The ‘globalisation’ of Council of Europe data protection Convention 108 through non-European accessions has continued steadily, with eight such accessions since the first in 2013. The ‘modernisation’ of the Convention was completed on 10 October 2018 when the amending protocol for the new ‘Convention 108+’ became open for signature. Any new countries from outside Europe wishing to accede will have to accede to both Convention 108 and the amending Protocol (ie to 108+). The standards required of the laws of acceding countries by 108+ are higher than those required by 108, and are arguably mid-way between 108 and those of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

This article examines to what extent each of the 26 ‘countries’ (separate jurisdictions) in Asia are likely to be able to accede to 108+, if they wish to. As yet, none have acceded to 108. It proposes an efficient way to consider such a question across such a complex set of jurisdictions. Fifteen of the 26 Asian countries already have data privacy laws, and two others have official Bills for such laws. An assessment of the prospects for accession can be done by considering in order the following grounds which may be impediments to accession: Jurisdictions which are not States; States which are not democratic; Laws of inadequate scope; Laws lacking an independent data protection authority; Laws with substantive provisions falling short of 108+ ‘accession standards’; States with proposed Bills only; and States with no relevant laws or proposed Bills.

The most difficult step in this procedure is in deciding which of the substantive provisions of 108+ constitute its ‘accession standards’, or elements essential for accession to be invited. Neither the Convention, nor the guidelines issued by its Consultative Committee, shed much light on this question. However, previous practice under Convention 108, show there is some flexibility involved.

The article concludes with suggestions as to how such flexibility can be made more transparent, and observations on which Asian countries, in light of the seven step assessment carried out in the article, are the most likely candidates to be able to accede to 108+, in both the short and medium terms.

通过非欧洲加入，欧洲理事会数据保护公约第108号的“全球化”一直在稳步进行，自2013年首次加入以来，已有8个加入。公约的“现代化”于2018年10月10日完成，新的“ Convention 108+”公约开放供签署。来自欧洲以外的任何希望加入的新国家都必须加入第108号公约和经修正的议定书（即108+）。加入国家/地区的法律所要求的标准比108+高出108，可以说是介于108和欧盟通用数据保护条例（GDPR）之间。

本文探讨了亚洲26个“国家”（单独的司法管辖区）中的每个国家（如果愿意）在多大程度上能够加入108个国家。到目前为止，还没有人加入108。它提出了一种有效的方法，可以在如此复杂的辖区中考虑这个问题。在26个亚洲国家中，有15个已经制定了数据隐私法，另外两个国家已经制定了有关此类法律的官方法案。可以通过顺序考虑以下可能阻碍加入的理由来评估加入的前景：非国家管辖区；不民主的国家；范围不足的法律；缺乏独立数据保护机构的法律；具有实质性条款的法律未能达到108项以上的“加入标准”；仅提出法案的国家；以及没有相关法律或拟议法案的国家。

此程序中最困难的步骤是确定108+的哪些实质性规定构成其“加入标准”，或邀请加入所必需的要素。无论是《公约》还是其协商委员会发布的指导方针，都没有在这个问题上给予太多关注。但是，以往根据第108号公约实施的做法表明涉及一定的灵活性。

本文最后提出了一些建议，说明如何使这种灵活性更加透明，并根据本文进行的七步评估，观察哪些亚洲国家最有可能加入108个以上国家，无论是短期还是中期。