Regulatory

The government constructs a legal regime around data’s types and/or uses.

Nations should adapt their legal frameworks in recognition of the risks and potential harms of rapid data-driven change, as well as to attempt to take advantage of the benefits. They should not only delineate how they see data and plan to use it in strategies and visions, but take the next step and translate these ideas into laws and regulations. Here we are interested in binding acts of state, which includes laws but can also include executive orders, directives, decrees, regulations, administrative codes, proclamations, etc., so long as it is mandatory, binding, and enforceable. We are interested in comprehensive, general laws rather than sector-specific. If a law has passed but is not yet in force, we count it.

Explore Regulatory

Country Region Income category Attribute 2 Score Personal Data Protection Law Open Data Law for the Proactive Release of Government Information Freedom of Information Law Right to be Protected from Automated Decision-Making Right to Data Portability
United Kingdom Europe & Central Asia High income 80 1 0 1 1 1
Australia East Asia & Pacific High income 80 1 1 1 0 1
Germany Europe & Central Asia High income 100 1 1 1 1 1
New Zealand East Asia & Pacific High income 80 1 1 1 0 1
Netherlands Europe & Central Asia High income 100 1 1 1 1 1
France Europe & Central Asia High income 100 1 1 1 1 1
Spain Europe & Central Asia High income 80 1 0 1 1 1
Sweden Europe & Central Asia High income 80 1 0 1 1 1
Estonia Europe & Central Asia High income 100 1 1 1 1 1
Japan East Asia & Pacific High income 60 1 1 1 0 0
European Union Europe & Central Asia 100 1 1 1 1 1
Italy Europe & Central Asia High income 100 1 1 1 1 1
Canada North America High income 40 0 1 1 0 0
Brazil Latin America & Caribbean Upper middle income 100 1 1 1 1 1
Ireland Europe & Central Asia High income 100 1 1 1 1 1
Norway Europe & Central Asia High income 80 1 0 1 1 1
Finland Europe & Central Asia High income 80 1 0 1 1 1
Poland Europe & Central Asia High income 100 1 1 1 1 1
Singapore East Asia & Pacific High income 40 1 0 0 0 1
South Korea East Asia & Pacific High income 60 1 1 1 0 0
United States North America High income 40 0 1 1 0 0
Switzerland Europe & Central Asia High income 80 1 0 1 1 1
Uruguay Latin America & Caribbean High income 60 1 0 1 1 0
Panama Latin America & Caribbean Upper middle income 100 1 1 1 1 1
Argentina Latin America & Caribbean Upper middle income 80 1 1 1 1 0
Mexico Latin America & Caribbean Upper middle income 80 1 1 1 1 0
China East Asia & Pacific Upper middle income 80 0 1 1 1 1
Israel Middle East & North Africa High income 60 1 1 1 0 0
Colombia Latin America & Caribbean Upper middle income 40 1 0 1 0 0
Hungary Europe & Central Asia High income 80 1 0 1 1 1
Peru Latin America & Caribbean Upper middle income 60 1 0 1 1 0
Ukraine Europe & Central Asia Lower middle income 60 1 0 1 1 0
Thailand East Asia & Pacific Upper middle income 60 1 0 1 0 1
Taiwan East Asia & Pacific High income 40 1 0 1 0 0
Turkey Europe & Central Asia Upper middle income 60 1 1 1 0
Philippines East Asia & Pacific Lower middle income 60 1 0 1 0 1
Chile Latin America & Caribbean High income 60 1 1 1 0 0
Saudi Arabia Middle East & North Africa High income 20 1 0 0 0 0
Kenya Sub-Saharan Africa Lower middle income 80 1 0 1 1 1
Malaysia East Asia & Pacific Upper middle income 20 0 1 0 0 0
Indonesia East Asia & Pacific Lower middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
South Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Upper middle income 60 1 0 1 1 0
Ghana Sub-Saharan Africa Lower middle income 40 1 0 1 0 0
United Arab Emirates Middle East & North Africa High income 20 1 0 0 0 0
Albania Europe & Central Asia Upper middle income 60 1 0 1 1 0
India South Asia Lower middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Jordan Middle East & North Africa Upper middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Ecuador Latin America & Caribbean Upper middle income 100 1 1 1 1 1
Costa Rica Latin America & Caribbean Upper middle income 40 1 1 0 0 0
Russia Europe & Central Asia Upper middle income 60 1 0 1 1 0
Georgia Europe & Central Asia Upper middle income 60 1 1 1 0 0
Vietnam East Asia & Pacific Lower middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Mauritius Sub-Saharan Africa Upper middle income 40 1 0 0 1 0
Morocco Middle East & North Africa Lower middle income 60 1 0 1 1 0
Côte d’Ivoire Sub-Saharan Africa Lower middle income 40 1 0 1 0 0
Uganda Sub-Saharan Africa Low income 60 1 0 1 1 0
Bangladesh South Asia Lower middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Nigeria Sub-Saharan Africa Lower middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Tunisia Middle East & North Africa Lower middle income 40 1 0 1 0 0
Ethiopia Sub-Saharan Africa Low income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Pakistan South Asia Lower middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Azerbaijan Europe & Central Asia Upper middle income 40 1 0 1 0 0
Bolivia Latin America & Caribbean Lower middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Egypt Middle East & North Africa Lower middle income 20 1 0 0 0 0
Iran Middle East & North Africa Lower middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Algeria Middle East & North Africa Lower middle income 20 1 0 0 0 0
Botswana Sub-Saharan Africa Upper middle income 20 1 0 0 0 0
Tanzania Sub-Saharan Africa Lower middle income 20 0 0 1 0 0
Cuba Latin America & Caribbean Upper middle income 20 1 0 0 0 0
Indicator 1
Personal Data Protection Law
Learn more

Personal Data Protection Law

Personal data laws are laws that delineate how private and often public entities are required to treat personal information when these entities collect, store, utilize and monetize personal data.

Indicator 2
Open data law for the proactive release of government information
Learn more

Open data law for the proactive release of government information

Open data laws are laws that require governmental bodies to make the bulk of public sector data freely available, easy to use, distribute and reuse, subject to limited exceptions, in a proactive manner rather than at the request of citizens.

Indicator 3
Freedom of Information Act
Learn more

Freedom of Information Act

Freedom of Information/FOI/Right to Information laws are designed to ensure that upon request, citizens can access government documents. ​FOI laws were the first wave of action on opening data by governments and thus indicate that a country has begun to take action to implement open data principles.

Indicator 4
Right to be protected from automated decision-making
Learn more

Right to be protected from automated decision-making

These are laws designed to provide individuals with a legal right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated means and/or to be profiled by such systems.  Companies, authorities, and other entities cannot make decisions about individuals using only technology with no human intervention in certain circumstances. Hence a bank cannot refuse a data subject a loan based on an algorithm in a computer program.

Indicator 5
Right to data portability
Learn more

Right to data portability

Data portability laws are laws that provide individuals with the legal right to receive one’s personal data from a data controller and have it transferred to other controllers in a structured, machine-readable format.

Other Attributes

Strategic AttributE
Plans for the different contexts of data use and re-use
Regulatory Attribute
Regulation of Data by its Types and/or Uses
REsponsible AttribuTe
Ethics, trust, and human rights implications of data use and re-use
Structural Attribute 
Adapts institutional structures in response to data-driven transformation
Participatory Attribute 
Incorporation of feedback from stakeholders in data governance regime
International Attribute 
Participation in international efforts to establish data governance rules