Japan and the EU adopt agreement on cross-border data flows that speeds up processes

Japan and the European Union (EU) adopted this Saturday a new agreement on cross-border data flows that will help make digital transactions faster and cheaper.

The pact was closed today in Osaka, western Japan, during a high-level dialogue on the sidelines of a G7 Trade meeting and in which the European Trade Commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, participated; the head of the Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry, Nishimura Yasutoshi; and the Japanese Foreign Minister, Yoko Kamikawa.

Today’s is “a historic agreement to make doing business in the online world easier, less expensive and more efficient” and will contribute to “joint efforts to advance the digitization of our societies and economies”, in which data flows are “crucial”, they said in a joint statement.

Once the provisions of the pact have been ratified in the respective territories, they will be included in their Economic Partnership Agreement.

The agreement will provide “real benefits” to companies, giving them the opportunity to manage data efficiently “without cumbersome administrative or storage requirements, and will provide them with a predictable legal environment,” the parties noted in the text.

Among the highlights of the pact is the elimination of data localization requirements, which until now required companies to physically store their data locally and which in many cases required entities to expressly build facilities in which they must duplicate data to store it. .

This meant higher costs for the construction and maintenance of the premises, and additional logistical complexities, as well as a greater risk to data security, which can now be avoided, they added.

The agreement comes after a year of negotiations.

The EU already has similar provisions in its bilateral trade agreements with New Zealand or the United Kingdom, and is currently in negotiations with Singapore or South Korea.

(With EFE information)