Mar 27, 1998

DUTY-FREE STORES IN CYBERSPACE

 

Rio de Janeiro, Mar 25 (IPS/Carlos Castilho) -- The Forrester Institute, a specialist Internet research firm, expects that in the next four years electronic commerce worldwide will reach the giddy eight of $350 billion.

In quick response, the US government has intensified pressure to create a worldwide free-trade zone on the Internet and has established May as the date in which the World Trade Organization (WTO) should approve the creation of a "cybernetic duty-free store."  

This "store" would erase all economic frontiers in the planet. Moreover, the United States would consolidate its commercial hegemony in the world to an extent that is almost unfathomable.  

Presently, the exchange of goods and services on the Internet still represents only a small fraction of worldwide global trade, but it is growing four times faster and developments in the financial sector may provide an example of what could happen in coming years. 

Ten years ago, the flow of capital by electronic means was marginal. Today, sums exceeding billions of dollars are moved daily by electronic means. If what has happened to financial markets is any indication, to speak of a planetary free-trade zone is not an exercise in futurology or science fiction.  

Consumers will benefit as the dream of the world-wide supermarket seems closer every day - despite the fact that all this likely will occur under the US tutelage.  

The United States already has a virtual monopoly of global knowledge in leading-edge technological developments in information and data transmission. The software giant Microsoft alone dominates 85% of computer operational systems. Without operational systems, such as DOS or Windows 95 (soon to be Windows 98), computers are like cars without a motor.  

Those who possess knowledge of such systems have the tools to grow more rapidly, while those who do not remain in the rearguard. Couple this with knowledge about how to operate an international duty-free store, and it is not difficult to image how the entire world may soon come to depend on US-owned mega-corporations.  

The idea of a planetary free-trade zone was first raised last year, when the White House made public a nine-point plan to eliminate all types of customs taxes on products distributed via electronic means. The elimination of taxes by no means implies free distribution. It is clear that consumers will pay for this service, but what many are seeking to abolish are the utilities of national governments through taxes and customs levies.  

The idea of a duty-free store has already been accepted in principle by the European Community, the only economic power bloc that could create obstacles to the overwhelming hegemony of the United States in trade over the Internet.

What currently is being discussed are technical details, such as the legal recognition of firms of buyers and sellers, or the guarantee of maintaining personal information in reserve. But according to Ira Magaziner - US President Bill Clinton's advisor on strategic issues involving the Internet - "it is simply a question of time and technological development."