Skip to main content
Unit of study_

LAWS6251: Legal Issues in Digital Trade

2024 unit information

This unit analyses domestic laws in major jurisdictions and international laws to regulate digital trade. Digital Trade is broadly defined to cover traditional e-commerce where tangible products are sold via Internet but delivered offline; more importantly, it also includes modern intangible digital products sold and transmitted electronically online. This unit first surveys relevant statutes and cases in Australia, the US, the EU, and China. Then, it discusses digital trade regulations embodied by major free trade agreements and judicial assistance treaties, or adopted by international organizations such as WTO, APEC, and UN. It covers the following areas: classification of digital products and their treatment, online consumer and privacy protection, law for online platforms/interactive computer service, principles on access to and use of the Internet for digital trade, law to regulate cross-border flow of data, (de)localization of computing facilities, law for blockchain and smart contract, law for digital currency, and dispute resolution (jurisdiction, choice of law and judgment recognition and enforcement). This unit provides an opportunity for graduates to appreciate and assess the legal challenges brought by digital trade and embark on comparing and criticizing diversified solutions adopted by different jurisdictions and international organizations. Further information about this unit is available in the Sydney Law School timetable https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/4533/pages/postgraduate-lecture-timetable, unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units and academic staff profile https://www.sydney.edu.au/law/about/our-people/academic-staff.html

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Law

Code LAWS6251
Academic unit Law
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
? 
None
Corequisites:
? 
None
Prohibitions:
? 
None
Assumed knowledge:
? 
None

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Critically evaluate international and domestic law, including international standards regulating digital trade.
  • LO2. Employ advanced legal research skills to critically analyse and evaluate primary legal materials including statute and case law.
  • LO3. Critically evaluate hypothetical legal problem scenarios in digital trade and apply relevant legal principles to formulate responses.
  • LO4. Communicate well-structured, logical legal arguments to diverse audiences using clear and concise language and referencing national and international law and standards that regulate digital trade.

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Intensive June 2024
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1a 2024
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Intensive November 2020
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Intensive November 2021
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Intensive November 2021
Block mode Remote
Semester 1a 2023
Block mode Remote

Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.