This open access book offers a new account on the legal conflict between privacy and trade in
the digital sphere. It develops a fundamental rights theory with a new right to continuous
protection of personal data and explores the room for the application of this new right in
trade law. Replicable legal analysis and practical solutions show the way to deal with
cross-border data flows without violating fundamental rights and trade law principles. The
interplay of privacy and trade became a topic of worldwide attention in the wake of Edward
Snowden's revelations concerning US mass surveillance. Based on claims brought forward by the
activist Maximilian Schrems the ECJ passed down two high-profile rulings restricting EU-US
data flows. Personal data is relevant for a wide range of services that are supplied across
borders and restrictions on data flows therefore have an impact on the trade with such
services. After the two rulings by the ECJ it is less clear then ever how privacy protection
and trade can be brought together on an international scale. Although it was widely understood
that the legal dispute over EU-US data flows concerns the broad application of EU data
protection law it has never been fully explored just how far the EU's requirements for the
protection of digital rights go and what this means beyond EU-US data flows. This book shows
how the international effects of EU data protection law are rooted in the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights and that the architecture of EU law demands that the Charter as primary EU
law takes precedence over international law. The book sets out to solve the problem of how the
EU legal data transfer regime must be designed to implement the EU's extraterritorial
fundamental rights requirements without violating the principles of the WTO's law on services.
It also addresses current developments in international trade law - the conclusion of
comprehensive trade agreements - and offers suggestion for the design of data flow clauses that
accommodate privacy and trade.
