Abstract
This Chapter explores whether the law of contracts is an adequate mechanism for personal data protection pertaining to transnational commercial trade. The question arises whether Data Protection has become a new frontier in transnational contract law. It is well understood that the transition into the new digital economy has begun and is moving at a rapid rate. Subsequently, data protection is having to be considered by organizations when establishing contracts, both domestically and internationally. In this regard it is understood that national contract laws are far from consistent or uniform. Following recent case law, this Chapter examines whether the Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) can be a mechanism to strengthen the protection of data in transnational contracts.
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Notes
- 1.
Zech H (2017) Data as a Tradeable Commodity – Implications for Contract Law, Josef Drexl (ed.), Proceedings of the 18th EIPIN Congress: The New Data Economy between Data Ownership, Privacy and Safeguarding Competition, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 1–15.
- 2.
Jerome J (2013) Buying and Selling Privacy, Big Data’s Different Burdens and Benefits, 66 Stan. L. Rev.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Kozinski, A Federal Judge, Would Pay $2400 A Year, Max, For Privacy, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/04/alex-kozinski-privacy_n_2807608.html, accessed 2 November 2018.
- 5.
Zannier, F A Bite of Me, Kickstarter, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461902402/a-bit-e-of-me, accessed 11 November 2018.
- 6.
Schwartz P, Managing Global Data Privacy A Report from Privacy Projects (2009) p. 18, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/internet-data-and-trade-meltzer.pdf, accessed 4 May 2018.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
Ibid.
- 9.
Bauer, M Quantum Computing is Coming for Your Data (2017)https://www.wired.com/story/quantum-computing-is-coming-for-your-data, accessed 26 October 2018.
- 10.
Ibid.
- 11.
Van Allen, M., Chaudhry, U Quantum computing is about to disrupt the government contracts market, Bloomberg Government, https://about.bgov.com/blog/quantum-computing-emerging-technology-bound-disrupt-government-contracts-market/, accessed 26 October 2018.
- 12.
Jean Bacon., J Michels., D, Millard., C, Singh, J Blockchain Demystified: A Technical and Legal Introduction to Distributed and Centralised Ledgers, 25 RICH. J.L. & TECH., no. 1, (2018).
- 13.
Ibid.
- 14.
Ibid.
- 15.
Ibid. For example, a smart contract that does not give a consumer a right of withdrawal or refund may fall foul of consumer protection law.
- 16.
Ibid.
- 17.
Ibid.
- 18.
Ibid.
- 19.
York, H., McMillan, M., Wong, K Blockchain and Smart Contracts: The dawn of the Internet of Finance? Communications Law Bulletin, Vol 35.3 (2016).
- 20.
Brkan, M Data Protection and Conflict-of-laws: A Challenging Relationship EDPL (2016).
- 21.
Corps Ltd -v- Apple Computer Inc [2004] EWHC 768.
- 22.
Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, OJL 281.
- 23.
Brkan, M Data Protection and Conflict-of-laws: A Challenging Relationship EDPL (2016).
- 24.
Ibid. Brkan highlights that if the controller has an establishment in the EU, the regulation applies, according to its Article 3(1), ‘to the processing of personal data in the context of the activities of an establishment of a controller or a processor in the Union, regardless of whether the processing takes place in the Union or not. Article 3 contains two important elements. On the one hand, it can be seen that the first part of the rule for territorial application of EU data protection legislation partially remained the same as in Data Protection Directive: processing of data in the context of the activities of a controller or processor, established in the Union. Therefore, with regard to this issue, the legal questions concerning the interpretation of this provision also remain the same, in particular the meaning of the phrase ‘in the context of the activities’ and ‘establishment’. It should be noted that – just as in Data Protection Directive the notion of establishment is defined in Recital 19 GDPR as ‘the effective and real exercise of activity through stable arrangements’.
- 25.
Ibid. Brkan adds that Article 3(1) – regardless of whether the processing takes place in the Union’ broadens the applicability of GDPR much further than the current regime. The place of processing or an activity closely related to processing is currently an important factor for determination of applicable law. Within the GDPR, the place of processing becomes an unimportant criterion for such determination. Rightly so, given the fact that data can be processed anywhere in the world, in particular from a technical perspective (servers being located in a different country than the headquarters of a company). It can be established that the criterion of processing is still important in that it still has to be done in the context of the activities of an establishment of a controller or a processor. However, that processing can be done in a third country, not within the EU, as long as the establishment of the controller is within the EU.
- 26.
Ibid. Recital 20 of GDPR it becomes clear that it should be ‘apparent that the controller is envisaging the offering’ of goods/services to European data subjects. Through this recital, it is also clarified that, whereas mere access to a website or e-mail address are not sufficient for the GDPR to apply, other criteria, such as the mention of Member State’s currency or offering of goods/services in a language of this Member State could point to controller’s intention to offer goods/services to European data subjects.
- 27.
Ibid.
- 28.
Ibid.
- 29.
Ibid.
- 30.
Svantesson, D Extraterritoriality in Data Privacy Law (Ex Tuto 2013), p. 107, in Brkan, M Data Protection and Conflict-of-laws: A Challenging Relationship EDPL (2016).
