Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate she has made of the benefit of the data chapter in the UK-Japan free trade agreement to UK GDP; and if she will make a statement.

The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) does not contain a bespoke data chapter; data provisions sit within the E-Commerce section under Chapter 8 of the Agreement. The CEPA E-Commerce provisions go further than the existing EU-Japan agreement on many aspects of digital trade with a number of cutting-edge rules that reflect the status of the UK and Japan as digital leaders. Examples of CEPA provisions that were not included in the EU-Japan agreement include an agreement to avoid unjustified restrictions on the flow of data between the UK and Japan, a commitment to uphold world-leading standards of protection for individuals’ personal data, a commitment to uphold the principles of net neutrality, and a ban on unjustified data localisation.

Many of the new E-Commerce provisions in CEPA on digital and data are likely to have a positive economic impact. Digitally delivered trade accounted for around one third of trade between the UK and Japan in 2019. Digital and data provisions are cross cutting, thereby supporting the whole of UK trade with Japan.