NEGOTIATIONS for the creation of an Asean Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) are expected to wind up in the next few months and be signed by November, according to a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) official.
The DEFA negotiating committee, which held its 18 Meeting on March 9 in Taguig, addressed remaining issues in the text, narrow gaps and sustain momentum as one of the priority economic deliverables under the Philippines’ chairmanship of Asean 2026.
“We are targeting to conclude [it] by the first half of the year,” Marie Sherylyn Aquia, director of the DTI–Bureau of International Trade Relations and chairman of the Asean Senior Economic Officials for 2026, told reporters on Tuesday.
DEFA is envisioned as the most comprehensive regional agreement on digital economy and e-commerce in Asean. It seeks to create a $2-trillion digital economy that is open, secure, interoperable, competitive and inclusive to Asean member countries.
Negotiations for the framework agreement began in December 2023.
Aquia said Asean is also convening a Legal Experts Meeting for the legal scrubbing of the agreement before it is signed in November at the Asean Summit.
Legal scrubbing is the final, meticulous review of a legal document or treaty to ensure consistency, clarity and accuracy before signing. It serves as a pre-ratification phase to verify that all parties agree on the precise meaning, technical details and obligations of the agreement.
The agreement will likewise strengthen trust in the digital environment through online consumer protection, personal data protection, cybersecurity cooperation and safeguards against online scams, Aquia said.
“These rules will support businesses, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises, in digital payments and electronic documentation,” she noted.
Asean — composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor-Leste — is the world’s fifth-largest economy with a combined gross domestic product of $3.9 trillion and inward foreign direct investment of $170 billion in 2025.
