Interoperability of Data Governance Regimes: Challenges for Digital Trade Policy

Whereas this approach could offer the flexibility for different groups of WTO members to negotiate, and sign up to, sets of commitments on issues such as the treatment of digital products or digital identities, a principal consensus is needed on foundational issues such as the definition of digital trade and the interoperability of data flows, as these cross-cutting aspects affect almost any kind. [...] The anatomy of interoperability of data governance The need for coordination on cross-border data flows arises in a variety of areas of digital trade, which we describe in the first subsection. [...] The use of incompatible technical systems is also a risk to competition in the digital sector, if it is used to lock customers in and competitors out.11 The flip side of interoperability is the risk of stifling innovation towards higher standards. [...] The shift of these discussions to the realm of trade does not immediately solve the entrenched conflicts between the promise of the internet to connect humanity by bringing universal access to information on the one hand and the priorities of governments and powerful private actors on the other hand, e.g. [...] This is different from data flows in digital trade, where the objective is to protect the human right to privacy of people in the country receiving the service.