The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Economy and Tourism, in cooperation with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), held the first Global Forum on Digital Trade and Digital Platforms and mapped legal recommendations toward a unified legal framework that could inform model legislation for digital commerce and platform operators. The work is framed as a legislative reference intended to help states and judicial authorities align legal policies and clarify rules and governance mechanisms for a rapidly expanding cross-border digital environment. Six dialogue sessions and a roundtable over 8 and 9 December 2025 covered platform governance from e-commerce to digital commerce and digital banking, including regulation of Buy Now Pay Later services, blockchain applications, and compliance and interoperability challenges for cross-border payments. Discussions also examined the integration of smart goods and embedded digital services and the role of artificial intelligence in compliance standards, liability systems, and consumer requirements, alongside contract-law issues such as the “triangular” contracting structures of platforms, disclosure and due diligence expectations, and approaches to rebalancing business-to-business relationships between platform operators and companies. The programme also referenced the European Law Institute’s Model Rules for Electronic Platforms and an UNCITRAL Secretariat discussion paper on a common legal framework for trade and digital platforms. The forum concluded with a Ministry–UNCITRAL Secretariat roundtable intended to draw conclusions and consider how the outputs could be absorbed into a future coordinated legal text on digital platforms and private law. Organisers also announced a second session of the Global Forum in Spain to continue developing and translating the unified legislative framework into practical steps.

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