Asean’s window of opportunity to write its own data rules

ON September 25, the world’s first fully digitalised cross-border movement of goods arrived in Singapore. The shipment, which came from the UK, marked a major milestone in trade history as the entire transaction process was wholly paperless. Enabled by the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement, a pioneering trade deal in the governance of digital trade, the transaction reflects both the success of digital integration and demand for progressive trade rules globally.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), too, strides forward in advancing digital integration. Asean launched negotiations on the Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) last month (September). Touted as the world’s first region-wide digital economy agreement, the DEFA is an opportunity for Asean to write its own rules for digital trade governance. With South-east Asia’s digital economy expected to be worth up to US$2 trillion by 2030 with the launch of a high-quality DEFA, rule-making in digital trade governance will enable Asean to leverage the growth opportunities presented by the rapidly growing digital economy.

Central to digital integration is the harmonisation of data regulations. Establishing clear rules that govern the movement, use and protection of cross-border data flows is key for countries to leverage an increasingly digitalised trade environment. From digital payments and digitalised custom procedures to data privacy and security, cross-border data flows underpin much of today’s global economic activities.