The digital economy is amongst the most powerful loci of Canadian economic growth; over the past decade, the digital economy grew roughly 40 per cent faster than – and generated almost four times as many jobs as – the overall economy. However, this spurt has also led to increased vulnerabilities in relation to cybersecurity; in 2020, successful cyber attacks affected 78% of Canadian companies. Canada has quietly developed a robust cyber diplomacy approach aiming at promoting a rules-based international order in cyberspace, in line with the goals of other ‘like-minded’ states (including European Union countries). Both the EU and Canada share a vision of cyberspace as a domain of human activity that is open, free, and secure, and which is characterized by due regard for fundamental rights and democratic values. As such, Canada is an important strategic partner for Europe.

As of 2020, 86 % of Uruguayans are active internet users, second in South America, only behind Chile. 9 out of 10 individuals in Uruguay are social media users. This provides a fabric for efficient digital policies and strategies that have transformed Uruguay since the 2010s. Uruguay is ranked first in Latin America and 35th place in the world on Digital Government Development, according to the UNDESA index, which measures dimensions related to technological infrastructure, availability of online services, and ability of citizens to take advantage of those resources. Uruguay also ranks first in Latin America and 42nd in the world on ICT Development, according to the 2017 IDI, published by the International Telecommunications Union. In all, this South American country has positioned itself at the forefront as a regional and world benchmark in Digital Government.

Japan is a trusted partner and shares the same basic values of human rights, rule of law, and democratic governance. This common set of values also applies to cyberspace as both the EU and Japan have publicly expressed strong support for an open, free and secure internet and the application of international norms to state activities in cyberspace. Japan is also an important trading partner of the EU. The recently adopted Economic Partnership Agreement also reinforces the need for a closer integration of the digital economies. Alignment in broader international economic and political issues is also evident in the field of cyber diplomacy and thus constitutes a strong foundation for close cooperation and partnership.

As per the conclusions of the 2013, 2015, and 2021 UN GGE (Group of Governmental Experts) reports, Canada believes that international law applies in cyberspace and is “essential to maintaining peace and stability” as well as “promoting an open, secure, peaceful, and accessible ICT environment”; according to Canada, the applicability of international law “puts guardrails on states’ behaviour in cyberspace”. Applicable legal instruments include the UN Charter, the law on state responsibility (including countermeasures), International Human Rights Law, and International Human Rights Law (IHL). Canada does not favour the establishment of a treaty or binding legal instrument on cyber issues, arguing that it would undermine existing international law and norms of responsible state behaviour. Instead, Canada believes that existing international law and agreed-upon norms are sufficient to guide State behaviour in cyberspace.

As a member state of the UNGA, Uruguay expressed their views at the OEWG in 2021, considering cybersecurity an essential element in the prevention of international conflicts. Uruguay provides a rather humanitarian approach to international law and its application on cyber issues. The country is a member of international organisations that promote the development and compliance with standards of transparency and access to information, such as the Open Government Partnership, the Electronic Government Network of Latin America and the Caribbean (GEALC) and Digital Nations.
Uruguay was the first Latin American country, in 2013, to sign the only existing binding, international document concerning the Automatic Processing of Personal Data (known as Convention 108). Its signature and membership have been ratified in 2021.
Uruguay’s Digital initiatives at the national level are also in compliance with the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC by CEPAL). In particular, Uruguay’s Cybersecurity goal is in line with CEPAL’s framework for confidence-building measures such as combating digital crime by formulating public policies and strategies for cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection.

Japan has highlighted the importance of promoting the rule of law in cyberspace, noting that cyberspace “should not be a lawless zone”. It further endorses the applicability of international law, in particular the UN Charter, in the cyber domain. In relation to the use of countermeasures, it has stated that it is not necessary for countermeasures to be limited to the same means as internationally wrongful acts. 
Japan has cautioned against the launch of “premature” discussions on developing a legally binding new instrument, arguing that the adoption of such an instrument might “roll back” the achievement of past multilateral efforts in confirming the applicability of existing international law in cyberspace. Instead, Japan believes that it is necessary to consolidate, elaborate, and clarify the interpretation of existing treaties and content of customary international law. 
During the drafting phase of the 2021 Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) Report, Japan had proposed to include language explicitly affirming the applicability of State responsibility for internationally wrongful acts, the inherent right of self-defence recognized under the UN Charter, and International Humanitarian Law.

