Transborder Data Flows and Data Privacy Law

Over 70 countries and various international organizations have adopted data protection and privacy laws that regulate the cross-border transfer of personal data outside their borders. In an era of globalization and the Internet, these restrictions have immense implications for citizens, companies, and governments. This work, written by a renowned expert on data protection law, examines the history, policies, and future of transborder data flow regulation. Kuner traces the history of regulation in different regions, beginning with the earliest European laws in the 1970s, through to leading regional and international instruments of the EU, OECD, Council of Europe, APEC, and other bodies. He also considers regulation developed by the private sector, such as contractual clauses and binding corporate rules. The work then analyses policies underlying such regulation and the legal issues involved, including human rights law, public international law, and EU law. Presenting a global analysis of this important subject, Kuner also discusses the future development of transborder data flow regulation, and gives policy recommendations.

Table of Contents:
1: Background and Introduction2: International Regulation of Transborder Data Flows3: Typology of Regulatory Approaches4: National, Rrivate-Sector, and Technological Approaches5: Analysis of Underlying Policies6: Applicable Law, Extraterritoriality, and Transborder Data Flows7: Compliance and Enforcement8: A Global Regulatory Framework for Transborder Data FlowsAppendix: Data Protection and Privacy Law Instruments Regulating Transborder Data Flows

About the Author :
Dr. Christopher Kuner is Senior Of Counsel in the Brussels office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Centre for European Legal Studies, University of Cambridge, where he also teaches. He is Chairman of the Task Force on Privacy and Data Protection of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and participates in the work of international organizations such as the OECD, the Council of Europe, and UNCITRAL. Dr. Kuner is author of the book European Data Protection Law: Corporate Compliance and Regulation and is editor-in-chief of the journal International Data Privacy Law (both published by Oxford University Press).

Review :
... an important book for any with an interest, academic or professional , in data protection and information privacy, and particularly in transborder data flows. ... Perhaps most important will be Kruner's proposed framework for international data transfer collaboration and governance. As an experienced practitioner and academic thought-leader , his opinion carries considerable gravitas, and he has articulated his vision and solution clearly and concisely. His view cannot be ignored and, on the contrary, forms an excellent spring-board for an international framework for data transfer governance. Hopefully global DPAs will give due consideration to Kuner's proposals, and these could form a basis, or at least a catalyst, for some form of harmonization. Transborder Data Flows and Data Privacy Law is a must-have item not only in any privacy lawyer's library but also on his or her desk. As one might expect from Kuner's background, his book is as useful and practical as it is deep and thought-provoking ... it will no doubt constitute one of the building blocks for a new legal edifice being designed and erected these very days, a regulatory model for a technologically borderless world. Without doubt this study will be one of the starting points for any student or professional researcher of data privacy and will be well appreciated for its detail and referenced documentation by anyone genuinely interested in the subject. Despite the resonance it has for all kinds of professionals, students and researchers of data privacy, those working within the legal tradition will find it easier to handle. His contribution to the global debate is, in any case, rich and stimulating, at times thought provoking, well documented and worth reading. The book clearly points out the implications of increasingly globalized data transfers, depicts in an apt and informative way international, supranational and national approaches, and convincingly analyses regulatory policies. Both the extensive information and the meticulous discussion of the essential elements of international rules constitute an indeed remarkable research.