Data is a valuable commodity that, alongside oil and currency, is increasingly becoming an integral part of international affairs and modern economies. Data governance is an extraordinary challenge in the twenty-first century. From the broad spectrum of open questions and topics, this interdisciplinary study focuses on the institutionalization of global data flows. The author analyzes the topic from the perspective of international relations as a special subject of political science, political economy, diplomacy, sociology, including empiricism as well as transnational, international, supranational, and national law. In her view, institutionalization is not merely the core modus operandi of European organization, but the desirable solution to global problems. Adopting established practices, ideals, and processes creates an effective organization and contributes to accountability and transparency. Although the author does not explicitly deal with sustainability issues in her work, she places her institutionalization analyses in a sustainability-related context and reflects on the associated need for further research and practical development. Strong institutions is a sustainability goal unanimously adopted by the international community in the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights as a General Assembly resolution (UN/A/Res/70/1) in 2015, with Sustainable Development Goal 16, which calls for peace, justice, and strong institutions, and provides for the development of effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels, as such institutionalization is significant in order to create distributive justice for data regulation and trade.

In this study, the European internal efforts to institutionalize data transfer and governance regimes are first analyzed under European law. Building on this, Fahey explores the European Union as a significant global digital player and data sovereign as it has extensive geopolitical data regulation ambitions in the area of value creation and procedures. The focus of the European external institutionalization dimension is then developed with an analysis of this area in the United States of America, Japan, and China. The study includes cross-regional and cross-thematic process-oriented top-down and bottom-up analyses of the complex link between institutionalization and global governance, best practice, and high standards regulations as well as the activities and autonomy of non-state actors. It then focuses on the topics of data protection and data transfer within digital commerce in relation to both personal and non-personal data, internet regulation (Internet of Things) and internet security, data localization, extraterritoriality, and law enforcement. In view of the criticism of international institutions and general institutionalization, this monograph can provide an impetus for further conceptual research on emerging topics. The results presented were funded by the EU Trade and Investment Policy Horizon 2020 Research Network and the Erasmus + Jean Monnet Chair in Law and Transatlantic Relations held by Elaine Fahey. Her research has been conducted at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, icourts Copenhagen, and Keio University, Tokyo. The book is aimed at both legal practitioners and academics conducting research in the fields of information technology and data law with the forward-looking topics addressed gaining relevance in international, supranational, and national governance and legal systems.