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Meeting of the G7 countries on October 22, 2021 in London
Photo: Henry Nicholls / imago images / ZUMA Press
The seven largest western industrialized countries (G7) have agreed on common rules for digital trade.
A breakthrough had been achieved that could liberalize deals worth hundreds of billions of pounds, said the British G7 presidency following a trade ministers' meeting in London.
The agreement is a compromise between the strict data protection of European countries and the more open approach of the USA.
Among other things, it is about principles for cross-border data traffic, employee and consumer protection and digital trading systems.
The G7 rejected digital protectionism and authoritarianism, according to the UK communiqué.
In a supplementary document, the G7 write: "We should deal with unjustified obstacles to the cross-border flow of data and at the same time continue to take care of data protection, the protection of privacy and intellectual property, and security."
A UK government official said the digital trade deal was the result of hard diplomatic work.
"For years, the global rules of the game were like the Wild West." That made it difficult for companies to take advantage of the immense opportunities that were offered.
For Germany, Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier took part in the meeting.
After Great Britain, Germany will take over the G7 presidency in 2022.
The G7 are Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Canada and the USA.
jso / Reuters