More than a third of respondents (38 percent) say the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) is highly important to their business, while 50 percent rated it as moderately important, a survey conducted by the EU-ASEAN business council showed on Tuesday.
According to the survey only 12 percent said DEFA was of low importance. The average importance rose slightly to 6.5 out of ten, compared with 6.1 in 2025 and 5.9 in 2024.
Despite the conclusion of negotiations, businesses’ assessment of DEFA’s importance has increased only gradually, from an average of 5.9 in 2024 to 6.1 in 2025 and 6.5 in 2026.
However, with the final text of the agreement not yet publicly available, businesses have not yet been able to assess its provisions in detail, said the survey.
DEFA’s relevance to business is therefore likely to become clearer once its commitments are known and, ultimately, as they are implemented in practice.
DEFA’s value will not only depend on its ambition, but on whether it establishes clear and trusted foundations for digital commerce and trade, according to the survey.
For businesses, regulatory clarity for e-commerce transactions has emerged as the leading priority, selected by 59 percent of respondents.
Improving interoperability and compatibility across digital systems (46 percent) and enhancing cybersecurity and data protection (43 percent) followed closely as key asks of DEFA.
While cross-border data flows were seen as priorities by one-third of respondents, digital skills and inclusion were only selected by 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively, suggesting that businesses currently place greater emphasis on establishing core rules and safeguards than on broader enabling measures.
The survey findings point to a clear scope for strengthening private-sector engagement on DEFA.
Only 11 percent of respondents reported feeling adequately consulted during the DEFA negotiations, compared with 41 percent who rated business consultation as inadequate.
Notably, no respondent considered consultations to be fully adequate.
As ASEAN moves from negotiations to implementation, more regular and structured engagement with the private sector will be essential to translate DEFA’s provisions into practical and workable rules, while identifying and addressing implementation challenges at an early stage, said the survey.
After almost three years of negotiations, ASEAN member states officially concluded negotiations for the landmark ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) in May 2026, with formal signing expected in November.
DEFA is set to become the world’s first region-wide and legally binding regional agreement on the digital economy, covering areas including digital trade and cross border e-commerce, data governance and privacy, cybersecurity cooperation, digital payments and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
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