- 31.
Case 191/15, Verein für Konsumenteninformation v. Amazon [2016] par. 73–80.
- 32.
Rquejo, M Jurisdiction, Conflict of Laws and Data Protection in Cyberspace, (2017), http://conflictoflaws.net/2017/jurisdiction-conflict-of-laws-and-data-protection-in-cyberspace/, accessed 2 November 2018.
- 33.
Case322/14, Jaouad El Majdoub v CarsOnTheWeb.Deutschland GmbH 2015.
- 34.
Ibid.
- 35.
Ibid.
- 36.
Ibid.
- 37.
Rquejo, M Jurisdiction, Conflict of Laws and Data Protection in Cyberspace, (2017), http://conflictoflaws.net/2017/jurisdiction-conflict-of-laws-and-data-protection-in-cyberspace/, accessed 2 November 2018.
- 38.
Facebook Commercial Terms and conditions, https://www.facebook.com/legal/commercial_terms, accessed 2 November 2018.
- 39.
Mills, A Jurisdiction, Conflict of Laws and Data Protection in Cyberspace (Part 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYt6SFUkeYU, accessed 2 November 2018.
- 40.
Akai Pty Ltd v People’s Insurance Co Ltd (1996) 188 CLR 418.
- 41.
Ibid, at 441.
- 42.
Ibid, at 441.
- 43.
Oceanic Sun (1988) 165 CLR 197, 225 (Brennan J), 261 (Gaudron J).
- 44.
Ibid.
- 45.
Hargood v OHTL Public Company Ltd [2015] NSWSC 446, 23–30.
- 46.
Ibid.
- 47.
Ibid.
- 48.
Ibid.
- 49.
Gonzalez v Agoda Company Pty Ltd [2017] NSWSC 1133.
- 50.
Ibid.
- 51.
Ibid.
- 52.
Ibid.
- 53.
Ibid.
- 54.
Ibid.
- 55.
Ibid.
- 56.
Mik, E Terms of Use: Reflections on a Theme (2014). Asian Law Institute 11th Conference, 28–30 May 2014, Kuala Lumpur. Research Collection School of Law.
- 57.
Chwee Kin Keong vDigilandmall.comPte Ltd [2004] SGHC 71 at 91.
- 58.
Ibid – at 38 to 60.
- 59.
Ibid.
- 60.
Ibid, at 91 to 93.
- 61.
Ibid, at 107.
- 62.
Unfair Contract Terms Act 1994, section 27.
- 63.
John Reginald Stott Kirkham v Trane US Inc [2009] 4 SLR 428.
- 64.
Ibid.
- 65.
AbdulRashid bin AbdulManaf vHii Yii Ann [2014] SGHC 194.
- 66.
Sinta Dewl Rosadi, LLB (Unpad), LLM (Washington College of Law, American University), Ph.D (Unpad), Associate Professor in Law at Faculty of Law University of Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia, provided input and verified the information in this section.
- 67.
Suharnoko Contract Law in A Comparative Perspective, Vol. 2, Indonesia Law Review (2012).
- 68.
Ibid.
- 69.
Ibid.
- 70.
Allagan, T Indonesian Private International Law: The Development after More than a Century, Indonesian Journal of International Law, Vol. 14 No. 3, (2017) pp. 381–416.
- 71.
451/Pdt.G/2012/PN.Jkt.Bar.
- 72.
- 73.
Ibid.
- 74.
Ibid.
- 75.
Ibid.
- 76.
Ibid.
- 77.
Corley, M The Need for an International Convention on Data Privacy: Taking a Cue from the CISG,
41 Brook. J. Int’l L. 721 (2016), 722.
- 78.
Samuelson, P Privacy As Intellectual Property? Privacy as Intellectual Property, 52 Stan. L. Rev. 1125 (1999), 1126.
- 79.
Chesterman S (2012) After Privacy: The Rise of Facebook, the Fall of WikiLeaks, and Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act 2012, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies,
- 80.
Ciani abobve n at 288.
- 81.
COM (2017) 9 final.
- 82.
Ciani, J Governing Data Trade in Intelligent Environments: Taxonomy of Possible Regulatory Regimes between Property and Access Rights, Intelligent Environments 2018., 285, 286.
- 83.
Ibid.
- 84.
Samuelson, P Privacy As Intellectual Property? Privacy as Intellectual Property, 52 Stan. L. Rev. 1125 (1999), 1126.
- 85.
Council Regulation 2016/679.
- 86.
Debevoise & Plimton, https://www.debevoise.com/insights/publications/2018/05/gdpr-should-i-care, accessed 20 June 2018.
- 87.
Ibid.
- 88.
Article 41 Convention on the International Sale of Goods.
- 89.
Article 42 Convention on the International Sale of Goods.
- 90.
Article 42(1)(a) Convention on the International Sale of Goods.
- 91.
Honnold, O Uniform Law for International Sales under the 1980 United Nations Convention, Kluwer, (1999) p. 295.
- 92.
Ibid, 265.
- 93.
Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) 12 September 2006 [10 Ob 122/05x].
