The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) sets up a framework for cross-border digital trade rules. This is important because both India and the UK are among the top global exporters of Digitally Delivered Services (DDS) or services that can be delivered electronically through digital platforms.

According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), India exported $328 billion worth of DDS in 2025, making it the world’s fourth largest exporter.

Any trade agreement between two large DDS exporters is incomplete if they cannot establish trade rules. India’s e-commerce exports are also rising. These digital products and services depend on an open and predictable trade regime, which allows cross-border data sharing, moratorium or zero customs duty, and national security as well as consumer protection.

With growing global trade protectionism, tariff threats and restrictions on cross-border data flows, it is in India’s interest to secure a liberal trade regime. Not only this, India is also seeking to reduce cross-border trade costs through paperless trade. This has led to a Digital Trade chapter in the CETA, which will benefit our exporters.

India had been an active participant and a promoter of the rules-based trading system for e-commerce under the WTO through its Work Programme on Electronic Commerce (WPEC). However, with the WPEC no longer functional, India needs a predictable regime for exports through trade pacts.

The Digital Trade chapter in CETA not only establishes a framework for cooperation in areas such as online consumer protection, cybersecurity and emerging technologies such as AI and distributed ledger, but also advances India’s ambition to make cross-border trade paperless.

The India-UK trade deal requires bfoth sides to maintain a legal framework for electronic transactions consistent with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law principles, which support harmonization of standards across countries.

They restrict both sides from denying legal validity to e-signature, e-document and e-seal, and encourage them to work towards mutual recognition of electronic authentication and trust services, cooperate on paperless trading, support the cross-border exchange of electronic invoices and promote greater consumer confidence in digital trade.

They also support cooperation on digital inclusion, helping small and medium enterprises as well as women to participate more effectively in international trade through digital platforms.

All these create a more predictable environment for businesses operating across borders and will reduce transaction costs and time. This is important at a time when geopolitical conflicts, shipping disruptions and container shortages are raising logistics bills.

Over the last decade, India has invested heavily in digital customs infrastructure through IceGate, Swift, e-Sanchit and faceless assessment. According to the United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation, 2025, India has achieved 100% domestic paperless trade measures.

However, in cross-border paperless trade, implementation is only at 67% and has not changed since 2021. The provision of this free trade agreement will drive up India’s rank in such surveys if the provisions are implemented on the ground.

Greater use of authenticated trade documents and closer regulatory cooperation can improve end-to-end traceability of consignments, enabling manufacturers and customs authorities to verify product movement across authorized distribution channels.

This can help identify parallel exports, detect unauthorized diversion of genuine products, strengthen brand protection and facilitate quicker regulatory action where consignments enter overseas markets without the knowledge of the original manufacturer.

To realize these gains, further steps are needed. Domestically, the proposed Draft Trade Facilitation Bill, 2026, expected to be tabled in Parliament during the monsoon session, seeks to provide legal recognition to electronic transferable records and align India’s legal framework with internationally accepted principles.

With a trusted partner such as the UK, India can test emerging digital trade rules, including e-authentication and paperless trading and others, before joining wider plurilateral negotiations like the WTO Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on e-commerce.

In this sense, the agreement can act as a testing ground for India’s future approach to global digital trade rule-making.

Despite this, there is one notable gap in the CETA: it does not include a commitment to maintain the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions.

Such a provision appears in other agreements of the UK. For example, the ones it has with Australia and New Zealand in which both sides agree not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions. With the WPEC non-functional, bilateral deals with like-minded trade partners are the right platforms to secure zero customs duty for our exports.

The UK CETA sets out a roadmap for easier cross-border trade by leveraging digital technologies. New Delhi should accelerate its domestic reforms on the legal front and the implementation of cross-border paperless trade measures on the ground.

At the same time, wider benefits will accrue if digital trade rules, as in the India-UK CETA, are applied to more and more of India’s trade partners.

These are the authors’ personal views.

The authors are, respectively, professor and research assistant, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.

