Countries spend billions of dollars each year to strengthen their discursive power to shape international policy debates. They do so because in public policy conversations labels and narratives matter enormously. The “digital protectionism” label has been used in the last decade as a tool to...

This article discusses ways in which the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and post-GATS free trade agreements may limit the EU's ability to regulate privacy and personal data protection as fundamental rights. After discussing this issue in two dimensions – the vertical...

Some principles are not well suited for negotiation through the international trade regime. Or rather, the international trade regime has never been the right forum for negotiating or enforcing human rights. The World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) current approach to data privacy law both...

This report analyses whether and to what extent restrictions on onward transfers of EU personal data from Japan to the parties of the CPTPP or to the U.S. could violate the CPTPP or UJSDTA, and if so, whether they can be justified based on the exceptions these agreements contain. The report...

Cross-border flows of personal data have become essential for international trade. EU law restricts transfers of personal data to a degree that is arguably beyond what is permitted under the EU’s WTO commitments. These restrictions may be justified under trade law’s ‘necessity test.’ The...

The article focuses on the interplay between European Union (EU) law on privacy and data protection and international trade law, in particular the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the WTO dispute settlement system. The argument distinguishes between the effects of international...

The interplay between competition, consumer and data protection law, when applied to data collection and processing practices, may lead to situations where several competent authorities can, independently, carry out enforcement actions against the same practice, or where an authority competent...

This chapter compares the narratives underlying the EU’s approach to governing cross-border data flows and their reflection in the EU’s trade policy with those of the US and China. It demonstrates that, although the policy concerns behind the EU, US and China’s restrictions on data flows...