G7 enshrines free flow of data in new Digital Trade Principles: G7 countries have agreed on a set of principles to govern data protection in cross-border digital trade, which were published by the British government following a meeting between the seven rich nations on Friday. The agreement could unlock USD hundreds of bns worth of international e-commerce by unifying divergent policies between countries, Reuters reported.

“Data should be able to flow freely across borders with trust,” read the agreement, which aims to reduce costly compliance barriers to SMEs while also protecting digital privacy, security and intellectual property. The new rules set out a middle path between the EU’s strict data protection laws and the laxer approach taken by the US, according to the newswire.

Swedish telecom company Ericsson has been accused of violating the terms of its USD 1.06 bn settlement agreement over allegations of bribery in five countries, according to a company statement. The company had struck an agreement with the Justice Department in 2019 in response to allegations of bribery in the company’s branches in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Kuwait and Indonesia. At the time, the company’s Egyptian subsidiary also pled guilty to a “related bribery conspiracy charge.”