Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
It was announced in Brussels on Saturday morning that the European Union and Japan had concluded, on the sidelines of the G7 Trade Ministerial Meeting in Osaka, a historic agreement to make doing business in the Internet world easier, less expensive and more efficient.
  The agreement was concluded at the EU-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue, co-chaired by the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, the Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Nishimura Yasutoshi, and the Japanese Foreign Minister. Yuko Kamikawa.
According to a European statement in Brussels, the European Union and Japan are among the largest digital economies in the world. “This deal is a milestone in our joint efforts to advance the digitalization of our societies and economies. Cross-border data flows are a crucial enabler of this development. Once ratified, the agreed provisions will be included in the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). They lay the foundation For a common approach on digital trade, sending a strong message against digital protectionism and arbitrary restrictions. It is also aligned with the EU's digital agenda and EU privacy rules, and implements the digital trade agenda of the EU's Indo-Pacific strategy. Similar negotiations with Korea and Singapore.
Today's agreement will provide real benefits to companies active in most sectors, from financial services, transportation and machinery to e-commerce. It will enable them to handle data efficiently without cumbersome administrative or storage requirements, and provide them with a predictable legal environment to succeed. An important element of the deal is the removal of costly data localization requirements, which represent an unnecessary burden on European and Japanese companies. This is important because it will ensure that companies are not required to physically store their data locally. Not only will this entail additional costs and complexity, as companies may be forced to build and maintain data storage facilities in multiple locations and duplicate the data they use, negatively impacting their competitiveness, but it could also undermine the security of this data.
During the HLED meeting, the EU and Japan also reaffirmed their commitment to the rules-based international trading system and their determination to shape global data flow rules that respect our values and regulatory approaches.
It is noteworthy that in October 2022, the European Union and Japan decided to start negotiations to include rules on cross-border data flows in their economic partnership agreement.
The European Union aims to include modern rules on digital trade in its agreements with trading partners. The EU-New Zealand Trade Agreement and the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement contain similar rules.
Furthermore, the EU has begun negotiations on a digital trade agreement with Singapore and will soon do so with South Korea.
The data economy is growing rapidly in the European Union. The EU27 data economy was valued at around €325 billion in 2019, representing 2.6% of GDP, and is expected to almost triple by 2025 to reach around €830 billion, representing 5.8% of GDP. Total for the European Union. For Japan, the data economy was estimated to account for 1.2% of GDP in 2019.