Data protection regulations grow in the world

Data protection in the world is increasing and affecting foreign investment decisions, reported AT Kearney consulting firm.

In general, investors are faced with burgeoning regulations such as data privacy rules.

AT Kearney previously noted that data privacy rules have proliferated around the world in recent years.

The European Union set the standard for such regulations with its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into effect in 2018, and other countries have followed suit.

For now, new data protection laws will take effect in Thailand in May, Brazil in August and the state of California (United States) in 2023.

With these regulations on the horizon and with many other GDPR-like policies already in place, many investors view data protection regulations (41%) and data protection operating costs (40%) as costs that they impose their foreign direct investment.

Investors in Asia are particularly concerned about data protection regulations, with 43% citing the high costs associated with data privacy rules versus 41% of investors in the Americas and 38% in Europe.

Data Protection

This could reflect China‘s strict data protection rules introduced in the last two years, such as the Cybersecurity Law, which requires network operators to store select data within China’s territorial limits and allows Chinese authorities to conduct verifications. randomized in a company’s network operations.

Similarly, he put as another example AT Kearney, India has been deliberating on a data privacy bill with implications for data rules that investors are likely to be monitoring closely.

Europe

Local storage requirements that force companies to keep a copy of certain types of data within their national territories are also becoming more common in other parts of the world and are a priority for investors.

This often applies to specific types of data, such as accounting or bookkeeping.

Denmark is an example of a nation that requires local storage of accounting data through its Bookkeeping Act, which dictates that companies must store their accounting data for five years.

In special circumstances, the Danish Business and Trade Agency may grant companies permission to keep accounting records abroad.

However, permission is rarely granted.

Also the Accounting Law of Finland (1997) requires companies to store a copy of their accounting records, although the records can be stored in another country of the European Union if a real-time connection to the data is guaranteed.

And the German Commercial Code requires companies to store accounting data and documents locally.