Two-Pager: The Legal Protection of International Organisations' Data

Disclaimer: This two-pager has been prepared by the CKN Secretariat and should not be considered the work of the individuals listed as authors of the report.

Key Takeaways

• Data of Europeans transferred to the United Nations may be stored in China or handled by Chinese cloud providers, raising questions about compliance with Dutch/EU privacy and cybersecurity requirements.
• Due to the privileges and immunities of the UN, neither European nor Chinese law applies directly to UN data; such data qualifies as “property and assets” enjoying immunity and inviolability, regardless of location.
• While the UN has its own internal data protection rules inspired by GDPR and similar frameworks, the level of protection does not appear equivalent to the European standard, and remains relatively vague in interpretation.
• Increasing conflicts of law between EU, China, and the UN are likely as data protection regimes evolve, especially given the growth of big data use and cloud computing within the UN system.