Data Protection Legislations around the world

When the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was signed in 2016 (and ratified in 2018), it replaced the ancient law regarding data protection which was signed in 1995. It can be appropriately referred to as ancient because in today’s world, the pace at which new technology is surfacing is both astonishing and hard to keep up with. For example, in 1995 (when the EU passed its previous data protection law), Google was not even registered as a domain name. This shows just how quickly the technological landscape is evolving and with every new discovery, come new threats to the privacy of the citizen. Actions that were never thought to be possible are possible today and they pose a huge threat to individuals’ privacy.

Keeping in mind all the problems mentioned, the GDPR is considered by many to be the “Gold Standard” of data protection laws around the world. It keeps in mind many problems that have been swept under the rug before including audit trails of consent, the right to be forgotten (conditional) and unconditional adherence to the law itself disregarding where the organization in question originates from.

With all that said, the GDPR is only implemented in the EU. The situation of data protection in the rest of the world varies greatly. Some countries have data protection laws that match up to the GDPR while some countries don’t even have a legislation catering to the privacy of its citizens. The countries proven by the EU to have an adequate data protection legislation are:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Japan
• New Zealand
• The entire EU (Since the United Kintgdom still hasn’t exited the EU, the data inside the UK is protected by the GDPR)
• Uruguay

Some countries have legislation that is considered partially adequate by the EU. Those countries are:

• Canada
• USA

A lot of countries have data protection laws but they are considered inadequate in the modern times by the EU. Those countries are:

• Angola
• Bahamas
• Benin
• Bhutan
• Bolivia
• Burkina Faso
• Chad
• Chile
• China
• China
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Dominican Republic
• Equatorial Guinea
• Gabon
• Ghana
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Israel
• Ivory Coast
• Jamaica
• Lesotho
• Madagascar
• Malavi
• Malaysia
• Mali
• Mexico
• Morocco
• Nepal
• Nicaragua
• Nicaragua
• Niger
• Oman
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Peru
• Philippines
• Russia
• Senegal
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Tunisia
• UAE
• Vietnam
• Yemen
• Zambia

Any country that isn’t mentioned in the list above either doesn’t have a data protection law or doesn’t have any data regarding its legislation. However, a few countries are in the legislation making process and they may have a data protection law in the near future. These countries include:

• Brazil
• Ecuador
• Honduras
• Iraq
• Jamaica
• Jordan
• Kenya
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Panama
• Tanzania
• Thailand
• Togo
• Uganda
• Zimbabwe

Mohammad Owais Sabri is an Alevels student at LACAS