DIGITAL

Digital economy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a report entitled “OECD Digital Economy Outlook for 2020” which includes chapters related to data protection and privacy, consumer policy in the digital innovation era. The document outlines recommendations made by the organization to increase digital inclusion and respond to the growing demand for connectivity, which is expected to serve to kickstart States to implement public policies in this regard next year.

Regarding privacy and data protection, the report indicates that the 29 countries that responded to the OECD questionnaire on privacy in 2019 have current legislation on the matter. However, they clarified that in the framework of the pandemic, these regulatory frameworks have not always been strictly applied. To add protection in this field and protect privacy, the Organization recommended improving the encryption mechanisms for information and promoting the use of data sandboxes.

In terms of consumer policies in digital transformation, the report states that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated online shopping trends, allowing them to develop through multiple channels. However, the OECD warns about the risks that new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, can bring to privacy and consumer protection. By contrast, it notes that consumer policy makers “increasingly recognize the need to keep pace with technological advances and to collaborate with their counterparts in other relevant regulatory areas to ensure that consumers are adequately protected against unfair practices and unsafe products.

In the field of digital innovation, the OECD argues that, in recent years, new markets have been strengthened by digital technologies, such as e-commerce and FinTech services. They estimate that these new markets have the possibility of displacing the traditional ones in some cases, or coexisting with them and thus expanding the range of products and services that consumers have available. According to the report, governments have the ability to use digital technologies to support the open innovation ecosystem, for example through regulatory sandboxes for companies and their data partners to explore and experiment with innovative uses of data.

Next steps

The OECD report covers and reflects the digital transformation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, it addresses various issues in order to present a picture of the situation and make recommendations that allow States to increase digital inclusion and respond to the growing demand for connectivity. The document is expected to be used by the different actors involved in the decision-making process to formulate comprehensive public policies in the coming year, in such a way that it can respond to the challenges of digitality and interconnection in today’s world.