JUL 05, 2017 | JAPAN | EUROPEAN UNION
EU-Japan FTA: A 20th Century Trade Agreement
BRUSSELS — July 6, 2017 — While there may be many advantages to the EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement concluded today, the absence of provisions specific to digital trade limits the benefits for two economies that are digitizing at increasing speed.
“The future of the global economy lies in data. This is a missed opportunity for two economies so heavily reliant on digital trade. They’ve reached what is essentially a 20th century trade agreement,” said Victoria Espinel, President and CEO of BSA | The Software Alliance. “Future trade agreements must include strong digital trade and data flows provisions to enable 21st century technologies.”
Since 2013, the EU and Japan have been negotiating a comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement/Free Trade Agreement (EPA/FTA). BSA has been actively encouraging both sides to include digital trade in their FTA, and as part of that to include provisions on international data transfers. By way of contrast, Japan recently negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with the US, Canada, Australia and other countries, which includes strong digital trade provisions.
ÜBER BSA
BSA | The Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) ist die globale Stimme der Software-Industrie gegenüber Politik und Wirtschaft. Die Mitglieder der BSA gehören zu den innovativsten Unternehmen weltweit und erarbeiten neue Software-Lösungen, die die Wirtschaft antreiben und das moderne Leben von heute prägen.
Die BSA mit Hauptsitz in Washington, D.C., und Niederlassungen in über 30 Ländern weltweit leistet Pionierarbeit in der Schaffung von Programmen zur Einhaltung und Durchsetzung geistiger Eigentumsrechte und der Einführung von Richtlinien, auf deren Basis technologische Innovationen und die digitale Wirtschaft gefördert werden.