Difficult customs procedures are among the notable impediments...

and processing can increase the costs associated with small online retail transactions, making it more difficult to conduct online business” especially for small- and medium-sized businesses, it said. The report noted that industry has pointed to low de minimis levels -- the value of an import shipment below which a company does not have to prepare customs documents -- as among the difficulties. Trade in products and services delivered via the Internet is on the rise globally and constitutes a growing portion of the U.S. economy, said the ITC. U.S. exports of digitally enabled services increased from $282.1 billion in 2007 to $356.1 billion in 2011, said the ITC findings. The report predicted U.S. and global companies will increase participation in digital trade sectors that include communication services, entertainment, social networking, information search/retrieval, productivity enhancement and e-commerce. All types of online content continue to grow in volume, including music, games, videos and books, said the report. It said several industries, such as retail, logistics, financial, professional, healthcare and education services, benefit from lower costs and higher efficiency potential provided by Internet technologies. The digital trade barriers and impediments to digital trade include localization requirements, divergent data privacy and protection rules, inadequate intellectual property protection and unclear legal frameworks, growing online censorship and traditional impediments, in addition to burdensome customs procedures. The report was published in July and publicly released Thursday. Part 2 is slated for publication in July 2014. The Senate Finance Committee requested the ITC to report on the digital trade role in both U.S. domestic and international commerce.