ABSTRACT
Policy issues regarding trade and direct investment in data goods and services are complex, partly because a variety of important developments are taking place simultaneously and within a very short time and partly because policymakers have differing concerns. This chapter reviews the more important existing arrangements relating to international trade and foreign direct investment in data services. It examines the mix of policy issues affecting international transactions by noting how certain key issues have been addressed by various countries by looking at various and often conflicting policy approaches or policy analogues, and by discussing some of the main elements that must be considered when formulating international policies. The discussion of national, bilateral, and multilateral devices and policies with relevance to international trade and foreign direct investment in data services illustrates the manner in which the sector issues are inevitably linked to other conventional policy areas.
