Global Tables of Data Privacy Laws and Bills (5th Ed 2017)

Abstract

This is the 5th edition of the global survey of which countries have data privacy laws that meet minimum international standards. The 1st edition in 2011 included 76 countries. This 2017 edition of the Tables includes 120 laws that now meet this standard, a 10% increase since the 109 laws in the 2015 4th edition. As well as enacted legislation, a separate table lists official bills for new data privacy Acts (whether or not introduced into legislatures) from 30 more countries.

For each country’s law, the Tables note the followjng: key legislation; year of enactment; year of most recent amendment (if known); region; relevant international organisations of which the country is a member; whether the law covers the private sector, public sector, or both; the international data privacy agreements to which the country is a party; the data protection authority (DPA) in the country (if any); and the DPA associations of which they are a member.

This 2017 update to the Tables is explained and analysed in my two accompanying articles:

• ‘Global data privacy laws 2017: 120 national data privacy laws now include Indonesia and Turkey’ (2017) 145 Privacy Laws & Business International Report 10-13: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2993035 and,

• ‘Global data privacy laws: DPAs 2017 – Global networks grow in significance’ (2017) 146 Privacy Laws & Business International Report 14-17: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2993186.

Further background on the criteria used is in my ‘Sheherezade and the 101 data privacy laws: Origins, significance and global trajectories’, (2014) 23(1) Journal of Law, Information & Science and available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2280877. Copies of all legislation listed in this Table are in the National Data Privacy Legislation database of the free access International Privacy Law Library, located on the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII), or will be located there as updating resources permit.

Keywords: privacy, data protection, global