Trade Ministers agree Digital Trade Principles at the G7 Trade Track

The principles are aimed at demonstrating the G7’s commitment towards:

• open digital markets that are competitive, transparent and accessible to international trade and investment, including an opposition to digital protectionism and digital authoritarianism, as well as support for open, free and secure internet;
• free flow of data across borders with trust, ensuring unjustifiable obstacles are addressed while continuing to resolve privacy, data protection, and security concerns. G7 countries will cooperate to explore commonalities in regulatory approaches and promote interoperability between G7 members, as well as support the OECD work on developing common principles for trusted government access to personal data held by private sector for national security purposes;
• safeguards for workers, consumers and businesses directly engaged in or supporting digital trade, whereas businesses should not be required or coerced to transfer technology or provide access to source code or encryption keys as a condition of market access;
• digital trading systems that enable, amongst other things, the digitalisation of trade-related documents and streamlining of stakeholder interactions with border agencies; and
• achieving a fair and inclusive global governance, focusing on agreeing common rules to drive growth and address differences between countries’ regulations, ensuring rules for digital trade are future-proof and developing standards in line with the World Trade Organisation’s principles. 

Read the press release and G7 Trade Ministers' Digital Trade Principles.