Ministry of Commerce: China and ASEAN agree to suspend customs tariffs on electronic transmission

On October 28th, the head of the International Department of the Ministry of Commerce interpreted the upgrade protocol of version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. In the field of digital economy, the two sides have established the highest level of rules and cooperation arrangements in their respective contracting practices, creating a good policy environment for promoting the development of regional digital economy. The two sides agreed to temporarily exempt customs tariffs on electronic transmission, ensure cross-border data flow, strengthen personal information protection and explore the promotion of compatible and mutual recognition of protection levels, promote recognition of electronic authentication and electronic signatures, and strengthen supervision cooperation in cyber security, anti-network fraud, and unsolicited commercial electronic information. The two sides will cooperate in "hard connectivity" fields such as logistics and digital infrastructure, and strengthen "soft connectivity" cooperation such as single window, electronic invoice, electronic payment, and electronic bill of lading to improve system compatibility and reduce enterprise costs.