Japan, South Africa, China, others at Davos calls for global tech rules

Shinzo Abe of Japan said on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland, that his country would use its chairmanship of the Group of 20 nations this year to push for a new international system governing how data

Leaders of Japan, South Africa, China and Germany issued a series of calls for global oversight of the tech sector, in a clear signal of growing international interest in seizing greater regulatory supervision of an industry led by the United States.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said his country would use its chairmanship of the Group of 20 nations this year to push forward a new international system for the oversight of how data is used. 

Data governance will be the theme when the group’s presidents and prime ministers gather in June in Osaka for their annual summit meeting.

The emphasis will be on expanding World Trade Organization rules to encompass trade in data as well as goods and services, he said. 

“I would like Osaka G20 to be long remembered as the summit that started worldwide data governance,” Abe said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday .

Abe’s proposal was echoed in remarks by other world leaders at the forum. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said greater oversight of the tech sector would also be on the agenda of African Union leaders when they meet early next month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“When it comes to technology, I would support an overarching body that’ll set standards on a whole range of things,” Ramaphosa said in an interview, specifically mentioning cybersecurity as a priority. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany called in a speech for a “common digital market” in the EU. She said international oversight of data usage was needed to head off opposition to the entire sector from those who fear the current pace of technological change.

Speaking after Merkel, Vice-President Wang Qishan of China also cited a need for more international coordination in oversight of the tech sector, but did not mention personal privacy.