Korea becomes first country to join DEPA as non-founding member

Minister for Trade Ahn Duk-geun announced on June 9 on the occasion of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) that Korea has officially acceded to the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) as a first non-founding member, signifying the expansion of the global digital trade network for securing digital economy competitiveness.

DEPA is the world’s first multilateral digital trade agreement (came into effect in January 2021) established among the member states of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), such as Singapore, Chile and New Zealand. Korea completed all required six rounds of negotiations and internal legal review following its application submission in October 2021.

China and Canada also began their accession procedures following Korea’s application, and countries in Latin America and the Middle East, such as Costa Rica and Peru, are also showing interest, indicating that DEPA holds much potential to grow into a global digital cooperation framework.

DEPA define the rules and cooperation needed for harmony among member states for fostering a stable data business environment and for expanding e-commerce. Accordingly, it is anticipated that DEPA will serve as a basis on which ASEAN, Oceania and Latin America can function as major hubs, where overseas market opportunities for Korean firms’ e-commerce, digital content and services can broaden in scope and in the range of their benefits.

The Korean government aims to push forward with remaining procedures so that the Agreement can enter into force by the end of this year.