This article was first published in Lerman & Szlak.
On September 28th, 2022, our partners Gabriela Szlak and Celia Lerman presented in an online event the Report published by ADC together with the Digital Trade Alliance: “Mercosur E Commerce Agreement: Challenges and Opportunities”. The report, which was also supported by Public Citizen, analyses the Agreement signed on April 29th, 2021, by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, the four MERCOSUR member countries.
Alejandro Segarra, ADC’s Director of Strategic Litigation, and Javier Ruiz, representing the Digital Trade Alliance, also participated in the event.
During the presentation, Gabriela Szlak highlighted the main challenges and opportunities generated by the Agreement from the perspective of Personal Data Protection. To this end, she analyzed the state of development of ecommerce in the region and the general impact of the Agreement on the protection of personal data. It was also reviewed the impact of the Agreement for each territory on the various main aspects of data protection: international standards, including general principles such as prior consent, purpose, quality, security, accountability, among others; security measures; international data transfers and unsolicited direct marketing communications. Celia Lerman stated about the comparison made in the Report between the Mercosur ECommerce Agreement and other international instruments on personal data and the digital economy, including other regional trade agreements such as the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP), whose similarities allow to conclude that their texts served as a direct source for the Report presented. Additionally, Alejandro Segarra emphasized ADC’s pro-consumer and pro-user agenda, while Javier Ruiz spoke about the global debate on digital trade.
Thanks ADC, Digital Trade Alliance for the opportunity and the space to publicize the importance of this type of Agreements!