In this article, we shall discuss 18 Countries with GDPR-like data privacy laws. To skip our detailed analysis of the economic implications of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the advent of the European Union’s new digital strategy, go directly and see 5 Countries with GDPR-like Data Privacy Laws.

As consumers swarm towards digital technology in the twenty first century, the copious amounts of data generated is an enormous opportunity for companies to build on their consumer engagement mechanisms. Furthermore, insights from consumer data also aid in the optimization of product development, personalized advertising and marketing, with the total global value of digital advertising rising upwards of $300 billion as of 2020 according to McKinsey.

However, there is also an increasing responsibility on companies like Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other companies which rely on consumer data to adequately secure and protect consumer data. This responsibility was brought to light especially after the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke out across Europe and the United States in 2018. You can read more about the impact of the scandal in our article “Top 25 Countries With the Most Facebook Users“. Two months post the scandal, the European Union implemented the GDPR, a new regulatory regime to conduct business and manage consumer data in Europe. Although it primarily regulates the EU, the jurisdiction of the regime has had global implications. Since 2018, many countries around the world have adopted GDPR-like data privacy laws. Provisions within the GDPR also affect international enterprises with customers or employees in Europe as well as those serving as data processors in Europe or for European companies.

The GDPR: Five Years On

The GPRR has widely been hailed as the gold standard when it comes to regulating how companies use and secure consumer data. However, as governments in the EU and in countries with GDPR-like data privacy laws learn how to navigate the intricacies of artificial intelligence (AI), gig workers and the ever-growing data needs of corporations, implementation of the GDPR has not been quite as smooth-sailing as initially postulated, according to an article by Bloomberg.

Passed in 2018, the multibillion-euro fines promised by the GDPR are only just starting, the first of which was a €1 billion penalty for Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in May 2023. This was largely due to the fact that regulators have been constrained by insufficient funds, complex procedural labyrinths and much infighting on implementation. The economic environment this created was incredibly difficult for companies to navigate, largely due to the endless bureaucratic hurdles.

According to Bloomberg, a glaring lacuna in the GDPR’s operationalization is the incumbency to put national enforcers in charge of holding tech companies like Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to account. The EU has tried to remedy this by assigning enforcement duties of major tech companies to the European Commission. But the EU’s executive arm is severely stretched for resources, funds, expertise and time. This is a huge problem, especially when the EU will need to defend its decisions when companies inevitably litigate their penalization. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has already appealed the latest fine levied by authorities in Ireland.

The GDPR has led to many companies and officials to consider reducing their presence in  Europe significantly, or even halt services in entire jurisdictions. However, as we expanded upon in our article “15 Countries That Banned ChatGPT“, when Italy stopped the rollout of ChatGPT in April 2023 over data privacy concerns, critics were quick to point out that the move wouldn’t incumber the progress of AI but just divert it to China and the U.S. Legislators within the EU have deliberated on the possible flaws within the GDPR and in light of the development of AI, are diverting all attention to the EU digital strategy 2025.

The EU Digital Strategy: A Deeper Look

The data regulations that govern the EU, one of the world’s most lucrative economic blocs, have recently been pushed into mainstream discourse, primarily due to the GDPR and the rulings around Schrems II – whereby the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that data privacy had certain limitations due to domestic law in the United States—as well as use by US authorities of personal data EU residents, and other recent developments such as e-privacy. While these developments have transformed the way in which companies interact with consumer data not only in the EU but also in countries with GDPR-like data privacy laws, they have been unable to facilitate seamless data exchange between companies.

According to an assessment by McKinsey, this inability has created space for further regulatory activity aimed at the systematic uplift of European data capabilities, facilitation of a market for data, and AI regulation. Widely termed the EU digital strategy, it is a collection of several acts that are set come into effect post-Spring 2023. It offers American players like Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other advertising companies which leverage consumer data to generate income, enormous competitive advantages and opportunities, driving investor optimism towards these stocks in 2023. 

Firstly, the possibility of data sharing will open new avenues to attract customers and ensure no natural advantages are created through the infeasibility of transferring end-user data. Secondly, the possibility to reduce market power of gatekeeper platforms mitigates the risk of transferring infrastructure to a major cloud providers, as it minimizes the potential challenges in facing arbitrary service cancellations. Lastly, safeguards afforded to end-user rights associated with AI create new market opportunities where identifying low-risk algorithms become a paramount objective, thereby facilitating companies in areas where they had already created legacy algorithms.

To read more on how companies like Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) can capitalize on the opportunities presented by this new legal regime in the EU, you can check out Insider Monkey’s coverage of  “4 Ways Your Data Management Practices Can Build Consumer Trust“ 

Our Methodology

To compile our list of the 18 countries with GDPR-like data privacy laws, we identified four defining features of the GDPR to act as key criteria for inclusion: (1) extra-territoriality (2) data export regulation (3) data protection legislation and (4) penalties and enforcement. Next, we assigned each criterion a score as follows: Extra-territoriality (4 points), data export regulation (3 points), data protection legislation (2 points), and penalties and enforcement (1 point).

Thereafter, we used DLA Piper’s data privacy law database to collect information on each country’s data privacy laws and practices compared to the GDPR and evaluated each country’s alignment with the criteria, assigning scores out of 10 based on our research. Based on their total scores, the countries were ranked from lowest to highest, with the highest total score indicating the strongest alignment of the country’s data privacy law with the GDPR. Where there was a tie, we broke it based on the date the data protection legislation of the country was passed.