- 94.
- 95.
France 17 December 1996 Supreme Court (Ceramique Culinaire v. Musgrave), http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/961217f1.html, accessed 20 June 2018.
- 96.
Janal, R., The Seller’s Responsibility for Third Party Intellectual Property Rights under the Vienna Sales Convention, in Andersen, C and Schroeter U., (eds) Sharing International Commercial Law across National Boundaries. Hill Publishing (2008), pp. 203–206.
- 97.
Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/060912a3.html
- 98.
Rauda C, Etier G, Warranty for Intellectual Property Rights in the International Sale of Goods, Vindobona Journal of International Commercial Law and Arbitration, Issue 1 (2000) pp. 30–61.
- 99.
The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1967), the Universal Convention of Copyright (1971) and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1971). The Secretariat’s Commentary refers to Article 2(viii) of the Convention of the World Intellectual Property Organization of 14 July 1967 (WIPO). This rule is very important for finding the definition of intellectual property law in the sense of the CISG for the words industrial or other intellectual property. These terms were introduced by the Finnish deputy during the deliberations on Article 42 CISG, and are rooted in a proposition of the WIPO on the project of Article 42 CISG (at the time being Article 40 of the New York project).
- 100.
Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=283854, accessed 20 June 2018.
- 101.
[2012] EWCA Civ 48.
- 102.
Ibid, para 22.
- 103.
Ibid, para 23.
- 104.
Cornish W, Llewelyn D, Aplin T, Intellectual property: patents, copyright, trademarks and allied rights, Sweet & Maxwell, 2010, in Coogan v News Group Newspapers Ltd & Anor [2012] EWCA Civ 48, paras 36–38.
- 105.
Zeller B., Walters R., Trakman, L Data Protection – a new frontier for transnational contract law? Journal Law and Commerce, University of Pittsburgh School of Law (2018) – under review.
- 106.
Ibid.
- 107.
Trakman L, Walters R, Zeller B, Is Privacy and Personal Data set to become the new Intellectual Property? International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (2018).
- 108.
Ibid.
- 109.
Ibid.
- 110.
Ibid.
- 111.
South Central Bell Telephone Co v Sidney J Barthelemy, 643 So. 2d 1240.
- 112.
Ibid at 1246.
- 113.
Lookosfky points out that the CISG is an elastic document and it ought not be stretched beyond its essential design.
- 114.
Ibid, 276.
- 115.
Lookosfky J In Dubio Pro Conventione? Some Thoughts about Opt-Outs, Computer Software and Preemption Under the CISG, 13 Duke J. Int & Comp. L. 258 (2003), pp. 274–277 Decision of OLG Köln, 26 August 1994, RIW 1994, 970, CLOUT Case 122, available at http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cisg/wais/db/cases2/940826g1.html – holding that a contract calling for a “scholarly analysis of a certain segment of the German market for express delivery services” did not constitute a contract for the “sale of goods”. In this connection, the court noted that a sale of goods is characterized by the transfer of property in an “object”; though the analysis results were embodied in a written report, the main concern of the parties was the right to use the ideas therein.
- 116.
Poikela T Conformity of Goods in the 1980 United Nations Convention of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods Nordic Journal of Commercial Law (2003).
- 117.
Ibid.
- 118.
Trakman L, Walters R, Zeller B, Is Privacy and Personal Data set to become the new Intellectual Property? International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (2018).
- 119.
van Erp, S Ownership of Data: The Numerus Clausus of Legal Objects, Brigham-Kanner Property
Rights Conference Journal 6 (2017), PP. 235, 235–236.
- 120.
Trakman L, Walters R, Zeller B, Is Privacy and Personal Data set to become the new Intellectual Property? International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (2018).
References
Allagan, T (2017) Indonesian Private International Law: The Development after More than a Century, Indonesian Journal of International Law, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 381–416
Brkan, M (2016) Data Protection and Conflict-of-laws: A Challenging Relationship EDPL
Bauer, M (2017) Quantum Computing is Coming for Your Datahttps://www.wired.com/story/quantum-computing-is-coming-for-your-data, accessed 26 October 2018.
Ciani, J Governing Data Trade in Intelligent Environments: Taxonomy of Possible Regulatory Regimes between Property and Access Rights, Intelligent Environments 2018., 285, 286.
Cornish W, Llewelyn D, Aplin T, (2010) Intellectual property: patents, copyright, trademarks and allied rights, Sweet & Maxwell
Corley, M The Need for an International Convention on Data Privacy: Taking a Cue from the CISG, 41 Brook. J. Int’l L. 721 (2016), 722.
Honnold, O (1999) Uniform Law for International Sales under the 1980 United Nations Convention, Kluwer, p. 295
Janal, R., (2008) The Seller’s Responsibility for Third Party Intellectual Property Rights under the Vienna Sales Convention, in Andersen, C and Schroeter U., (eds) Sharing International Commercial Law across National Boundaries. Hill Publishing, pp. 203–206.
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Walters, R., Trakman, L., Zeller, B. (2019). Conflict of Laws, Transnational Contracts in Personal Data. In: Data Protection Law. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8110-2_14
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