Policy paper

Digital trade pillar of the UK-Taiwan ETP

Published 30 June 2025

AN ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN

THE TAIPEI REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

AND 

THE BRITISH OFFICE TAIPEI

ON ESTABLISHING THE DIGITAL TRADE PILLAR

OF AN ENHANCED TRADE PARTNERSHIP

BETWEEN TAIWAN AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

THE TAIPEI REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE BRITISH OFFICE TAIPEI (collectively, the ‘Participants’ and each a ‘Participant’);

REAFFIRMING their shared ambition to further strengthen bilateral trade relations, building upon and REAFFIRMING their commitments under the Arrangement for an Enhanced Trade Partnership (‘ETP’) signed on 8 November 2023;

RECOGNISING the fast-paced and evolving nature of digital trade, the importance of fostering an open, fair, trusted, and secure digital environment that promotes consumer and business interests, and the role of cooperation between the Participants in increasing and enhancing opportunities for businesses, consumers, and society at large;

HAVE REACHED the following understanding:

1. Existing rights and obligations

The Participants reaffirm their rights and obligations under the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) Agreements.

2. Open, fair and competitive digital markets

(a) The Participants affirm their support for open digital markets and their opposition to digital protectionism. The Participants recognise the benefits of digital markets that are competitive, transparent, fair, and accessible to international trade and investment.

(b) The Participants recognise the importance of levelling the playing field and promoting innovation in digital markets. The Participants will seek opportunities to cooperate by exchanging information on case studies and best practices and engaging in dialogue to improve mutual understanding of different policy approaches to the promotion of fair and competitive digital markets.

(c) The Participants recognise the importance of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions – including the transmitted content – in accordance with the Declaration on Global Electronic Commerce, adopted by the General Council of the WTO at Geneva on 20 May 1998, providing a moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. The Participants also acknowledge the importance of supporting a permanent prohibition of such duties.

(d) The Participants recognise that digital trade supports entrepreneurship and empowers a full range of businesses to participate in the global economy, notably women entrepreneurs and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (‘MSME’s).

(e) The Participants recognise the benefits of cooperation in tackling the digital divides between and within countries, taking account of the specific needs of low-income countries, notably the least developed countries.

(f) The Participants will seek opportunities to cooperate and exchange information on matters relating to digital inclusion, including the participation of women and other groups and individuals that disproportionately face barriers to digital trade.

(g) The Participants recognise the importance of an open, free and secure internet to an innovative digital economy.

3. Data flows

(a) The Participants recognise that the free flow of data across borders enables individuals and businesses to harness the opportunities of the digital economy and supports the trade of goods and services.

(b) The Participants recognise the benefits of the protection of personal data with high enforceable standards, including when it is transferred across borders.

(c) The Participants will seek opportunities to enhance cooperation on data governance and data protection and identify opportunities to promote compatibility and interoperability of their respective frameworks, creating a less burdensome and more consistent regulatory environment for businesses to operate in.

(d) The Participants recognise that unjustified data localisation requirements are harmful to fair and open competition, increase costs, and often prevent MSMEs and start-ups from doing business in other countries. The Participants also acknowledge the benefit of addressing unjustified obstacles to cross-border data flows, while continuing to address privacy, data protection and security.

(e) The Participants recognise that data innovation promotes economic, societal and consumer benefits through improved data-driven services and technologies. Accordingly, the Participants acknowledge the importance of creating an environment that enables, supports, and is conducive to innovation while also acknowledging the need to protect personal data.

(f) The Participants will seek opportunities to support data innovation, including through collaborating on data-sharing projects, including projects involving academia or industry; cooperating on the development of policies and standards for data mobility, including consumer data portability; and sharing research and industry practices related to data innovation.

(g) The Participants recognise that open government data can play an important role in digital trade. Accordingly, the Participants acknowledge the benefits of publishing public sector datasets in anonymised, machine-readable, open, interoperable, and accessible forms that can be used, reused and redistributed.

4. Consumer and business safeguards

(a) The Participants recognise the importance of providing assurance to consumers and businesses that their rights and interests will be protected in digital markets.

(b) The Participants recognise the importance of effective measures that protect consumers engaged in online activities against fraudulent, deceptive, misleading, or unfair commercial practices.

(c) The Participants will seek opportunities to cooperate and exchange information on activities related to the protection of online consumers from fraudulent, deceptive, misleading, or unfair commercial practices.

