A practical comparison of the EU, China and ASEAN standard contractual clauses

Are we witnessing a watershed moment for standard contractual clauses as a mechanism for cross-border data transfers in major jurisdictions across the globe? The People's Republic of China Standard Contract was issued in March 2023; the current form of the EU SCCs have been in effect since June 2021, and the U.K. International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU SCCs since March 2022; and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations published its Model Contractual Clauses in January 2021.

In this article, we compare three sets of standard contractual clauses, namely in China, the EU and the ASEAN, based on their key features. For consistency, we refer to personal data under the three frameworks as encompassing any data or information from which an individual or data subject can be identified, and this is used synonymously with personal and personally identifiable information.