Discussions for Costa Rica’s accession to Digital Economy Partnership Agreement substantially concluded

26 February 2025

On 24 January 2025, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (“MTI”) published a joint press release with its counterparts from Chile, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and Costa Rica, announcing the substantial conclusion of discussions for Costa Rica’s accession to the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (“DEPA”). 

Digitally signed in 2020 by Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore, DEPA is the world’s first standalone digital trade agreement, representing a leading-edge form of economic engagement and trade in the digital era. It reinforces commercially meaningful trade rules, establishes new approaches and collaborations in digital trade issues, promotes interoperability between different settings, and addresses the new issues brought about by digitalisation. It is designed to be an inclusive framework, open to economies that meet the high standards of the agreement. 

Costa Rica 

Costa Rica formally requested accession to DEPA on 23 December 2022, and an Accession Working Group (“AWG”), chaired by New Zealand, was formed thereafter to assess this request. The AWG has determined that Costa Rica has demonstrated the means by which it will comply with DEPA’s high standards, as well as a commitment to working collaboratively on projects of mutual interest, in areas such as electronic invoicing, consumer protection, and cross-border data transfers. 

The DEPA Parties will now work with Costa Rica to finalise its accession process in a timely manner consistent with each Party’s domestic procedures and the DEPA accession process. 

Other ongoing accession requests 

China, Canada, and Peru currently have AWGs established to assess their DEPA accession requests. The United Arab Emirates, El Salvador, and Ukraine have also lodged formal DEPA accession requests. 

Reference materials 

The press release is available on the relevant webpage of the MTI website www.mti.gov.sg.