Canada regards the applicability of norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, together with existing international law, as the “foundation of sustaining international peace and security […] in cyberspace”. This is why it has strongly promoted the adoption and implementation of the UN GGE norms in various fora, including the G7, G20, North American Leaders’ Summit, NATO, ASEAN, and the OSCE. From Canada’s perspective, there is no need to develop new norms; international cooperation efforts should instead focus on fostering States’ capacity-building abilities, as well as the implementation and operationalization of existing norms. Canada has also been the biggest proponent of taking gender considerations into account when discussing the implementation of cyber norms, advocating for greater women’s participation and gender equality in the field of cybersecurity.

Uruguay is a represented member in the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Advancing responsible State behaviour in cyberspace. The South American country has openly stated that the voluntary norms included in the Report of the Group of Experts (GGE) represent an inescapable guide for the responsible behaviour of States in cyberspace. In session 5 of the second substantive session of the OEWG 2021-2025, Uruguay along with seven other States pointed out the importance of the protection of critical infrastructure, according to norm 13(f).

In multilateral fora, Japan has frequently emphasised the need to implement voluntary and non-binding norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. The country believes that any discussion on norm-building should exclusively occur on the basis of the 11 norms affirmed within the 2015 UNGGE Report; possible new norms should be “carefully scrutinised” so as to avoid any change to these 11 norms or duplication with them. 
Japan also strongly opposes the adoption of additional legally binding obligations, maintaining that such an endeavour would take a very long time whereas the evolution of technology is extremely fast-paced. Instead, countries should work on parallel mechanisms for capacity-building, raising awareness, and promoting a common understanding of norms.

The Canadian National Cyber Security Strategy puts an emphasis on “secure and resilient Canadian systems”, specifically critical infrastructure such as electricity grids, communications networks, and financial institutions. The ambition to help other countries expand their capacity building activities has been a key aspect of Canada’s cyber engagement strategy and its concurrent aim of promoting an “open, secure, and multistakeholder-led Internet”. Under the auspices of the OEWG, Canada has argued that “member States must make cyber security capacity development a priority at the highest level” and that “it is […] important to analyze and assess the capacity building needs collaboratively and agree on a collective approach”. Through the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program (ACCBP), Canada has committed $27.7M to cyber capacity building, primarily in Latin America. ACCBP also assists countries in developing their own national cyber strategies and cybersecurity standards while also ensuring respect for human rights and privacy for all citizens. Meanwhile, Canada has been cooperating with several international and regional organizations on the development and implementation of Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs); for instance, there have been several Canadian initiatives at the OSCE, including workshops on international law and cyber operations as well as scenario-based discussions on CBM 5 (information sharing about national responses to regional cyber incidents). Canada believes that capacity-building should be multistakeholder and integrate the insights of the technical community as much as possible. The Canadian representative at the OEWG has also highlighted the importance of gender balance and the participation of women in capacity-building efforts.

Objective 10 of Uruguay’s Digital Agenda for 2025 provides a clear guideline for resilience measures in cybersecurity and ICT. Uruguay is focused on enhancing cybersecurity to prevent and mitigate risks in cyberspace, advancing compliance with the national cyber-security framework, based on public-private cooperation and ensuring the availability of critical information assets. Uruguay intends to achieve this goal by improving efficiency in detecting and responding to cyber incidents by implementing new technologies that allow for predictive analytics and response automation, among others.

