European Union privacy and data protection principles : compatibility with culture and legal frameworks in Islamic states

Abstract

Information Communications Technology (ICT) law has developed rapidly during the past 15 years within the European Union (EU). The Directives on Data Protection, Databases, Software and the Internet (to mention but a few) have together formed a corpus representing various layers of legal principles of varying importance. Some of these, like Directive 95/46, essentially are designed to protect fundamental human rights principles such as the right to private life. Recent events such as the negotiations over personal data transfer issues to the United States highlight the importance of such legal instruments and their transnational impact outside the boundaries of the EU. While much attention has been focused on EU 95/46 and transborder data flows to/from North America and G7 countries, little attention has been paid to the impact/compatibility of such laws vis-à-vis North African and Middle Eastern states where Islamic culture or Islamic law underlies much of everyday legal practice. This article attempts to identify the extent to which the principles of European Charter on Human Rights Articles 8 and 10 are to some extent established/respected within North African and Middle Eastern states and consequently the extent to which data protection laws are in (or could conceivably be brought into) place in a way that would ensure de facto compatibility with the requirements of EU 95/46. This issue is becoming of greater importance as more and more EU-based industries move their operations to North African and Islamic law states in order to take advantage of lower labour costs.