Digital Commerce in international trade relations

Abstract

Today, data transfers are considered as one of the most important yet controversial topics in many countries. Although no one disagrees on the importance of cross-border data transfers, many countries adopt or maintain data localization measures for different purposes such as to protect citizens privacy and security, to develop their economies, or simply to enforce domestic laws. Korea is one of those countries that maintain strict data localization measures on personal information, location information and spatial data. Although it is true that these types of measures are necessary in order to protect privacy and personal information, they may act as hurdles to development of digital economy, including location based services and cloud computing industries. Thus, it is important for countries to strive to remove these hurdles and cooperate to lay out multilateral rules on data transfers. In fact, recent FTAs such as KORUS FTA and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) include provisions on cross-border data transfers, and especially TPP e-commerce chapter specifically addresses server localization issue. In this aspect, this paper analyzes data localization measures based on different purposes, conducts in-depth study on Korean data localization measures, and then examines relevant FTA chapters to propose new norms for those countries adhering to strict data localization laws.