Data protection to form core of ecommerce policy

NEW DELHI: Protection, localisation and cross-border flows of data and privacy will be at the core of the upcoming ecommerce policy that will also focus on India’s position in global trade negotiations, officials in the know said.

With a group of 76 members including the US, European Union, China, Japan, Australia and Singapore working to develop trade rules for ecommerce, the Department for Promotion of Investment and Internal Trade (DPIIT), which is drafting the policy, has said the policy would focus on India’s interest at the World Trade Organization.

“The policy will be WTO-centric and we have studied the respective policies of the EU, US and China,” a top official told ET. “It is evolving now but data — be it storage, cross-border flows, privacy, community data or payments — is the main thrust. All other issues are ancillary.”