UK–India CETA Digital Trade Chapter Enters Into Force — Data Localisation and Cross-Border Flow Rules Deferred

The UK–India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Chapter 12 on Digital Trade entered into force on July 15, 2026. The chapter reduces barriers to digital trade, supports legal recognition of electronic contracts and authentication, includes source code protections (firms cannot be required to transfer or disclose source code), and safeguards consumers against harmful commercial practices in digital commerce. The cross-border data flow and data localisation provisions are an important caveat: rather than establishing binding commitments immediately, the chapter reserves the right for the UK to negotiate these rules with India "when they agree similar commitments with other FTA partners" — meaning the data sovereignty and transfer governance architecture remains to be negotiated. For law firms advising clients on UK–India digital trade arrangements, the July 15 entry into force date creates immediate legal certainty for e-contracts and authentication, and a source code protection floor — while signalling that cross-border data flow governance for UK–India digital trade will follow India's broader regulatory trajectory, including the DPDP Act's government-controlled transfer whitelist (not yet published as of mid-2026).