4 areas of interest for SMEs and trade biz in new SG-UK digital agreement

Singapore and the United Kingdom (UK) have concluded negotiations on the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement. The agreement includes binding disciplines on cornerstones of the digital economy, such as data, as well as cooperative elements in a wide range of emerging and innovative areas such as artificial intelligence, fintech and regulatory tech, digital identities and legal technology. 

Among the list of features in the agreement include the cooperation in promoting jobs and growth for SMEs. To that end, both markets will encourage SMEs to hem with international suppliers, buyers, and other potential business partners. Here are three areas from the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement that might pique the interest of the marketing industry:

1. Facilitate trust in digital systems and participation in the digital economy

Singapore and the UK will cooperate in promoting jobs and growth for SMEs, as they believe that SMEs play a special role in enhancing competitiveness and maintaining dynamism in the economy. SMEs will also be encouraged to participate in eCommerce platforms that will help link them with international suppliers, buyers, and other potential business partners. They will also remove barriers for participation in the digital economy, including women.

To ensure that companies using cryptography can trust the market within which they operate, neither of the markets will require the transfer of, or access to, companies' private keys and related technologies - such as algorithms expresses in the source code - as a condition of market access. 

2. Enable trusted data flows

Businesses operating in Singapore and the UK will be allowed to transfer information, including those which are generated or held by financial institutions, more seamlessly across borders with the assurance that they meet the requisite regulations. Disciplines against requirements for data localisation will also be implemented between Singapore and the UK. The disciplines will allow businesses to choose where their data is stored as well. 

Submarine cable systems form a critical part of the digital infrastructure that provide cross-border data and voice connectivity between countries and across regions. Hence, under the agreement, Singapore and the UK will ensure access and minimise risks to these systems and facilities to promote national, regional and global telecommunications connectivity. This includes the installation, maintenance and repair of the systems. 

To further encourage innovation, particularly by SMEs, both markets also plan to ensure that government information that has been made publicly available will be in a machine-readable and open format, with easy to use and freely available Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

3. Advancement of end-to-end digital trade

To support the development of safe and secure cross border ePayments, Singapore and the UK will promote transparent and facilitative rules, such as encouraging open APIs, adopting internationally accepted standards and promoting interoperability between ePayment systems.

At the same time, both markets will support the digitalisation and seamless exchange of key commercial documents by accepting electronic versions of trade administration documents. Both markets will also seek to facilitate cross-border digitalisation of supply chains, with a focus on promoting interoperability of electronic documents such as bills of lading and invoices. This will enable faster and cheaper transactions while reducing cost for businesses.

4. Cybersecurity and digital trade and identity

The digital trade facilitation partnership will unlock opportunities and provide solutions to barriers faced when digitising trade between the UK and Singapore. This will help to drive the development and adoption of digital trade facilitation solutions at a bilateral and international level. The benefits include reduced costs for businesses driving competitive pricing for consumers, a reduction in the carbon footprint of trade, and improving accessibility for SMEs to engage in cross-border trade.

Meanwhile, the partnership on digital identities cooperation will see greater cooperation between the UK and Singapore in the field of digital identity, with the aim of developing mutual recognition and interoperability between the respective digital identity regimes. According to a statement by the Ministry of Trade Relations, It is an important step in the route to achieving interoperability of digital identity regimes between different jurisdictions, which can bring tangible benefits such as more reliable identity verification and faster processing of applications. This would in turn reduce barriers in cross-border trade and enable businesses and individuals to navigate the international digital economy with greater ease, confidence and security.

Lastly, the cybersecurity partnership addresses bot markets' interest in addressing the international challenges and promoting bilateral collaborations to strengthen cybersecurity. The partnership will build on strong existing cyber cooperation between Singapore and the UK in seeking opportunities for collaboration in areas such as the Internet of Things security, promoting cyber resilience and capacity building. The partnership will also build on existing workstreams between both markets to build a secure and resilient cyberspace for businesses and consumers.

Minister-in-charge of trade relations S. Iswaran said that Singapore’s digital economy agreements build on and enhance the economic connectivity established through its extensive network of free trade agreements. "Reflecting our shared ambition, the agreement builds upon and, in some areas, goes further than our existing agreements. It will set a global benchmark for high-standard digital trade rules, and benefit people and businesses in our two countries. The agreement will enable businesses, especially our SMEs, to leverage a greater range of opportunities in our combined and growing digital markets," he added. 

Singapore and the UK had commenced negotiation talks on the agreement in June this year. According to a statement then by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Communications and Information and the Infocomm Media Development Authority, the new partnership looked to facilitate digital trade and open up new opportunities do enable business digitally between Singapore and the UK. This included establishing “forward-looking rules” to enable trusted cross-border data flows, prohibit data localisation, and ensure high standards in data protection.

This also marks Singapore’s third digital economy agreement, following the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement with Chile and New Zealand, and the Singapore-Australia Digital Economy Agreement.

Photo courtesy: 123RF

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