Cross-Border Data Flows: Realising benefits and removing barriers

Today’s digital and physical commerce relies on organisations’ ability to move data – including consumers’ personal data – across borders without restriction. The ability to do so generates positive outcomes not only for organisations, but for citizens and countries as well.

This report describes the benefits of cross-border data flows for individuals, businesses and governments, and explores the damaging impact of data localisation measures – requiring that certain types of data remain in country or be stored on local servers. The report considers the reasons why governments introduce such restrictions, and recommends improved approaches to unlock the benefits of global data flows, while ensuring sufficient data privacy rules are in place to protect citizens and maintain their trust in the digital ecosystem.