New Delhi, May 4 (IANS): Bipul Chatterjee, Executive Director, CUTS International has called for a multilateral regulatory framework to deal with data privacy and related aspects of cyber security.

"Data privacy among other aspects of cyber security is critical for the future growth of electronic commerce. It is an imperative for the international community to craft multilateral regulatory framework to deal with data privacy and related aspects of cyber security. That will engender trust in cross-border e-commerce ecosystem," Chatterjee said speaking at a recent online session on value of cyber security and privacy in digital and e-commerce space

The session was jointly organised by CUTS International and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), during the UNCTAD's Commerce Week.

CUTS is a partner of UNCTAD's ‘Trade for All' initiative and also has memorandum with UNIDO to work on e-commerce, standards, quality infrastructure, etc, which are emerging as important instruments for the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

Speaking on the occasion, Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento, Director of Trade Investment and Innovation Department of the UNIDO said that citizens should have freedom to decide upon the use of their data. He said that "the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation is emerging as a template about data privacy issues".

However, he cautioned about the increasing compliance cost due to such regimes that may be tough for small businesses. Flagging the presence of strong inter-play between regulation and standards regarding privacy and cyber security, he warned against "over-regulation in the digital space".