Digital Trade and E-Commerce Policy Training Course

Duration 10 days 18 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Trade Ministry Officials, Digital Economy Policymakers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PP-043

Before you join: Participants should have practical familiarity with public policy processes, regulation, trade, ICT policy, customs, consumer protection or economic development.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Digital trade policy now affects market access, customs administration, taxation, consumer protection, cross-border data flows, cybersecurity and competition. Governments must encourage legitimate online commerce while protecting public interests, meeting international commitments and avoiding rules that create unnecessary barriers for firms and consumers. Policy choices can affect export growth, SME participation, investment, public revenue and trust in digital markets.

This course examines the legal, economic and institutional foundations of digital trade and e-commerce policy. Participants assess policy options using WTO rules, OECD privacy principles, electronic transactions law, regulatory impact assessment and stakeholder consultation methods. They learn to map a national digital trade ecosystem, identify regulatory gaps, draft policy measures, assess trade and distributional effects, and prepare implementation arrangements for public agencies.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with policy cases, group analysis, negotiation simulations and structured application work. Cases draw on customs modernisation, online consumer complaints, cross-border data transfers, platform regulation, electronic signatures and digital trade agreement provisions. Participants develop a complete digital trade policy package for a realistic national or sectoral issue, including a problem statement, policy objectives, options appraisal, consultation plan, implementation roadmap and monitoring indicators. Successful participants receive a certificate of completion.

The course is designed for officials and advisers who contribute to trade, digital economy, ICT, customs, consumer protection, investment, competition, taxation or regulatory reform policy. It also suits staff from development agencies, regulators, business associations and public institutions supporting e-commerce growth.

What you will be able to do

  • Map a national digital trade ecosystem using value-chain and stakeholder analysis
  • Assess digital trade measures against WTO obligations and trade agreement provisions
  • Draft policy objectives, regulatory options and implementation responsibilities for e-commerce reform
  • Apply regulatory impact assessment to compare economic, legal and distributional effects
  • Design cross-border data governance measures using OECD Privacy Guidelines and risk controls
  • Evaluate electronic transactions rules using functional equivalence and technology-neutrality principles
  • Prepare stakeholder consultation plans for contested digital trade policy proposals
  • Produce a digital trade policy package with indicators, governance arrangements and review points

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce stronger briefing notes on digital trade measures and regulatory choices
  • Interpret trade agreement provisions affecting e-commerce and cross-border data flows
  • Assess proposed rules for likely business, consumer, trade and administrative effects
  • Contribute confidently to inter-ministerial digital economy policy discussions
  • Build a reusable policy package for a current workplace reform priority

For your organisation

  • Improves coherence between trade, ICT, customs, consumer and data policy
  • Reduces poorly designed rules that create avoidable barriers to online commerce
  • Strengthens preparation for digital trade negotiations and treaty implementation
  • Creates clearer implementation responsibilities across regulators and public agencies
  • Supports evidence-based reforms for SME participation in domestic and export e-commerce

Course modules

18 modules over 10 days

Participants can define digital trade policy scope and identify the public interests it must balance.

  • Digital trade scope: goods, services, data, platforms and electronic transactions
  • E-commerce business models: marketplaces, direct sales, subscriptions and gig platforms
  • Public policy objectives: growth, trust, competition, inclusion and national security
  • Distinguishing digital trade rules from domestic digital economy regulation
  • Value-chain mapping from digital seller to consumer, payment and delivery
  • Policy failures: information asymmetry, externalities, market power and coordination gaps

Participants can interpret economic evidence and select indicators for digital trade policy decisions.

  • Trade cost components: search, payment, logistics, compliance and returns
  • Network effects and multi-sided markets in online platform competition
  • Measuring e-commerce through business surveys, customs data and household surveys
  • UNCTAD B2C E-commerce Index indicators and national data limitations
  • Separating digitised trade flows from domestic online retail activity
  • Distributional effects on SMEs, women entrepreneurs, rural firms and consumers

Participants can map institutions, market participants, infrastructure and constraints affecting e-commerce.

  • Ecosystem map covering connectivity, identity, payments, logistics and dispute resolution
  • Actor analysis for ministries, regulators, platforms, banks, couriers and associations
  • Journey mapping for a small firm's cross-border online sale
  • Constraint diagnosis using problem trees and causal assumptions
  • Institutional mandates assessed for overlaps, gaps and coordination failures
  • Baseline indicators selected for access, adoption, cost, trust and exports

Participants can frame policy problems and assign responsibilities for coordinated digital trade action.

  • Problem statements structured through affected groups, causes and measurable consequences
  • Theory of change linking interventions, outputs, outcomes and assumptions
  • Policy objectives written using specific, measurable and time-bound criteria
  • Options screening against legality, feasibility, cost and expected effectiveness
  • Inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms: committees, memoranda and shared workplans
  • Regulator independence, accountability and decision rights within policy governance

Participants can assess legal rules supporting valid electronic records, signatures and transferable documents.

