Data protection roadmap issued for arbitration professionals

"Even if a party to arbitration is aware that they have data privacy obligations, the number of jurisdictions involved in that arbitration may make compliance with those obligations bewildering: by way of example it’s not unlikely that even a relatively straightforward arbitration could involve the exchange of documents containing protected data originating from Europe and China, thereby triggering the protections contained in both the GDPR and the Chinese Cybersecurity Law," he said. "In this context the draft roadmap is to be welcomed. It focuses on the GDPR, which is often considered to be the gold standard in data privacy laws, and which contains provisions we can expect many other jurisdictions to adopt."

"Compliance with the GDPR can be complex and costly, but the draft roadmap gives clear guidance on the issues it poses for parties to an arbitration, and how best to navigate those issues without compromising the arbitral proceedings and without risking penalties under the law," Haswell said.

The draft roadmap is open to consultation until Tuesday 31 March. The final roadmap is expected to be published at the ICCA Congress, which is due to be held in Edinburgh on 12 May.