RCEP's Contribution to Global Data Governance

Abstract

This contribution to the Afronomicslaw symposium on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), convened by Md. Rizwanul Islam, analyzes RCEP's electronic commerce chapter from a perspective of global data law and governance. RCEP features remarkable parallels to TPP, which pioneered new digital economy provisions in megaregulatory agreements. In contrast to TPP, RCEP allows its members to craft restrictive data policies they deem necessary without threat of external scrutiny or dispute settlement. In this way, RCEP might also influence the WTO's ongoing plurilateral negotiations for a new e-commerce agreement under the Joint Statement Initiative.

Keywords: RCEP, data governance, TPP, megaregulation, electronic commerce, digital trade, ASEAN, data localization, data flows, digital economy