  • Functional equivalence principle for electronic writing, signature and original requirements
  • Technology neutrality and non-discrimination in electronic transactions legislation
  • Electronic signatures: reliability tests, certification services and evidential weight
  • UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce core legal provisions
  • Electronic transferable records under UNCITRAL MLETR and control concepts
  • Paperless trade interoperability among customs, ports, banks and traders

Participants can formulate proportionate rules for personal data, business data and cross-border transfers.

  • Data categories: personal, confidential business, public sector and anonymised data
  • OECD Privacy Guidelines: collection limitation, purpose specification and accountability
  • Cross-border transfer mechanisms: adequacy, contracts, consent and certification
  • Data localisation rationales tested against necessity, proportionality and implementation costs
  • Government access safeguards: legality, purpose limitation, oversight and redress
  • Data governance roles for controllers, processors, regulators and public bodies

Participants can specify consumer safeguards and enforcement arrangements for online transactions.

  • Pre-contract disclosure requirements for price, identity, terms and delivery
  • Unfair commercial practices: dark patterns, fake reviews and misleading claims
  • Online dispute resolution models, escalation pathways and enforceable remedies
  • Platform accountability for seller information, unsafe products and consumer complaints
  • Cross-border consumer cooperation through information sharing and referral mechanisms
  • Complaint data analysis for enforcement priorities and recurring market failures

Participants can identify customs and logistics reforms that reduce e-commerce trade friction.

  • WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement provisions relevant to electronic processing
  • Advance electronic data for risk assessment and pre-arrival clearance
  • De minimis thresholds, revenue effects and administrative cost trade-offs
  • Risk management models for high-volume low-value consignments
  • Single window design linking customs, licensing agencies and border operators
  • Returns procedures for cross-border e-commerce parcels and consumer refunds

Participants can analyse tax policy choices affecting online sales, platforms and imported digital services.

  • VAT registration models for non-resident suppliers and online marketplaces
  • Platform reporting obligations for seller income and transaction records
  • Customs valuation issues for bundled goods, shipping and promotional discounts
  • Digital services taxation principles, treaty issues and administrative feasibility
  • Tax compliance burdens for micro-enterprises selling through online channels
  • Data sharing protocols between tax administrations, customs and payment providers

Participants can assess platform-related intellectual property and intermediary policy options.

  • Notice-and-action systems for counterfeit goods and copyright-infringing content
  • Intermediary liability models: conditional safe harbour, knowledge and response duties
  • Trademark protection challenges in online listings, keywords and marketplace advertising
  • Trade secret protections for data, algorithms and confidential business information
  • Platform terms of service as private rules affecting market access
  • Evidence preservation requirements for online enforcement and dispute proceedings

Participants can integrate cybersecurity and identity controls into digital trade policy measures.

  • Cybersecurity risk assessment using assets, threats, vulnerabilities and impacts
  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework functions: identify, protect, detect, respond, recover
  • Incident reporting thresholds, notification duties and regulator coordination procedures
  • Digital identity assurance levels for public services and commercial transactions
  • Authentication methods: passwords, biometrics, tokens and multi-factor authentication
  • Trust services for electronic seals, timestamps, certificates and document integrity

Participants can identify WTO disciplines relevant to proposed digital trade measures.

  • GATS modes of supply applied to digitally delivered services
  • Most-favoured-nation treatment and national treatment in online service regulation
  • Market access limitations affecting foreign suppliers and platform operations
  • General exceptions analysis: policy objective, necessity and non-discrimination
  • WTO e-commerce moratorium and customs duties on electronic transmissions
  • TBT and SPS considerations for digitally enabled goods trade

Participants can compare digital trade agreement provisions and formulate national negotiating positions.

  • Agreement chapters covering paperless trading, data flows and consumer protection
  • Comparing binding obligations, best-endeavour clauses and cooperation commitments
  • Reservation schedules, exceptions and policy space in digital trade texts
  • National position papers structured around interests, evidence and red lines
  • Coalition building among agencies before international negotiation sessions
  • Text-based negotiation techniques for brackets, alternatives and compromise language

Participants can assess competition concerns arising from digital platforms and related policy responses.

  • Market definition for multi-sided platforms, ecosystems and digital services
  • Competition indicators: concentration, switching costs, interoperability and self-preferencing
  • Ex ante platform rules compared with case-by-case competition enforcement
  • Interoperability mandates, data portability and technical standard-setting choices
  • Merger review concerns involving data assets and network effects
  • Public procurement rules affecting platform access and domestic supplier participation

Participants can design policy measures that broaden participation in online domestic and export markets.

