EU and India kick off first Trade and Technology Council meeting

The European Union (EU) and India had their first Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting on 16 May with divergent views over international data flows. The EU and India established the TTC to address critical issues of shared strategic importance, such as trade, trusted technology and security technology, particularly in light of difficulties brought on by competing governance models.

During the first meeting, the EU raised concerns about whether India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Bill provides the same data protection provision as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Despite the Indian government removing some strong data localization provisions, personal data protection outside India remains uncertain. While the Indian bill weakened the data localization provisions, the government still has the power to notify countries or territories outside India to which a Data Fiduciary may transfer personal data.

Lawyer and public policy researcher on digital governance, Smriti Parsheera, told Euractiv that the TTC would open a window for negotiation on the assessment of cross-border data flows.