Striking the Balance Between Cross Border Data Flow and the Right to Privacy

Abstract

Cross Border Data Flows (CBDF) have become a necessary process for states and businesses participating in the digital economy, data has become a commodity at this stage of digitalization, leaving states scrambling to assert their digital sovereignty over their own data subjects and seeking access to other countries’ data. In this scramble, states have taken contrasting approaches to the degree it permits CBDF and has created fragmentation within the CBDF regulatory regime. On the international plane, CBDF is primarily regulated as an issue of e-commerce under international trade, with trade agreements signaling states’ commitments to keep CBDF open between trade partners. However, CBDF intrinsically interferes with one’s right to privacy, especially as it enables international transfers of personal data to jurisdictions where data protection rights may not be guaranteed. Thus, the right to privacy of data subjects must be protected by safeguards embedded in international agreements and domestic legislation. Even though presently, states regard the protection of the right to privacy as ancillary to the obligation to promote free data flow and prevent data localization. Therefore, this Thesis suggests that the right to privacy and human rights-based assessments should be central to the regulation of CBDF, this in turn would reduce fragmentation and increase interoperability between different jurisdictions.

Date of Award	2026
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Law