Is the Brussels Effect Creating a New Legal Order in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean?

Abstract

EU Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR), like the pied piper of Hamelin, has and continues to lure third countries into approximating the EU data protection framework.  Some scholars believe the approximation of the EU framework, mostly done in a one-size-fits-all fashion, may not be appropriate in non-EU contexts mainly because (some) values advanced by the EU data protection framework may vary from or be incompatible with legal cultures and/or social norms of the recipient country/region. This paper looks into data protection in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean (hereinafter LAC). The focus is on the evolution, influence and role of the EU in the development of data protection laws in Africa and LAC. The purpose is to ascertain whether and to what extent those laws are a result of the Brussels effect