Summary:

Unilateral and uncoordinated domestic regulations and their enforcement intensify the risk of fragmentation in the global regulatory landscape for digital trade. The Digital Policy Alert (DPA) database documents regulatory and legal developments in the digital economy across the globe. The documented policy categories comprise binding regulatory changes, soft law issuances such as guidance and opinions, and enforcement actions.

Since January 2020, the database has tracked more than 4-digit policy changes across different jurisdictions. According to DPA, the United States, the European countries, and China contribute to the majority of recorded public policy interventions, followed by the G20 economies.  Most of the EU-27 countries’ entries stem from the EU-level regulations.

The composition of regulated policy areas of the US, EU, and China reveals that each jurisdiction has slightly different regulatory priorities. Data governance notably dominates the regulated area across jurisdictions.  

Highlights:

• Singapore and Indonesia are the most active regulators among ASEAN economies.
• The US is the single most active regulator whose quantum of regulatory and policy changes significantly outnumbered the other jurisdictions. China features prominently as an active regulator and legislator, following the US, the EU, and the UK.
• Data governance, content moderation, and competition constitute the major policy areas that are central to the regulatory activities of jurisdictions in the digital economy. 

Article By Xu Ni, Scarlet

Graphic By GE, Yixuan