網際網路改變個人資料流通方式,不再輕易受限於地理疆界,個人資料跨國傳遞已成很平常的現象。惟個人資料蒐集者(公務或非公務機關)無論出於商業、科技或國家安全的動機而為國際傳遞時,將面臨前所未有的法律考驗。因不少的國家或區域組織紛紛制定個人資料保護法規,甚至限制個人資料的跨國傳遞,而標準不一的各種個人資料保護法規阻礙企業或政府跨國處理個人資料的自由。數位化個人資料的流通具有全球化特性,已非單純依靠國家內部管轄權便可解決。即使在國際層面上,以單邊性或雙邊性措施亦難以完全有效地因應,甚至區域性國家結盟雖藉由立法(如歐盟資料保護指令)排除會員國間個人資料流通的障礙,但當個人資料流通至非會員國時,仍須藉由「資料禁運」的單邊性措施來推銷其較高的個人資料保護標準,惟採納的國家數量終究極其有限,尚不足以完全因應個人資料保護議題全球化的新趨勢。本文建議,為了徹底解決各國規範不一致而妨礙個人資料流通,惟有利用現有「信賴標誌」產業的自律規範方式或透過全球性多邊組織(如WTO)而建立一套適用於全球的個人資料保護標準,以降低跨國營運業務的法規遵守成本及確保個人資料的自由流通。
As the internet changes the method of personal information flow, it is not easily bound by geographic borders. The transborder transfer of personal information is a common phenomenon. However, conducting the transborder transfer of personal information for business, technological or national security purpose, information collectors, including government agencies and corporations, will face unprecedented legal challenges. A number of nations and regional organizations adopt laws to protect personal information and even to restrict the international transmission of personal information. As a consequence, the inconsistence of various information privacy protection levels hinders the free flow of personal information.The nature of the flow of digitalized personal information is inherently global. The issues arose from its transborder flow could not be solely resolved by one domestic jurisdiction. At the international level, unilateral or bilateral efforts are not sufficient. Although a regional alliance could remove the obstacles of personal information flow by enacting a law, such as the EU Data Protection Directive, to establish an unified standard of personal information protection, it still has to adopt unilateral efforts to promote its higher level of privacy by the threat of ”information embargo” when personal information is transferred to third countries. However, the number of third countries adopting the higher level of personal information protection is quite limited and, thus, the issues of personal information global flows can not be fully resolved by this approach.To overcome the hindrance of personal information flow due to the inconsistence of various information privacy laws, this paper suggests to establish a global unified standard of personal information protection under multilateral organizations, such as WTO, or the self-regulation mechanism of the existing trustmark industry.