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Digitalization affects international trade on many levels, by transforming the way in which goods and services are traded and by creating entirely new, internationally traded digital products.The statistical definition of digital trade is based on the nature of the transaction, rather than on the characteristics of the product that is traded or on the characteristics of the actors involved in the transaction.Even if it is generally accepted that the current statistical frameworks are still well suited for measuring international trade,1 the fact that digital trade is not visible within existing statistics hinders the ability to assess the impact of trade policy and may lead to the misperception that digitalization in trade is not measured accurately.

Digitalization affects international trade on many levels,
by transforming the way in which goods and services
are traded and by creating entirely new, internationally
traded digital products. Just as importantly, digitalization
also has a significant transformative impact on many
existing industries: by “shrinking the space” between
consumers and producers, and among producers,
it provides previously unimaginable access to new
markets, particularly for micro, small and mediumsized enterprises (MSMEs).
Quantifying the overall impact of digitalization on
international trade is, however, beyond the scope
of this Handbook. The objective of this chapter, and
indeed of this Handbook, is to establish a common
understanding of (i) what “digital trade” refers to, and
(ii) how it relates to international trade as a whole.
One of the key concerns driving the demand for better
evidence on digital trade has been the perception
that large parts of the economy, and, by extension, of
international trade, are not being recorded because
of digitalization (Ahmad and Schreyer, 2016; Corrado
et al., 2021). Even if it is generally accepted that the
current statistical frameworks are still well suited for
measuring international trade,1
the fact that digital trade
is not visible within existing statistics hinders the ability
to assess the impact of trade policy and may lead to
the misperception that digitalization in trade is not
measured accurately.
The statistical definition of digital trade is based
on the nature of the transaction, rather than on the
characteristics of the product that is traded or on the
characteristics of the actors involved in the transaction.
This Handbook defines digital trade as:
“All international trade that is digitally ordered and/or
digitally delivered