Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the exemptions for public procurement in (a) Article 8.84 3(a), (b) Article 8.85 3(a), (c) Article 8.73 3(a), (d) Article 8.73 3(b) and (e) footnote [2] in the Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Japan for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership include the processing of (i) data, (ii) data flows, (iii) data transfer, (iv) access to data, (v) source code and (vi) algorithms in (A) present and (B) future forms of public data created by (I) artificial intelligence, (II) automated decision-making and (III) digital technology; and if she will make a statement.

Articles 8.73 (Source Code), 8.84 (Cross-border transfer of information by electronic means) and 8.85 (Location of computing facilities) of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) contain exemptions for government procurement. These exemptions create a derogation from some or all the obligations contained in Articles 8.73, 8.84 and 8.85 for government procurement activities falling within the scope of these Articles. This derogation would apply to government procurement activities regarding artificial intelligence, automated decision-making and digital technologies to the extent such activities would otherwise be prohibited by these Articles.