The World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched a “Roadmap” to encourage policymakers and governments to legislate on best practices in sharing data across international borders.
El Valid identity document «A roadmap for cross-border data flows: Future-proofing and cooperation in the new data economy"Developed in partnership with the Bahrain Economic Development Board and published on 9 June 2020, the report sets out a series of recommendations based on best practices from around the world.
«Creating an effective policy on cross-border data flows is a priority for any nation that critically relies on its interactions with the rest of the world through the free flow of capital, goods, knowledge and people.", the authors write.
They argue that while data-hungry technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain are accelerating, “we are witnessing a proliferation of policies around the world that restrict the movement of data across borders.” Such policies, they say, pose “a threat to the global digital economy and to the ability of nations to maximize the economic and social benefits of data-dependent technologies.”
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In order to combat this threat, the Roadmap establishes: six recommendations to promote innovation in data-intensive technologies and enable data collaboration at regional and international levels.
Titled “Establishing the building blocks of trust,” the paper suggests governments allow data to flow by default, only allowing data localization in specific circumstances; legislate for data protection; and prioritize cybersecurity in line with international standards.
Recommendations four and five aim to encourage cooperation between nations. This can be promoted by establishing mechanisms to hold governments accountable for the security and confidentiality of the data they share, the report notes. There should also be a focus on the technical capacity of organisations to move their data or combine it with collaborators in other countries. Recommendation five says the development of connectivity infrastructure, such as 5G, should be prioritised, and promotes data interoperability, portability and provenance reporting.
The final recommendation for policymakers is to future-proof international data sharing policies.
“Empowering governments to adopt robust yet protected cross-border data sharing policies is vitally important to ensure that economies are not left behind in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”, concludes the report.
While the authors acknowledge that “there is no one-size-fits-all approach” given that “each relationship between countries is unique,” they say that by “considering a common set of policies, as represented in the Roadmap, nations can feel confident that they are engaging to build trust with their counterparts in the digital economy space and to facilitate their own national data economy.”
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