The Trade and Culture Debate in the Digital Era: How is the UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions Applicable in the Creative Economy?

Lilian Hanania’s contribution to the International Conference held at the University of Laval, Québec, Canada, on May 28-30, 2015, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE). The work starts from the notion of “cultural-exception” to look into the concept of “cultural diversity” consecrated under the CDCE and how the latter affects the “trade and culture” debate within a context of new technologies. The Convention adopts a holistic and systemic perspective, offering a global framework to policies related to the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions which remains pertinent within the creative economy context and in view of recent international trade agreements. Defending the necessity of considering cultural concerns when regulating the creative economy, the study puts forward proposals for actions founded on the CDCE in terms of coordination and political coherence (giving strength to the reaffirmation of culture as part of the sustainable development concept contained in the Convention) and within the scope of international trade regulation. The study is available in French at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2600647.