South Africa: Options to regulate data flows

Image: Flickr, Selvan Madhaiyan
Image: Flickr, Selvan Madhaiyan

South Africa is in a privileged position to become the regional hub for provision of data processing services and other innovative digital services.

In order to do so, the country should promote the free flow of data, allowing local companies to extract the benefits of data created regionally. This policy briefing provides clear economic arguments to support a regime of free data flow in South Africa and shows that restrictions on movement of data have detrimental effects on productivity, innovation, access to information, investment and ultimately the growth and welfare of the country.

Download the discussion paper.

The views expressed in this publication/article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).

3 Feb 2018