In this age of rapid digital transformations, the principle of technological neutrality can help the international economic community adapt dated rules to changing realities. While the acceptance of this principle would respond to the difficulty of timely norm making and norm updating in international relations, it could also cause legal uncertainty in the case of unforeseen technological developments in the future. Therefore, not every country today is willing to unconditionally acknowledge the applicability of ‘old’ rules for any emerging trading patterns enabled by, or based on, digital and other technological innovations. The World Trade Organization, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and several regional trade agreements have addressed technological neutrality in the context of electronic commerce and digital trade. This article examines this issue, focusing on such areas of trade regulation as services, intellectual property and paperless trading, and concludes that the principle of technological neutrality should be given universal recognition, supplemented by policy flexibilities where necessary.

中文翻译：

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数字贸易的技术中立和监管：我们能走多远？

在这个快速数字化转型的时代，技术中立原则可以帮助国际经济社会根据不断变化的现实调整过时的规则。虽然接受这一原则将应对国际关系中及时制定和更新规范的困难，但它也可能在未来不可预见的技术发展的情况下造成法律不确定性。因此，今天并不是每个国家都愿意无条件地承认“旧”规则对任何由数字和其他技术创新支持或基于数字和其他技术创新的新兴交易模式的适用性。世界贸易组织、联合国国际贸易法委员会和一些区域贸易协定已经解决了电子商务和数字贸易背景下的技术中立问题。