Digital trade regulation should not become barrier to digitalization

"The Eurasian Economic Commission advocates that a possible regulation of digital trade should not be a barrier to digitalization," Veronika Nikishina, member of the EEC Board, said at a roundtable discussion today.
According to her, several issues have to be resolved: what to regulate, how and to what extent. In addition, countries of the Eurasian Economic Union have to decide on a single standard for the entire union. The Minister of EEC touched on the digital trade issue.
"We are faced with the task of ensuring safety of goods that people buy through online stores. From the point of view of digital commerce, a consumer is not protected from the problems associated with integrators who sort and send goods. Another issue is the payment of VAT. In this part, a traditional store is in a non-competitive situation," Veronika Nikishina stressed.
She added that each of the states of the union was developing its own regulatory framework in this direction. "But it should not be so different to make development of digital trade in EEU impossible," the board member stated.