SINGAPORE – Chile, New Zealand and Singapore, three members of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), will begin a formal process to assess Canada’s application to join the Digital Trade Agreement.
This comes after Canada submitted a formal request to join TEBA on May 9.
The agreement, which entered into force in December 2020, is a pioneering agreement that establishes new approaches and collaborations on digital trade issues between the signatory countries.
On Thursday (Aug 25), Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Communications and Information and Infocomm’s Media Development Authority said in a joint statement that a New Zealand-led task force would examine Canada’s application.
The working group, made up of government representatives from member countries, will also discuss Canada’s ability to meet the agreement’s standards and commitments, and report to the Depa Joint Committee on proposed terms and conditions for Canada’s accession to the association.
Prospective members will need to demonstrate their efforts to date to make changes in their national laws and regulations to fulfill their obligations under the Agreement.
Singapore’s Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong said Singapore welcomes Canada’s request to join Depa and hopes more interested economies will join the agreement.
“As the country recovers from Covid-19, which accelerated digital transformation, more companies will benefit from the interoperability DEBA fosters and the benchmark it provides for international trade rules.
“It will support the digitization and internationalization efforts of companies,” he added.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong welcomed Canada’s request to join DEBA in a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
China and South Korea have applied to join the Digital Trade Agreement.
Chile heads a task force assessing China’s claim, while Singapore leads discussions on South Korea’s claim.
Depa aims to facilitate end-to-end digital commerce, enable reliable data flows and build trust in digital systems.
It promotes cooperation between companies in the fintech sector and develops fintech solutions for companies, and adopts or maintains laws for online consumer protection.
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