It was recently announced that the UK government would be introducing a new five-point digital strategy that will aim to improve international digital trade for businesses and consumers.
Indeed, the strategy was revealed during London Tech Week’s Global Leaders Innovation Summit by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the new secretary of state for international trade. It was stated the international digital trade was vital for the UK as it is expected for the digital transformation investments to bring $6.8tn to the economy between 2020 and 2023.
Hence, the digital trade plan plans to help businesses reach a wider consumer base by selling online and boosting efficiency by trading remotely. This will then hopefully make the supply of services more resilient to disruption.
The strategy will still have to deal with some issues including ensuring data flows and safeguards and establishing digital trading systems to help businesses cut through red tape. By doing so, it will help expand the UK’s wider international trade programme, growth plans, and trade and investment campaigns.
Moreover, the plan will aim to secure access for British businesses to overseas digital markets and allow UK consumers to access a wider variety of products and services from overseas. For this, actions such as the UK championing data flows internationally and seeking to minimise data localisation will be implemented. Besides, the UK will require all trade partners to create or maintain data protection frameworks all the while following UK legislation.
The proposal assures that consumers’ data will be protected as well as is working towards an advancement of digital consumer rights.
