The Eurasian Economic Union may establish a working
group on digital transformation at the level of heads of relevant departments.
First of all, the working group will be engaged in regulating data turnover.
This initiative was put forward by Gegham Vardanyan, Member of the Board
– Minister in charge of Internal Markets, Information Support, Information and
Communication Technologies of the Eurasian Economic Commission, during the
panel session "Digital Agenda in the EAEU Strategy until 2025", held
within the "Digital Almaty 2021" forum.
"The Eurasian Economic Union has approved the Strategy for Developing
until 2025 which presents key measures and mechanisms required to achieve the
Union’s goals and objectives. One of the Strategic Directions for Developing
the Eurasian Economic Integration until 2025 is forming the Union’s digital
space, digital infrastructures and ecosystems. The issue of drafting an
international treaty on data turnover in the Union holds a valuable place in
the digital agenda," Gegham Vardanyan said. "Today, technologies are being implemented
in a prompt manner, but the regulatory part fails behind. The data turnover
issue is one of the bottlenecks for developing major projects in the EAEU.
According to the EEC Minister, it is required to
determine clear approaches to data separation, in particular: which data should
be exchanged within integration processes and which information should be
stored only on the Member State’s side. Mechanisms for ensuring data safety
(for example, depersonalization), which can help expand the list of information
for exchange should be created as well, Gegham Vardanyan believes.
The round table attendees have endorsed the
initiative, indicating their interest in cooperation in the field of data
exchange within the Eurasian Economic Union.
Hakob Arshakyan, Minister of High-Tech
Industry of the Republic of Armenia, has informed that major efforts
are being made in Armenia in this direction. "So, the Republic of
Armenia has the law on protecting personal data and the Agency for Protecting
Personal Data of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia has been
established," the Minister said. "Organizing the data exchange
within the EAEU is a crucial task for us and for our part, we are ready to
discuss approaches to their solution at the working level".
Konstantin Shulgan, Minister of Communications and Informatization of
the Republic of Belarus, has noted the growing role of data exchange and
similarity of approaches in the EAEU countries on controversial and problematic
issues. "Within the Union, we could discuss some common legislative act
on data exchange," Shulgan stated. According to him, there are many
possibilities for cooperation within the EAEU. Including through the use of
depersonalized data as one of the ways to protect them.
"As for creating a working group, it could become
a tool that will efficiently address issues requiring prompt
consideration," Shulgan stressed.
As stressed by Azamat Burzhuev, Deputy Director
of State Enterprise "Center for Electronic Interaction "Tunduk"
under the State Committee for Information Technologies and Communications of
the Kyrgyz Republic, personal data is of great commercial value in light of
accelerated digitalization. But there are outstanding issues that should be
resolved. Along with that, major transboundary companies accumulate a large
amount of information. "We should think about how to protect our
citizens and ensure digital sovereignty. This is difficult to resolve on the
scale of Kyrgyzstan. But it would be easier to talk to large corporations on
the EAEU scale," Azamat Burzhuev stated.
Furthermore, according to him, it is crucially
important to define a paradigm for protecting the data or communication
channels, which will inevitably require technological expenses. "The
pandemic has shown that information exchange is the focal point. With the EEC
assistance, we could organize a very efficient information exchange, optimizing
economic processes," Burzhuev believes.
The session attendees have discussed the possibility
of forming an alliance for negotiations with international providers on
personal data obligations.
The turnover of personal data within the EAEU can give
rise to a new large market. Askhat Orazbek, Vice Minister of Digital
Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
considers that these are, primarily, anonymized data and some analytics based
on it."We are ready to cooperate on the exchange of anonymized personal
data. As for non-anonymized information, according to legislation of the
Republic of Kazakhstan, it can be transferred to third parties only with the
permission of the citizens themselves. We have a fairly clear approach -
personal data should be stored in the territory of Kazakhstan. We are ready for
interstate information exchange within the EAEU common processes, this is
already a reality", Askhat Orazbek said.
According to him, it is important to harmonize the
EAEU legislation in general and to perform targeted work on personal data.
We simply should not delve into some certain part of the market. But there is a
matter of large Internet service providers. I propose to form an alliance
within the Eurasian Economic Union, to come to an agreement enabling to invite
them to cooperate in placing personal data of our citizens in the EAEU
territory. Neither Kazakhstan nor Kyrgyzstan nor Armenia nor Belarus will be
able to resolve the issue on a standalone basis. But I think we can do it quite
well together," Askhat Orazbek concluded.
According to Gegham Vardanyan, an agreement on data
turnover as well as the use of regulatory "sandboxes" can be one of
the incentives for the integration association.
"Adopting the Agreement on regulating
transboundary data turnover in the EAEU will enable creating a common market
for data turnover as a basis for development in all areas of cooperation,
developing the "data economy" and implementing projects within the
digital agenda. The Agreement will enable creating common mechanisms for
protecting the rights of data turnover participants. We propose to draft agreed
requirements", the EEC Minister concluded.
For reference
Digital Almaty is one of the key platforms for forming
and discussing global and regional digital agenda, challenges, decisions and
policies in the field of digitalization across the globe. The Forum’s objective
is to provide a venue for dialogue at the regional and global levels to discuss
the digital agenda in light of COVID-19, new strategies for digital
transformation and trends in the field of new technologies during the pandemic.