Summary:

Singapore clearly leads in ASEAN when it comes to the international governance of cross-border data flows. Using the Trade Agreements Provisions on Electronic-commerce and Data (TAPED) dataset, we study the ASEAN landscape of trade agreements that promote cross-border data transfers, by specifically focusing on provisions that either promote the free movement of data between two countries or that aim to limit data localization. This data shows that Singapore has not only signed more than three times as many trade agreements that promote free data flows as the second most active country Vietnam, but it has also signed the first such agreement nearly a decade before any other ASEAN country. Importantly, beyond the sheer number of agreements signed, the content of Singapore’s agreements is often used as inspiration for later multilateral agreements.

While many trade provisions relating to free data movement remain riddled with exceptions, they are an important avenue to harmonize ASEAN’s disparate and often incompatible national data protection regulations. How these issues will translate into ASEAN’s Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) that is currently under negotiation, and to what extent Singapore can promote an open but trusted approach to cross-border data flows will be interesting to watch.

Highlights:

• Singapore has signed the most trade agreements with provisions that facilitate cross-border data flows among ASEAN countries.
• Beyond the sheer number of agreements signed, Singapore also has significant influence regarding the content of subsequent multilateral agreements.
• While exceptions can weaken the impact of trade agreements, they remain important in harmonizing data flow policies in the region.

For more analysis, please see: Facilitating Data Flows Across ASEAN: Challenges and Policy Directions (Authors: LIU, Jingting, SENGSTSCHMID, Ulrike and GE, Yixuan)

Article By SENGSTSCHMID, Ulrike

Graphic By GE, Yixuan