The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) sets up a framework for cross-border digital trade rules. This is important because both India and the UK are among the top global exporters of Digitally Delivered Services (DDS) or services that can be delivered electronically through digital platforms.

According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), India exported $328 billion worth of DDS in 2025, making it the world’s fourth largest exporter.

Any trade agreement between two large DDS exporters is incomplete if they cannot establish trade rules. India’s e-commerce exports are also rising. These digital products and services depend on an open and predictable trade regime, which allows cross-border data sharing, moratorium or zero customs duty, and national security as well as consumer protection.

With growing global trade protectionism, tariff threats and restrictions on cross-border data flows, it is in India’s interest to secure a liberal trade regime. Not only this, India is also seeking to reduce cross-border trade costs through paperless trade. This has led to a Digital Trade chapter in the CETA, which will benefit our exporters.

India had been an active participant and a promoter of the rules-based trading system for e-commerce under the WTO through its Work Programme on Electronic Commerce (WPEC). However, with the WPEC no longer functional, India needs a predictable regime for exports through trade pacts.

The Digital Trade chapter in CETA not only establishes a framework for cooperation in areas such as online consumer protection, cybersecurity and emerging technologies such as AI and distributed ledger, but also advances India’s ambition to make cross-border trade paperless.

The India-UK trade deal requires bfoth sides to maintain a legal framework for electronic transactions consistent with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law principles, which support harmonization of standards across countries.

They restrict both sides from denying legal validity to e-signature, e-document and e-seal, and encourage them to work towards mutual recognition of electronic authentication and trust services, cooperate on paperless trading, support the cross-border exchange of electronic invoices and promote greater consumer confidence in digital trade.

They also support cooperation on digital inclusion, helping small and medium enterprises as well as women to participate more effectively in international trade through digital platforms.

All these create a more predictable environment for businesses operating across borders and will reduce transaction costs and time. This is important at a time when geopolitical conflicts, shipping disruptions and container shortages are raising logistics bills.

Over the last decade, India has invested heavily in digital customs infrastructure through IceGate, Swift, e-Sanchit and faceless assessment. According to the United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation, 2025, India has achieved 100% domestic paperless trade measures.

However, in cross-border paperless trade, implementation is only at 67% and has not changed since 2021. The provision of this free trade agreement will drive up India’s rank in such surveys if the provisions are implemented on the ground.

Greater use of authenticated trade documents and closer regulatory cooperation can improve end-to-end traceability of consignments, enabling manufacturers and customs authorities to verify product movement across authorized distribution channels.

This can help identify parallel exports, detect unauthorized diversion of genuine products, strengthen brand protection and facilitate quicker regulatory action where consignments enter overseas markets without the knowledge of the original manufacturer.

To realize these gains, further steps are needed. Domestically, the proposed Draft Trade Facilitation Bill, 2026, expected to be tabled in Parliament during the monsoon session, seeks to provide legal recognition to electronic transferable records and align India’s legal framework with internationally accepted principles.

With a trusted partner such as the UK, India can test emerging digital trade rules, including e-authentication and paperless trading and others, before joining wider plurilateral negotiations like the WTO Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on e-commerce.

In this sense, the agreement can act as a testing ground for India’s future approach to global digital trade rule-making.

Despite this, there is one notable gap in the CETA: it does not include a commitment to maintain the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions.

Such a provision appears in other agreements of the UK. For example, the ones it has with Australia and New Zealand in which both sides agree not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions. With the WPEC non-functional, bilateral deals with like-minded trade partners are the right platforms to secure zero customs duty for our exports.

The UK CETA sets out a roadmap for easier cross-border trade by leveraging digital technologies. New Delhi should accelerate its domestic reforms on the legal front and the implementation of cross-border paperless trade measures on the ground.

At the same time, wider benefits will accrue if digital trade rules, as in the India-UK CETA, are applied to more and more of India’s trade partners.

These are the authors’ personal views.

The authors are, respectively, professor and research assistant, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.