Digital Economy Association Agreement (DEPA) is approved by the Senate and is ready to become law

This Tuesday, the Upper House approved by 30 votes in favor of the Digital Economy Association Agreement (DEPA). The Undersecretary of International Economic Relations (SUBREI), Rodrigo Yáñez, participated in the session.

DEPA, a pioneer of its kind in the world, arose from the common interest of Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore to benefit the smallest economies, through a friendly framework for ICT companies, providing more opportunities for citizens, especially for SMEs. The Agreement encourages the export of its products and services through the regulation of some crucial matters, such as the free flow of data and non-discrimination of digital products, artificial intelligence, digital identity, and privacy, among others.

"Today there are new digital products that have become objects of international trade, such as music, software, e-books, video games that must be strengthened by a regulatory framework that enhances their international expansion, so that anyone with a good idea of businesses and an Internet connection can reach anywhere in the world. DEPA represents a modernizing milestone in Chilean trade policy, as it is a pioneer in dealing exclusively with digital economy matters, the key to sustainable economic recovery", said SUBREI authority Rodrigo Yáñez.

New rules to support digital commerce can help provide greater transparency and certainty and increase trust in the digital environment online. In this sense, DEPA comes at "a time of considerable disruption to international trade and global value chains as a result of the pandemic, and represents a new form of economic insertion in the digital age", said Undersecretary Rodrigo Yáñez.

Thanks to its potential, countries such as Canada have expressed their interest in joining DEPA, which would constitute an important step towards the consolidation of a pioneering agreement in the digital economy.

ICTs

ICTs today represent 35% of Chile's services exports, versus the 24% they occupied in 2010, positioning itself as the most predominant item in intangibles exports, growth that must be strengthened by a regulatory framework that enhances its international expansion.

In 2020, Chilean exports of ICT services totaled $378 million US dollars, which were carried out through 203 companies, 113 of them are SMEs, whose developments reached more than 125 markets, led by the United States, Peru, and Colombia. And others much further afield such as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand.