The Pacific Alliance Blog interviewed Professor Rodrigo Corredor about his recent article on the Pacific Alliance and its digital economy strategy, published in the Colombian Yearbook of International Law.
Mr Corredor is professor and researcher at Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogota. He holds a Masters in International Economic Law from the World Trade Institute. He has postgraduates in Intellectual Property, Copyrights and New Technologies from Universidad Externado de Colombia and a postgraduate in Public Management and Administrative Institutions from Los Andes University in Bogota. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Centre de Sciences Humaines in New Delhi and a researcher and professors at the Department of Economic Law within Universidad Externado de Colombia. He has previously consulted on managing intellectual property and innovation for projects involving the Andean region and the European Union. His research interests are international economic law, intellectual property, the digital economy, trade in services, and regulation. He has written several journal articles and chapters in edited books on these subjects.
Mr Corredor, how did you become interested in the digital economy topic, particularly in the context of the Pacific Alliance?
The digital economy has become a ubiquitous societal topic. Its international trade incidence is undeniable; the impacts of the current uncontrolled developments and expansion of the digital economy will probably be our research field for the coming years. In the specific context of the PA, the 
digital economy’s regulatory challenge has followed the same path of a regulatory transplant from the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU (GDPR standards), so my concern is to assess the suitability of such approaches.
What are the main social and economic challenges you see in the deepening of the region’s digital economy?
Among the various challenges, I would like to emphasise the cultural impact of digitalisation. So far, people are enjoying the advantages of the digital platforms in terms of a more even access to cultural products that gives us a sense of integration to a globalised cultural agenda. However, the long-term consequences of unlimited access to our personal data can extend to a cultural erosion phenomenon. This effect is something that regulators and political authorities from the PA countries absolutely disregard.