Resilience constitutes one of the central objectives of Japan’s 2018 Cybersecurity Strategy, whose core components include international cooperation in sharing expertise and coordination of policies, incidence response, and cyber capacity-building (CCB). Japan has traditionally argued that global initiatives are required to reduce cybersecurity vulnerabilities and has advocated for a tailor-made approach that takes into account the national situation of recipient countries and the importance of national ownership. 
Japan recognises the ‘trickle-up’ effect of national initiatives, stating that CCB “not only improves the capabilities of the recipient country, but also directly leads to enhanced security and stability in cyberspace as a whole”; in that sense, it disfavours the understanding of CCB as a “common but differentiated responsibility”, believing that such a view “does not fit the context” of international cyber cooperation. As a result, the country has assumed a balanced approach to CCB. On the one hand, it has successfully utilised multilateral fora such as the G7 and G20 summits to promote its own normative standards. 
At the G7 Ise-Shina Summit in May 2016, for instance, Japan introduced the Ise-Shima Principles, which included the enhancement of cooperation on CCB. On the other hand, Japan considers its own security and that of its nationals as intrinsically tied to the cyber capabilities of developing countries, since attacks on the IT infrastructure of regional partners can adversely affect Japanese trade. Japan has thus acted primarily through ASEAN to promote regional capacity-building efforts.

Canada’s National Cyber Security Strategy identifies the activities of malicious cyber actors as a “growing challenge”. Following the adoption of the ‘Protecting Canadians from Online Crime’ Act, Canada acceded to the Council of Europe’s Budapest Convention in 2015 and has since consistently promoted the instrument as the “best tool to fight cybercrime at the international level”. Canada has specifically “encourage[d] countries to bolster their anti-cybercrime efforts by becoming Parties to the Convention, or using it as a model to implement their own cybercrime laws”. Moreover, upon Canada’s initiative, the Quintet of Attorneys General (which brings together Attorneys General from Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK) issued a public statement at their July 2019 meeting, expressing their support for the Budapest Convention as a “necessary basic framework for fighting cybercrime” and for the work of the United Nations Open-Ended Intergovernmental Expert Group on Cybercrime (UNIEG). Being part of the ‘like-minded’ group of states, Canada voted against the Russian-sponsored UNGA Resolution 74/247 aiming at establishing an alternative cybercrime instrument; upon the passage of 74/247 and its follow-up UNGA Resolution 75/282, however, Canada has been a vocal member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime. Prior to the Committee’s May 2021 organizational session, the Canadian position paper on the Implementation of 74/247 noted that the Committee must “ensure consistency with existing UN treaties in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice, in particular the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the United Nations Convention against Corruption and take into account multilateral instruments that have already proven their usefulness in the fight against cybercrime, in particular the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime”. In the same document, Canada emphasized the need for an “inclusive, transparent, constructive, and consensus-based process that will lead to a fair outcome to the benefit of all”. The first session of the Ad Hoc Committee will be held in New York from 17 to 28 January 2022. Canada’s perspective on the scope, objectives, and structure of the convention was submitted to the Ad Hoc Committee in advance of the start of the first negotiation session (E).

Uruguay is not a signatory State of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, cooperating in international affairs outside of the framework established by the Council of Europe. However, it has a relatively low rate of cybercrime compared to other countries in the region, staking its position as one of the most advanced countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of cybersecurity. Much of its success relies on the Cybersecurity Framework published in 2021, which is allowing Uruguay to start using artificial intelligence to automate incident response and pattern detection, as well as incorporating data analytics to make projections and anticipate incidents.
Regarding Data Protection, Uruguay has adapted its national framework to the European GDPR, despite its latest Data Protection Law dating back to 2008.

According to Japan’s 2018 Cybersecurity Strategy, the country is committed to “further [promoting] international partnership through international investigative cooperation and information sharing with international organisations, law enforcement agencies and security information agencies in foreign countries.” 
Japan is a party to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and mutual assistance treaties (MLAT), voting against the Russian-sponsored UNGA resolution calling for a new binding cybercrime treaty. Japan has pursued dialogues related to cybercrime cooperation in the context of ASEAN, as well as on a bilateral basis with countries like the UK, USA, and Australia.