Study On Legal Regulation Of Data Localization Measures In The Context Of WTO E-Commerce Negotiations

Today’s digital trade is developing rapidly,and the importance of WTO as an important international institution that promotes the flourishing of the world economy and international trade will be further highlighted in this context.The cross-border flow of data has brought new challenges and opportunities to the reform of the WTO system,and the WTO e-commerce negotiations have entered a brand new stage.As a new way of communication among global elements,the new era of globalization characterized by digital trade has opened with the realization of data flow on a global scale.However,while promoting the global economy to move steadily forward,the cross-border flow of data has also given rise to a series of problems including undermining data sovereignty,affecting national security,disturbing public moral order,and difficulties in safeguarding the rights of personal information.Each country sets up provisions for cross-border data flow from its own political,economic and cultural backgrounds,and thus there are differences in the setting and protection of provisions for cross-border data flow in different jurisdictions.Data localization as one of the important ways of data cross-border flow,however,countries have mixed opinions on data localization measures in the context of WTO e-commerce negotiations.There are new types of issues emerging rapidly,lack of governance rules and insufficient global governance coordination.The security and stability of the global digital trade framework is a prerequisite for individual countries to have greater confidence in opening up digital trade,but the current lack of security and stability in the global digital trade framework has led to conflicts between Internet regulation and digital development.As a result,most developing countries have implemented data localization measures to varying degrees in order to maintain national security and protect domestic industries;however,countries with well-developed digital technologies use their advantages to strongly promote the free flow of data across borders.Countries that implement data localization policies consider data localization measures to be the best policy option for them to protect domestic industries,national security,and personal privacy;countries that oppose data localization measures consider them to be an emerging measure of trade barriers that violate the rules of free trade.In the global interest,data localization measures are not directly equivalent to "restricting or prohibiting cross-border data flows," so the task at hand is how to establish a secure,predictable and trustworthy global regulatory framework,and try to resolve the conflict between free flow and secure flow,rather than consistently advocating free flow and ignoring data localization measures.localization measures.Firstly,harmonizing the regulation of data localization as a common issue faced by countries should strengthen digital security cooperation: secondly,in considering data classification,data can be categorized according to the type of data,while data localization measures can be implemented to varying degrees according to the different data localization needs across countries.In addition,this is also a common measure for conducting data localization.Finally,it is also necessary to actively guide major companies that hold massive amounts of data to establish industry self-regulation.While promoting data flow should also safeguard China’s response,as a major digital economy country,actively participate in international cooperation and share more Chinese solutions to generate international influence;at the same time,China should continue to improve the content of legislation and continuously enhance the enforcement and transparency of the rules.