New milestone for EU-Singapore digital ties
EU Delegation to Singapore
As the EU’s first stand-alone digital trade agreement, it shows the clear commitment of both partners to be at the forefront of new digital developments and to promote open and fair digital trade.
By setting modern, transparent rules, it strengthens online consumer protection, personal data and privacy, and fend off unsolicited ads.
It also promotes fair digital trade by prohibiting unjustified data localisation requirements and forced transfers of source code of software, instead ensuring trusted cross-border data flows.
Together, we are building smart, modern rules for digital trade.
To mark this, Commissioner Šefčovič and Singapore's Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Grace Fu, wrote a joint Opinion Editorial published in The Straits Times.
EU
The Agreement opens up new avenues for bilateral digital trade, while fostering innovation. It will enhance legal certainty and ensure a safer online environment. Once it is in effect, the more than 12,000 EU businesses operating in Singapore will feel its benefits firsthand.
The EU and Singapore are building on a strong foundation: in 2023, bilateral trade in goods and services reached €132.7 billion, while EU Foreign Direct Investment in Singapore stood at €263 billion, making it our fifth largest destination globally. These figures reflect the success of existing agreements, including our Free Trade Agreement; our Partnership and Cooperation Agreement; and our Investment Protection Agreement.
EU Delegation to Singapore
Earlier coverage:
A joint statement by Commissioner Šefčovič and Singapore Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Grace Fu, the remarks by Commissioner Šefčovič, and a press release are available online.
Commissioner's Press Call with Singapore & International Media
Follow the media coverage
Full text of joint opinion editorial published in The Straits Times (courtesy ST. Published Feb 01, 2026)
A deal that will shape the future of digital trade
Singapore’s digital trade agreement with the EU advances its vision for a rules-based digital economy.
Grace Fu and Maros Šefčovič
On Feb 1, Singapore and the European Union (EU) marked the entry into force of the EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement (DTA),
which sends a strong signal on our shared commitment to upholding open, fair and competitive trade.
Through this agreement, the EU and Singapore are joining forces to shape the future of digital trade. We are advancing our vision for a rules-based digital economy that will benefit our people, businesses, and societies, enabling them to seize new, greater opportunities in the digital age. This landmark agreement is also a testament to our shared values of trust, cooperation, and innovation.
Amid heightened global economic uncertainty, it demonstrates our shared determination to continue working together to navigate these headwinds, and ensure that Singapore and the EU remain well-positioned for growth.
The DTA builds on the strong foundation of the 2019 EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, which continues to deliver tangible and lasting benefits for our people and businesses. At the same time, trade is fast-evolving. Our approaches to trade must therefore be future-ready – and the EU-Singapore relationship is helping to set this course.
Today, more than half of trade in services between the EU and Singapore is digitally delivered. Our ambitious and forward-looking DTA addresses the needs of our businesses and consumers who increasingly rely on technology, data, and digital exchanges, by fostering a safe and trusted digital environment for growth and innovation. The entry into force of the DTA sends a strong signal against protectionism and firmly in favour of an open, rules-based digital economy.
Significantly, the EU-Singapore DTA is Singapore’s largest bilateral digital economy agreement to date. It is also the EU’s first-ever standalone bilateral digital trade agreement, which marks an important step in the EU’s expanding network of digital trade agreements and digital trade chapters in its free trade agreements. It serves as a new cornerstone of the EU-Singapore economic relationship, which will provide wide-ranging benefits for our consumers, businesses and economies.
Safe, efficient, transparent
Firstly, the DTA establishes a secure and safe online environment for consumers. Binding, high-standard commitments in areas such as online consumer protection, cybersecurity, and privacy will enhance consumer welfare, giving them greater confidence and assurance to transact in the digital economy.
Secondly, the agreement provides greater legal certainty for businesses. By promoting paperless trade and ensuring the validity of electronic signatures and contracts through interoperable systems and harmonised rules, it facilitates more secure digital transactions and reduces unnecessary administrative burden for businesses. This will make it more efficient and cost-effective for EU companies to serve customers in Singapore, and vice versa.
Thirdly, the DTA promotes open, competitive, transparent, and fair digital trade. In addition to facilitating the trusted flow of data across borders, it prohibits unjustified data localisation requirements and forced transfers of source code used by companies. This safeguards businesses against protectionist practices and promotes confidence in digital markets. Concurrently, the agreement ensures a high level of protection for personal data and privacy, and provides governments the necessary policy space to respond to emerging challenges of the digital age.
By strengthening competitiveness and security in the digital economy, the DTA will strengthen digital connectivity by promoting transparent and fair digital trade. This will support the digital transformation of our societies, and build an open, secure and inclusive digital environment for the future.
The agreement further reinforces the EU and Singapore’s broader efforts to shape the global digital trade landscape. By establishing high-standard rules in key pillars of the digital economy, the DTA will promote rules-based digital trade with like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. It complements our common work under the World Trade Organization Joint Statement Initiative on E-Commerce and provides a strong foundation for the EU’s future engagement with members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as well as ASEAN.
As we look ahead, effective implementation of this agreement will be key to its success. With the strength of the EU-Singapore economic relationship, we are confident that the DTA will enhance digital connectivity between our people and economies, and elevate our trade partnership to new heights. Together, the EU and Singapore will continue to work together to shape the future of digital trade and to achieve our vision for more prosperous, secure, and connected societies.
- Grace Fu is Singapore’s Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations and Maros Šefčovič is the EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security.