(d) The Participants acknowledge that unsolicited commercial electronic messages, sometimes called spam or junk mail, can cause annoyance and even distress for recipients, particularly the most vulnerable in society. The Participants will seek opportunities to cooperate and exchange information on appropriate cases of concern regarding unsolicited commercial electronic messages.

(e) The Participants recognise that maintaining effective and balanced intellectual property frameworks, with protections for trade secrets, assists consumers and businesses achieve the benefits of digital innovation.

(f) The Participants acknowledge that requiring or coercing businesses to transfer technology or provide access to source code or proprietary information relating to cryptography as a condition of market access reduces innovation and confidence in trade. At the same time, the Participants recognise the need to retain sufficient flexibility to pursue legitimate regulatory and policy goals, including health and safety.

(g) The Participants acknowledge that high standards of cyber security and resilience against illicit or malign activity provide businesses with a secure digital trading environment.

5. Digital trading systems

(a) The Participants recognise the importance of developing digital trading systems between the Participants, and internationally, which cut red tape and make trade cheaper, faster, and more secure for businesses.

(b) The Participants recognise that electronic contracts, electronic authentication and trust services, and electronic transferable records provide greater certainty, integrity, and efficiency to transactions and contribute to consumer and business trust in the digital economy. Accordingly, the Participants recognise the benefits of accepting electronic trade documents and processes as the legal equivalent of their paper form.

(c) The Participants acknowledge the importance of considering the principles, guidelines, frameworks, and model texts developed by relevant international bodies, as appropriate, when developing legal frameworks, initiatives, and measures concerning electronic transactions, electronic transferable records, electronic invoicing, and paperless trading.

(d) The Participants recognise the economic importance of promoting the global adoption of interoperable electronic invoicing systems. To this end, the Participants will seek opportunities to share best practices and collaborate, if appropriate, on promoting the adoption of interoperable systems for electronic invoicing.

(e) The Participants will seek opportunities to cooperate bilaterally and in international fora on matters related to paperless trading, including by promoting the acceptance of electronic versions of trade administration documents.

6. International cooperation and global governance

(a) The Participants recognise the importance of collaboration with international partners to ensure that the rules and structures that govern digital trade are free, fair, and inclusive.

(b) The Participants will seek opportunities to cooperate, exchange information, and share experiences and best practices, on areas of mutual interest relating to digital trade. These areas include the promotion of safe, responsible, human-centric and trustworthy artificial intelligence, and increasing the cyber security of digital supply chains.

(c) The Participants recognise the existing and potential future links between digital trade and environmental sustainability, and the importance of supportive policies to maximise the positive impacts of digital trade while addressing negative impacts. Thus, the Participants will seek opportunities to cooperate and exchange information on environmental aspects of digital trade and actively participate in international fora to promote initiatives related to addressing the links between environmental sustainability and digital trade.

(d) The Participants will seek opportunities to cooperate and actively participate in international fora, including the WTO, to promote the development and adoption of international frameworks for digital trade.

(e) The Participants will encourage the private sector to develop methods of self-regulation that foster digital trade, including codes of conduct, model contracts, guidelines, and compliance mechanisms.

7. Cooperation mechanism

The Participants, through their Designated Representatives, may hold meetings or conduct dialogues, upon request, on issues that are relevant to this Arrangement on Digital Trade.

8. General provisions

(a) The Participants acknowledge that, as set out in the ETP signed on 8 November 2023, paragraph 1 on Designated Representatives and paragraphs 6 to 10 on Information Sharing and Confidentiality, Intellectual Property, Funding, Interpretation and Application, Review and Business Engagement will apply to this Arrangement on Digital Trade. The Participants acknowledge the commitments under this Arrangement on Digital Trade as an integral part of the ETP.

(b) The Participants’ commitments under this Arrangement may be carried out through their respective Designated Representatives, who may coordinate with relevant competent authorities to ensure that the commitments are effectively implemented.

9. Commencement, amendment and termination

(a) This Arrangement on Digital Trade will come into operation on the date of the later of the Participants’ signatures and will continue to have effect until it is terminated.

(b) The Participants may amend this Arrangement on Digital Trade at any time upon their mutual written consent.

(c) Either Participant may terminate this Arrangement on Digital Trade by providing 90 days’ written notice of its withdrawal to the other Participant.

The foregoing record represents the understandings reached between the Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom and the British Office Taipei, upon the matters referred to therein.

Signed in duplicate in the English language. 

Chin-Hsiang Yao

Representative

Taipei Representative Office

Ruth Bradley-Jones

Representative

British Office Taipei