India boycotted the "Osaka Track" on digital economy at the G20 leaders' summit in Osaka last week, because it reportedly undermines multilateral negotiating processes based on consensus-based decision-making in global trade negotiations, and denies policy space regarding digital economy to developing countries. Along with India, Indonesia and South Africa also boycotted the Osaka Track. Developing countries have consistently demanded that negotiations on digital economy/e-commerce must be carried out on the basis of the 1998 WTO Work programme. Countries including the EU, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, UK, USA, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam signed the "Osaka Track", a framework for promoting cross-border data flow with enhanced protections for intellectual property, personal information, and cybersecurity. Japan circulated a text on digital trade to all G20 countries on June 26 seeking their approval of the Osaka Track for promoting plurilateral negotiations among 50 countries.…