18 Countries with GDPR-like Data Privacy Laws

18. Kenya

Average Score: 3

As the country with the lowest alignment with the GDPR, Kenya is the first entry on our list of 18 countries with GDPR-like data privacy laws. A signatory of the Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, which was largely modeled after the GDPR, Kenya’s Data Protection Act was enacted in 2019 and is the primary legislation regulating data privacy in the country. According to a report by PwC, some of the key provisions of the GDPR enforceable in Kenya under the Data Protection Act 2019 largely pertain to personal data regulations and penalties for non-compliance.

17. Chile

Average Score: 3

After the 2018 amendment to the Chilean constitution wherein data privacy was enshrined as a human right, the country’s Ley 19,628 data privacy law has bolstered data privacy protection in Chile to GDPR-like levels. The law mandates the establishment of a personal data protection agency, in addition to regulation regarding data retention, collection, and transfer. Although not as high as the GDPR, the law also contains fines for non-compliance which are proportional to global annual turnover.

16. India

Average Score: 4

Although some of its policies are not clearly laid out and increased discretion of implementation lies with the country’s Central Government, India’s Personal Data Protection Bill has largely been modelled after the GDPR. Similar to other developing countries with GDPR-like data privacy laws, the PDPB mandates consent of data subjects, breach notification requirements, a right to be forgotten, and heavy fines for noncompliance.

15. Japan

Average Score: 4

Japan’s Act on Protection of Personal Information, like the GDPR, applies to foreign and domestic companies which process the data of Japanese citizens. More recently in 2020, Japan and the European Commission entered into an agreement on reciprocal adequacy of their respective data protection regulations. This means that data subjects in the EU have legal recourse for violation of their data privacy rights by Japanese companies and vice versa.

14. New Zealand

Average Score: 4

New amendments to the country’s 1993 Privacy Act came into effect on the 1st of December 2020. Although the amendments bear affinity to the GDPR in that they require companies to notify authorities of any data breaches and the introduce new restrictions to offshore data transfer, the fines for non-compliance are much lower than that of the GDPR. Furthermore, the restrictions on offshore data transfer don’t apply to cloud servers, a majority of which are based out of New Zealand.

13. China

Average Score: 5

China’s Personal Information Protection Law came into effect in November 2021. With its extraterritorial applicability and enormously high noncompliance fines, the PIPL has drawn frequent comparisons to the GDPR. The mechanisms involved the ensuring compliance with each regulation leaves little space for any errors on part of the companies.

12. Israel

Average Score: 5

Israel’s Data Security Regulations of 2017 contain many of the same ideas as the GDPR, so much so that the European Commission has ruled that Israel’s data protection legislation is adequate for data export under the GDPR. This means that Israeli companies that process and retain European consumer data and vice versa, substantially boosting the data sector in Israel.

11. Turkey

Average Score: 5

Turkey’s Law on Personal Data Protection 2016 (LPDP) is largely borrows much of its regulations from the EU Directive 95/46/EC and after numerous amendments, is becoming increasingly similar to the GDPR. Much like the GDPR, the legislation now regulates data retention, deletion, and anonymization; registration of data controllers, and specifications for processing special categories of personal data.

10. South Africa

Average Score: 5

Although the two regulations have multiple points of difference, organizations which are compliant with the GDPR will have a substantial head start with respect to South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act 2013 (POPIA). Like the GDPR, POPIA applies to all organizations regardless of size. Furthermore, GDPR’s data export regulations apply fully to POPIA. A fundamental point of divergence between the two legal regimes are with respect to the penalties for non-compliance.

9. Egypt

Average Score: 6

Egypt’s Personal Data Protection Law 2020 (PDPL) applies to all organizations which process or retain Egyptian consumer data inside and outside the country. Furthermore, it mandates responsibility on all companies to report any data breaches to proper authorities within 72 hours. And although fines are relatively less harsh than those of the GDPR, the PDPL’s reputation as one of the strictest data privacy laws in the world makes it a strong contender on our list of 18 countries with GDPR-like data privacy laws.

8. Switzerland

Average Score: 6

Next on our list of the 18 countries with GDPR-like data privacy laws is Switzerland’s Federal Act on Data Protection 2020 (FADP). It was revised in August 2023, not only to strengthen data privacy regulations in general but also to create stronger alignment with the GDPR. Like the GDPR, the FADP has extraterritorial scope. Furthermore, when it comes to data processing principles, scope of what defines “personal data”, and data subject rights, the FADP borrows much of the language from the GDPR.

7. South Korea

Average Score: 6

Since its inception in September 2011, South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act has included many GDPR-like data privacy provisions, including requirements for consensual use of consumer data, the extra-territorial scope of applicable data, appointment of a Chief Privacy Officer, and limitation and justification of data retention periods.

6. Australia

Average Score: 7

The Federal Privacy Act of 2018 is Australia’s fundamental legal regime that regulates data privacy and protection across the country. Borrowing statutes from the GDPR, organizations with annual turnovers of three million AUD are required to disclose data breaches that pose “real threat of serious harm” or face monetary fines. The extraterritorial application of the Federal Privacy Act only applies to jurisdictions which have an Australian link. Australia is only number 6 on our list of 18 countries with GDPR-like data privacy laws. 

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Disclosure: None. 18 Countries With GDPR-like Data Privacy Laws is originally published on Insider Monkey.