The World Customs Organization (WCO) has announced its support for the Group of Seven (G7) principles governing cross-border use of data and digital trade, agreed at a meeting last Friday (22.10.2021) in London.
LThe Digital Trade Principles cover five areas of importance: 1) open digital markets; 2) free flow of data with trust; 3) safeguards for workers, consumers and businesses; 4) digital trading systems; and 5) fair and inclusive global governance.
“The WCO welcomes the Digital Trade Principles designed with the ultimate goal of ensuring that digital trade, as well as international trade, is at the service of people,” the statement said, adding that it “takes note of the G7’s desire to ensure that electronic transmissions are free of customs duties, in line with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Moratorium on Customs Duties on Electronic Transactions.”
The agreement strikes a middle ground between the highly regulated data protection regimes used in European countries and the more open approach of the United States. In this regard, the official text states that “Data is intrinsic to the functioning of customs administrations, which collect large volumes of data on international trade.".
Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya said: “The WCO recognized these developments and began exploring how the global customs community can contribute to the principle of open government data.” And recalled that last year “a Manifesto for the Mobilization of Data in Customs, where better use of Customs data was explored. In the short term, we plan to work with Members to develop the international Customs data ecosystem, incorporating the principle of open government data.”
The G7 highlights the importance of personal data protection and privacy policy as key measures to enable the free flow of data with confidence. The statement notes that “these measures are in line with the responsible use of advance passenger information (API) and passenger name records (PNR) to facilitate passenger flows and secure international travel.”
“It should be noted that the Principles on Digital Trading Systems refer to the need to digitize the commercial environment, a process that the OMA advocates through the single window environment and the OMA Data Model, whose objective is to streamline the cross-border regulatory process by eliminating redundancies, simplifying procedures and formalities, and also harmonizing and standardizing data processing,” the statement clarifies.
The G7 consists of the United States, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Canada. (G7 Trade Ministers' Digital Trade Principles) (WCO Press Release)
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