This research explores access to data under international economic law focusing on three rationales: cross-border data flows; innovation and accountability.
Letzte Änderung: 08.09.20
Background
This research concentrates on the legal mechanisms to access and reuse data (personal and non-personal) under international economic law. The focus on international economic law is deliberate given that at the moment data governance is facing regulation at the domestic level, but there is a lack of an international approach. This might impact countries that do not have the capacities to regulate data, and more broadly, AI themselves. A side effect is the possible legal transplantation of laws and regulations from other jurisdictions, especially since market access can be conditioned on complying with those regulations. Simultaneously, there is a gap of scholarship in the international law field addressing the question of access to data, and which instruments and treaty provisions can facilitate access and reuse of data. Thus, the research questions are:
• What type of regulatory approach exists for enabling access to data sets at the international level, including treaty rules and cooperation schemes?
• How and which aspects of EU and US legislation are influencing preferential trade agreements rulemaking with regard to the protection and access to data sets in the Asia Pacific?
• What is the level of policy space left to Asia Pacific governments with regard to the domestic regulation of access to data sets and open data?
Methodology
The methodology to approach this problem is legal comparative research. It takes US and EU regulations as the background to analyze current treaty norms and foresee norms that could be developed in the future (and propose specific texts). The focus is in three rationales for promoting access and reuse to data: (i) cross-border trade, (ii) innovation, and (iii) accountability.
Outcomes of research stay at the Max Planck (October 2019-April 2020)
The objective of my research stay at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition was to carry out the last phase of research corresponding to the analysis of (i) trade secret protection and access to digital datasets, and (ii) open data schemes in non EU/US jurisdictions. Both objectives have been achieved. In addition I was able present the paper “How to build interoperability? Conceptualizing the Asia – Latin America relationship for the data economy” at the Latin America - Asia Pacific Observatory Fourth Academic Seminar. The Latin America - Asia Pacific Observatory is a joint initiative of the ALADI (Latin American Association for Integration), CAF (Andean Development Bank) and CEPAL (United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), held in Montevideo in November 2019. Furthermore, in March 2020, along with Pratyush Nath Upreti, a fellow scholarship holder, we published the opinion article “Phase One US-China Trade Deal: What Does It Mean for Intellectual Property?” in GRUR International.
Maria Vasquez Callo
Dr. Michèle Finck, LL.M
Prof. Dr. Michael Hahn
II.3 Vernetzte Datenwirtschaft
