European Union and Japan Signs Agreement on Cross-Border Data Flows

On 28 October 2023, the European Commission (“Commission”) announced a press release on its official website that signed an important agreement about digital trade, the EU digital agenda, privacy rules, and fulfilling the digital trade agenda of the EU's Indo-Pacific Strategy by the EU and Japan at the EU-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue (HLED).

It was aimed to make doing business in the online world simpler, less costly and more productive and promote the digitalization of our societies and economies among the world's top digital economies which are the EU and Japan.

This agreement will provide real benefits to companies operating in many sectors, from financial services to transportation, from machinery to e-commerce. It will enable them to process data efficiently, without cumbersome regulatory or storage requirements, and give them a predictable legal environment in which to thrive which was indicated. This is significant as it will ensure that companies do not need to physically store their data.

During HLED, the EU and Japan also affirmed their adherence to the rules-based international trading system and their dedication to shaping global data flow rules that respect our values and regulatory approaches.

The worth of the EU-27 data economy is estimated at €325 billion in 2019, corresponding to 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), and is expected to almost triple by 2025, reaching around €830 billion, or 5.8% of the EU's total GDP. For Japan, the data economy is estimated to represent 1.2% of GDP in 2019 which is released.

These similar clauses also will take part in agreements that will be contracting with Korea and Singapore.

You can access the full text of the press release here.

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