A Comparative Study Of Personal Information Protection In Cross-border Data Flows

With the expansion of the digital economy on a global scale,international digital trade has risen rapidly as an emerging mode of trade.Cross-border data flow,as an essential element for digital trade,has played a huge role in promoting global economic development.However,the outflow of data mainly based on personal information may not only infringe on citizens' personal privacy and cause physical and property losses,but also may threaten a country's national security and social public interests.In this regard,many countries and regions have formulated their own personal information protection mechanisms for the cross-border flow of personal information from different perspectives,and have formed three regulatory directions represented by the European Union,the United States,and Russia.At present,our country's regulation of the personal information cross-border flow has just started,and there are many imperfections.Therefore,it is necessary to analyze the mainstream international regulatory mechanisms and study the development trends of various mechanisms,so that we can learn from the advanced practices of other countries and determine the general direction of domestic data protection legislation.This article is divided into four parts to discuss the personal information flow protection mechanism of each country.The first part mainly defines the concept of data cross-border flow and the definition of personal information that have not yet formed a unified understanding.At the same time,this chapter also analyzes the need for the country to protect personal information in data crossborder flows from three perspectives: personal rights protection,digital economy development,and national security protection.The second part mainly introduces three typical mechanisms for the regulation of personal information cross-border flow.First,it introduces the EU GDPR mechanism with the protection of personal information rights as the value-oriented,and analyzes the "long-arm jurisdiction" of the mechanism and the strict standards based on the "appropriate safeguards".Secondly,it analyzes the US data transmission mechanism that is oriented to national interests.In order to promote the global expansion of its domestic data companies,the US strives to lower the threshold of data outflow from other countries.At the same time,it attaches great importance to the protection of national security and important personal information of citizens.Forming an American hegemonic "lenient entry and strict exit" personal information protection mechanism.Finally,this chapter also introduces the Russian personal information protection mechanism representing developing countries.Different from the developed countries represented by the United States and Europe.As Russia's domestic data industry is relatively backward,it is difficult for Russia to form fair and effective competition with developed countries.Russia has formulated a strict data localization protection mechanism to restrict and prohibit the outflow of domestic personal data.The third part,this chapter introduces the development trend of the current mainstream personal information protection mechanism.The first is to analyze the development trend of the data localization mechanism.Due to the differences in the development of the domestic digital economy in various countries,countries that implement data localization legislation have shown two trends: relaxation and tightening of localization restrictions;The second is to analyze the development trend of the personal information protection mechanisms in the US and the EU that support the data cross-border flow.Judging from the policies of the two regions,the EU is gradually improving its personal information protection standards,while the US is more actively promoting cooperation in international data flow.Third,this part also introduces the trend of countries in the WTO e-commerce negotiations to promote the construction of a global unified protection mechanism under the WTO framework.The last part is the current situation,existing problems and suggestions for the protection of China's personal information crossborder flow mechanism.This part introduces the current development and regulation status of our country's data industry,and analyzes the deficiencies of the regulatory mechanism.Put forward that we should appropriately relax restrictions on data localization,strengthen international data flow cooperation,and improve domestic personal information protection legislation and supervision system.