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On 19 April, FIATA and the Global Shippers’ Forum published a Charter for Protection and Governance of Data in International Trade to improve standards of data protection and confidentiality in digital trading and booking systems.

The Charter includes a set of recommended minimum arrangements for data security and confidentiality targeting digital booking and trading platforms. The nine-page document sets out rights and responsibilities which should be included in user agreements and tackles five areas:

• Ownership of data supplied by a supply chain stakeholder
• Permission to store, transfer or analyse data supplied by a supply chain stakeholder
• Duty of care to protect data supplied by a supply chain stakeholder
• Obligation to report data loss or unauthorized access to relevant supply chain stakeholders
• Obligations for “Big Transport”

Recommendations in the Charter seek to enable a safe and trustworthy environment for conducting business based on a level playing field. interoperability between platforms and their credibility amongst users are critical for success. Dr Stéphane Graber, Director General of FIATA, said: “This requires clear and fair rules on data exchange to protect confidentiality and ensure trust between stakeholders.” James Hookham, Secretary General of GSF said: “Digitalisation of international trade and transport paperwork offers huge savings and benefits for all parties in the supply chain, but its storage and processing comes with risks of loss, leakage and unauthorised use that could expose commercially sensitive patterns and trends." He added: "Our Charter sets out reasonable expectations of the protections that should be in place to respect the ownership of the data, protect its confidentiality and guard against unauthorised access and use”.

Source: FIATA