  • SME readiness assessment covering skills, payments, logistics and legal compliance
  • Gender-responsive policy analysis for access, safety, finance and market participation
  • Rural connectivity barriers linked to delivery networks and digital identity
  • Export readiness support for product standards, listings and customs documentation
  • Public-private partnerships for seller training, logistics and payment access
  • Targeted support criteria preventing capture by established large firms

Participants can compare policy options using structured regulatory impact assessment methods.

  • Regulatory impact assessment stages: problem, objectives, options, impacts and review
  • Baseline scenario defined without proposed intervention or regulatory change
  • Cost-benefit analysis using compliance costs, administrative burdens and consumer effects
  • Multi-criteria analysis for non-monetised privacy, security and inclusion impacts
  • Small business test examining disproportionate compliance and reporting requirements
  • Risk register assigning likelihood, consequence, controls and accountable owners

Participants can prepare consultation, implementation and performance-monitoring arrangements for approved reforms.

  • Stakeholder mapping by influence, interest, representation and affected rights
  • Consultation questions designed to test assumptions and collect usable evidence
  • Implementation roadmaps specifying actions, owners, milestones and dependencies
  • Administrative guidance, staff procedures and public communications planning
  • Performance indicators covering uptake, processing times, complaints and trade costs
  • Review clauses, evaluation methods and triggers for policy adjustment

Participants can build, review and present a complete digital trade policy package for a defined public policy problem.

  • Policy problem statement supported by ecosystem evidence and baseline indicators
  • Objectives, target groups and theory of change assembled into policy logic
  • Regulatory options compared through legal, economic and operational assessment
  • Trade agreement compatibility checked against commitments, exceptions and reservations
  • Consultation, implementation, governance and monitoring arrangements consolidated into roadmap
  • Peer review and formal presentation of the completed policy package

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. National digital trade ecosystem mapping template
  2. Digital trade policy options appraisal matrix
  3. Cross-border data governance checklist
  4. Electronic transactions legal gap-analysis tool
  5. Digital trade regulatory impact assessment template
  6. Digital trade policy implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Trade Ministry Officials — responsible for market access, trade negotiations or export policy
  • Digital Economy Policymakers — developing national e-commerce and digital transformation measures
  • Customs and Border Officials — improving paperless trade and low-value consignment procedures
  • ICT Regulators — setting rules for data, platforms, electronic transactions and online services
  • Consumer Protection Officials — addressing online fraud, disclosure, redress and product safety
  • Development Programme Managers — supporting inclusive e-commerce and SME export initiatives

Skills and tools covered

Digital trade policyRegulatory impact assessmentCross-border data governanceE-commerce legal frameworksTrade agreement analysisPolicy implementation planning

Tools and standards

WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services, OECD Privacy Guidelines, UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records, NIST Cybersecurity Framework

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish legal, economic and institutional concepts, followed by policy cases from public agencies and regulated markets. Participants work in groups to map digital trade systems, compare regulatory options, analyse treaty text, conduct impact assessments and prepare consultation approaches. Negotiation simulations examine competing positions on data flows, consumer protection and market access. Each participant applies the methods to a policy issue relevant to their institution, receiving structured peer and instructor feedback.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with public policy processes, regulation, trade, ICT policy, customs, consumer protection or economic development. Experience drafting briefing notes, reviewing legislation, consulting stakeholders or contributing to policy projects is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading short legal and policy texts and discussing national institutional arrangements. No law degree, economics degree, coding knowledge, trade negotiator experience or prior specialist knowledge of WTO law is required. The course explains essential trade and digital policy concepts before applying them.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need some familiarity with public policy, regulation, trade, ICT, customs, consumer protection or economic development. A specialist legal or economics background is not required because core concepts are introduced before policy analysis begins.

Bring a current policy issue, draft law, strategy, consultation document or implementation challenge from your institution if possible. Participants can use this material to develop their policy package, although course cases are available for those without a current project.

It is designed primarily for public officials, regulators and advisers working on trade, digital economy, customs, consumer protection, data, taxation or competition matters. It also suits development programme staff and business association representatives who contribute to policy dialogue.

This course addresses public rules, institutions and international commitments rather than online sales tactics, website development or marketing campaigns. Participants examine how governments can enable electronic commerce while managing consumer, data, security, revenue and competition concerns.

Participants leave with templates for ecosystem mapping, policy options appraisal, impact assessment, consultation and implementation planning. These can support a cabinet submission, regulatory review, treaty preparation, national strategy or agency workplan.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours. The first part establishes policy foundations and begins applied work; the later sessions deepen legal, economic, implementation and negotiation analysis before the final policy-package presentation.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

More courses in Public Policy

Public Policy Business Licensing and Regulatory Reform Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Public Policy Business Reform Implementation Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Public Policy Certificate Course in Public Policy and Delivery 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Public Policy Cultural Policy and Creative Economy Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Public Policy Environmental Governance and Policy Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Public Policy Environmental Policy and Regulation Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Public Policy Ethics in Public Policy Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Public Policy Evidence-Informed Policy and Development Planning Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov