The Digital Economy and International Trade

Data flows are the backbone of today's diversified value and supply chains. In this timely book, a prominent specialist in transnational commercial and private law explores a developing and evolving area of law related to the role of the digital economy in international trade, making a direct call for the need to internationalise the law regulating transnational data flows.
Examining the commonalities and divergences in data flow regulation among ten key jurisdictions - Australia, Indonesia, India, Canada, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union - the book covers such issues and topics as the following:

- reconciling data free flow with trust;

- managing the increase in data vulnerability;

- efforts to prohibit trade in personal data within an interconnected digital economy;

- obstacles to data flows and digital economic development;

- cybersecurity;

- FinTech and TechFins;

- cross-border insolvency;

- dispute resolution; and

- data-digital diplomacy.

The author compares several bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, addressing the data-related shortcomings of these instruments and providing a pathway forward. In addition, two case studies are presented of high-profile judicial and regulatory decisions demonstrating the challenges of data flows and their governance.

The author cogently demonstrates how an international legal mechanism such as a convention, treaty, or model law could provide greater certainty for data, as well as help to foster economic growth and create jobs and business opportunities. Practitioners and policymakers concerned with data security and privacy will greatly appreciate this book's important and valuable contribution to a crucial area of law that bodes well to enhance the economic and social well-being of all.