A Legal-Technical Basis for a Computational Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement

With the emergence of new modes of governance, the article specifies a legal-technical basis – background, analytical structure, sources, methods, and research questions – to advance the notion of a ‘computable’ transatlantic trade agreement.

Abstract:

Applications of Computational Law (CompLaw) are emerging that allow for the expression and online publication of digital versions of rules as algorithms to improve accessibility for humans and support operationalization via machines. As instruments begin to refer to governance for, of, and by information and communications technology (ICT), this article introduces public and private branches of law to construct a five-point legal-technical basis for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) 'version 2.0' with computational rules (and data sources) in parallel to its natural language, other texts, and associated systems. 

First, the nature of the European Union (EU)-United States (US) relationship is described in the age of Computational Law and the Internet. Second, the analysis explores the ‘multilateral interface’ and proposals under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Joint Initiative on E-commerce. Third, existing and envisaged sources of EU and US trade, business, technology, and privacy law are compared. Fourth, the investigation frames institutional sources of transnational commercial law, including the principles, conventions, and model laws of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). Fifth, technical requirements to seize the CompLaw opportunity for transatlantic trade are articulated. 

Outputs of the specified analytical structure are set to contribute to the advancement of legal informatics at the nexus of EU-US trade and technology policy regimes.

Article by Craig Atkinson, WTI Non-Resident Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Singapore Management University's Yong Pung How School of Law, published by the Stanford –Vienna Transatlantic Technology Law Forum in the Transatlantic Antitrust and IPR Developments Newsletter Issue No. 1/2023 (May 12, 2023), pp. 31-37 (open access).