WIREDGOV

The coordination will happen under a Trade and Technology Council, which will focus on fostering joint positions on a range of issues that have become central to the economy.

According to the joint statement, “the major goals of the TTC will be to grow the bilateral trade and investment relationship; to avoid new unnecessary technical barriers to trade; to coordinate, seek common ground and strengthen global cooperation on technology, digital issues and supply chains; to support collaborative research and exchanges; to cooperate on compatible and international standards development; to facilitate regulatory policy and enforcement cooperation and, where possible, convergence; to promote innovation and leadership by US and European firms; and to strengthen other areas of cooperation.”

Yesterday’s announcement marks the beginning of the Council and a lot remains to be worked out. In the coming months, EU and US officials are expected to set up 10 working groups that address a range of issues, including “technology standards cooperation, climate and green tech, ICT security and competitiveness, data governance and technology platforms, the misuse of technology threatening security and human rights, export controls, investment screening, promoting SMEs access to, and use of, digital technologies, and global trade challenges.”

Other areas of cooperation will be competition, research and innovation and cybersecurity.

The two sides also committed to work on allowing digital information to flow between both sides, while still upholding people’s privacy rights. Yet, transatlantic data flows are still in limbo after the ECJ invalidated the Privacy Shield last summer.

The EU and the US have also agreed to work together  to bring more of the microchip production closer to home to avoid costly hurdles and potential geopolitical issues with China.

As companies operating globally, the UK technology sector has been supportive of global cooperation on digital economy regulation and standards. We’ll be monitoring progress on the EU-US TTC closely and should members have anu questions or wish to get involved in this work, they should reach out to sabina.ciofu@techuk.org.