‘India-UK trade pact needs data accord’
NEW DELHI: The India-UK freetrade agreement should include a data adequacy agreement that facilitates the cross-border movement of personal data based on mutual adequacy, said Kevin McCole, managing director of the UK India Business Council, amid ongoing discussions between the two countries on the trade deal.
UKIBC, an adviser to the British government’s Department for International Trade (DIT), said in an interview that new and existing businesses were keen to invest in India after the country revoked its retrospective taxation law.
India and the UK formally launched active dialogue to converge in a substantial early harvest trade deal within the next three months while looking at a comprehensive FTA by the end of FY23.
While India is looking to gain more flexible visa norms for its professionals going to the UK besides lower tariffs on certain goods, the UK has sought to lower import duties on whiskey and automobiles, apart from simplified customs procedures and standards.
Alignment in data protection rules has come up as one of the significant points of discussion, with remote work becoming a norm and several services such as education, healthcare, shopping, and banking are increasingly being done on digital platforms in both countries.
“We would like to see the FTA include provisions that support core features of a thriving international digital environment – cross-border data transfers, personal information protection, and mechanisms to promote interoperability among privacy law frameworks, transparent access to government information, and consumer protection and choice online,” McCole said.
He said a framework that allows digital services to thrive is critical, suggesting a data adequacy agreement between the two sides.
“A data adequacy agreement that facilitates the cross-border movement of personal data based on mutual adequacy,” he said, adding that IP-rich, digital services will increasingly dominate the trading relationship in the years and decades to come between the two countries.
The UK has entered into a data adequacy agreement with the European Union post-Brexit, which allows personal data to flow freely from the EU and wider European Economic Area (EEA) to the UK.
As a result, businesses and organizations in the UK can continue to receive personal data from the EU and EEA without having to put additional arrangements in place with European counterparts, as per the agreement, which in turn supports trade, innovation, investment and assists with law enforcement agencies tackling crime.