CETA, TTIP, TiSA, and Data Protection

Trade agreements cannot avoid dealing with digital services and data sharing. In the cases of TTIP, CETA, and TiSA, different concepts of data protection collide and it is the fear of the European side that the EU’s acquis on data privacy could get compromised through the liberalization of data flows. This chapter analyses the possible impact of these agreements on data protection. It refers to the European Parliament’s call to include a horizontal self-standing clause in TTIP to exclude the current and future EU data protection legislation from being traded in TTIP, a claim which is based on Article XIV of the GATS. In dealing with these issues, it will be considered further that the EU and the US are discussing data transfers and data protection in other fora as well, namely on the tracks of the new Safe Harbor Agreement and the Data Protection Umbrella Agreement.