Data in international trade

The EU and Singapore

experience

In April 2025, the EU-Singapore Digital¹ Trade Agreement was signed. The parties agreed to:

1) Prohibit measures that restrict crossborder data transfers. For example, requiring the use of equipment located only in the EU without allowing the use of equipment in Singapore, or prohibiting EU companies from storing or processing data in Singapore, and vice versa.

2) Harmonize personal data protection regimes, taking into account the 1980 OECD Guidelines governing the Protection of Privacy² and Transborder Flows of Personal Data. The Guidelines, for example, include the use limitation principle, i.e. data may only be used in accordance with the purpose for which consent has been given.

3) Develop open government data that could be used in the production of digital trade goods and services. The following criteria are established for them: machine-readable format; possibility to work with data (editing, copying, etc.); access to data through a user-friendly and freely available interface; placement of open data together with metadata; access to data on a free-of-charge basis, etc.

4) Develop single window systems to³ simplify the administration of digital trade. It is envisaged to launch an information exchange between EU and Singapore customs authorities to facilitate the movement of e-commerce goods. For example, the exchange of customs information allows for the classification of goods by risk and the speeding-up of entry procedures for low-risk goods.

5) Counteract fraudulent practices against customers, such as advertising goods and services without the intention of supplying the goods (bait advertising).

Russia’s experience

Russia has not yet concluded international agreements on digital trade to facilitate cross-border data flows. However, the EAEU is working on several such agreements.

For example, in 2022 work on a draft Agreement on Data Circulation in the EAEU was⁴ launched. The text of the agreement is not yet available, but EAEU countries have national restrictions on data circulation (such as localization requirements in Russia and Kazakhstan). There is a lack of harmonization in data protection regimes, for example, the requirements for the format of consent are not harmonized (in Armenia and Belarus – formats are to be written and electronic, while in Russia and Kazakhstan any form is allowed).

In February 2025, the EAEU Agreement⁵ on Electronic Trade in Goods was approved. To increase the transparency of e-commerce in the EAEU, the states are obliged to provide access to open data used in the sphere of mutual e-commerce - their list will be approved by the EAEC. The national regime of personal data legislation is established. However, the Agreement does not cover the issue of protection of e-commerce participants, for example, it does not contain restrictions on unfair commercial practices (such as misrepresentation of the price of goods), does not cover the problems related to cross-border data flows.

From the monitoring issue No. 4 (16), April 2025. Download the full issue (PDF) · issue page at the Gaidar Institute