanwhile, other labour-related issues concerning migration have not even entered the digital trade governance discourse. The case for addressing these silences is presented here, alongside exploration of the potential for a sustainability agenda to disrupt and reshape this representation of the digital trade problem. In this respect, reference to ‘digital inclusion’ in trade agreements seems to suggest that no one should be left behind, including those in the world of work. Sustainability objectives can also be linked to ‘digital product passports’ which could address breaches of fundamental international labour standards associated with production and disposal of digital hardware in the circular economy. However, it is much too early to say that we have witnessed a genuine revolution in the dominant perception of what it is appropriate to regulate in the sphere of digital trade. Labour remains marginalised.