Greenleaf, Graham --- "Global Data Privacy Laws 2013: 99 Countries and Counting" [2013] UNSWLRS 58

Last Updated: 27 September 2013

Global Data Privacy Laws 2013: 99 Countries and Counting

Graham Greenleaf, University of New South Wales

This paper is available for download at Available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2305882

Citation

This paper was published in Privacy Laws & Business International Report, Issue 123, June 2013, 10-13. This paper may also be referenced as [2013] UNSWLRS 58.

Abstract

Since mid-2011 this series of articles has documented the increasing number of countries around the world with data privacy laws, initially shown to be an (unexpectedly high) 76, expanding through new laws (and further research) to 89 by early 2012. This third article in the series shows that by mid-2013 the number has grown to 99. Other significant developments concerning international agreements and data protection authorities have also occurred. This article summarizes these developments over the past eighteen month, accompanied by updated Tables – at http://ssrn.com/abstract= 2280875 - concerning all 99 laws, and the 21 known official Bills.

By looking at when such laws were enacted, and from which regions of the world, we can conclude that, given the continuing accelerating growth in the number of such laws, it is likely that, within a decade, data privacy laws will be ubiquitous in that they will be found in almost all economically more significant countries, and most others. This conclusion is supported by the number of official data privacy Bills currently before legislatures or under government consideration in at least 20 more countries.

The article also summarizes recent changes in which countries are affected by international agreements, commitments or requirements concerning data privacy. The article also sets out the extent to which data protection authorities (DPAs) are required as part of data privacy law, and the associations of DPAs in which each country’s DPA is involved. Some conclusions are drawn concerning their overlapping but incomplete memberships.

The full analysis of which this article is a summary version is at http://ssrn.com/abstract= 2280877.