31st July 2024
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke TD and Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary TD have today welcomed the news that an agreement has been reached on a Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) between the EU and Singapore, which complements the 2019 EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. Negotiations for the DTA concluded on 25 July 2024.
Commenting on the conclusion of negotiations, Minister Burke said:
"Ireland has a significant trade relationship with Singapore with trade worth €22 billion in 2022, 93% of which was accounted for by services. The EU Singapore Digital Trade Agreement will boost trade connection and provide further opportunities for growth, bringing the preferential trade partnership into the digital domain at a time when more than half of EU trade in services is digitally delivered. The Digital Trade Agreement is a modern, self-standing agreement, the first of its kind concluded by the EU. It sets a high standard for digital trade and rules for cross border data flows between the EU and Singapore and reflects Ireland’s and the EU’s ambition for digital trade globally.”
The DTA builds on the EU’s approach for digital and data rules that puts people and their rights at the centre and clarifies that the EU’s personal data protection rules will not be affected. The Agreement ensures full respect for the EU’s privacy and data protection framework, and EU’s regulatory space in pursuing legitimate public policy objectives.
Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Dara Calleary also welcomed the agreement and said:
“Digital trade is creating new opportunities for economic growth and high-quality employment in Ireland and across the EU. For an advanced economy like Ireland, digital trade is an important element in fostering innovation in our industries, including our SMEs which enables Ireland to continue to create jobs, prosperity and generate sustainable, long-term productivity growth.”
The conclusion of this agreement provides Irish exporters with greater market access and a greater level playing field which will help Irish enterprises to further diversify their markets. Irish-owned SMEs are developing strong trade links with Singapore and this trade is growing steadily. More than 130 Irish SMEs have a presence in Singapore and Enterprise Ireland has been working with companies on the ground in Singapore to further grow their business.
Note for editors
The European Union launched negotiations for a Digital Trade Agreement with Singapore on 23 July 2023, these negotiations have been conducted in record time.
- The 2019 EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement has ensured the creation of long-established and robust economic ties between the European Union and Singapore. Annual EU-Singapore trade in goods and services reached 130 billion euro in 2022, a 28% increase on a year-on-year basis. Singapore is a major destination for European investments in Asia, and the second-largest Asian investor in the EU, after Japan.
- The Agreement provides for digital trade rules that enhance consumer protection online, provide legal certainty for businesses that want to engage in cross-border digital trade, for instance, by recognising the legal validity and enforceability of electronic contracts and enabling use of electronic signatures. It will make it easier for EU companies to service their customers in Singapore directly from the EU.
- The Agreement includes rules on cross-border data flows, the protection of privacy and personal data, prohibition of customs duties on electronic transmissions, rules on electronic contracts, electronic authentication and trust services, the protection of source code against unauthorised disclosure, online consumer trust, unsolicited direct marketing communications, open government data as well as regulatory cooperation on digital trade.
- The Agreement will also tackle protectionist practices and policies, for example, by prohibiting unjustified data localisation measures and thus ensuring cross border data flows free of unjustified barriers, as well as through rules tackling forced technology transfers.
Where relevant, the negotiations with Singapore have taken into account the progress already made in the WTO e-commerce negotiations with a view to enhancing the level of ambition bilaterally, as well as to broaden the scope of the agreement, notably to include commitments on source code and data flows (that is, two issues that are currently not discussed under the WTO e-commerce negotiations).
Trade stats
- With a total value of €77.6 billion, Singapore was the EU’s fifth-largest trading partner for trade in services in 2022.
- In 2023, Singapore was the EU’s 20th biggest trading partner for trade in goods, with a total value of €52.6 billion.
- In 2023 the trade of goods with Ireland reached €1.7 billion. The total value of services in 2022 was €20.2 billion.
ENDS
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