This journal prides itself on taking a global and international view of data protection and privacy issues. Inevitably, much of what we publish deals with European Union (EU) data protection law, and in particular the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will become enforceable in May 2018. But over the years we have been proud to publish articles covering the law of countries and regions that have otherwise received little scholarly attention in Anglophone law journals thus far. This has included articles covering the law of countries in Africa (Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, etc), the Asia-Pacific region (Japan, Korea, Nepal, Singapore, etc) and Latin America (Brazil). IDPL’s international focus is in keeping with the global nature of data processing. It has become a truism that data are routinely transferred internationally, and that data processing takes little account of national borders, largely because of the Internet. However, much data protection and privacy law scholarship is still inward-looking and constrained by national boundaries. This kind of attitude is perhaps not surprising if one keeps in mind that taking a global approach is not always helpful in advancing one’s academic career in law. The parochialisms of academia are also often reflected in the attitudes of governments and regulators. The GDPR is set to become the most influential piece of data protection legislation ever enacted, and its influence will extend beyond the boundaries of Europe. This poses challenges at both the European and international levels, but also presents opportunities. At the European level, the GDPR is designed to lead to large-scale (but not total) harmonization of data protection law across the EU. It is thus important to view it through the lens of EU law, rather than that of a particular national legal system. However, to take one example from books published recently, a review of several commentaries on the GDPR in German is not encouraging in this regard. The ones we have seen are all written by teams of authors who are almost exclusively German (and yes, there are data protection experts outside of Germany who can write in German). Even more disconcerting is that, based on a quick perusal of these works, they tend to cite almost exclusively works written in German. Evaluating an instrument of EU law exclusively through the lens of a particular national legal system is not the way to build a pan-European legal edifice. The GDPR will also have a global impact by restricting cross-border data transfers, directly regulating the conduct of many non-EU organizations, and, importantly for our discussion here, influencing data protection legislation around the world. While it may be pie in the sky, we can only hope that the GDPR will also lead to the development of greater globalization of data protection scholarship. Granted this would require changes in the university systems in different countries that are unlikely to happen any time soon, such as giving greater weight to publications in other languages and legal systems and to collaborative research that considers other relevant disciplines (eg economics, politics, or computer science) when making decisions about career advancement. But there are also other ways that the entry into force of the GDPR can spur the internationalization of data protection scholarship and data protection law. Scholars writing on the GDPR should at least show that they are aware of materials in other languages and from other legal systems. Teams of scholars from different legal systems can also cooperate in GDPR-related projects. There is also an opportunity for the European Commission or some other funding body to support the creation of an online database containing court decisions and opinions from around the EU that interpret the GDPR, in order to make transparent how it is being interpreted in different legal systems and give

中文翻译：

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GDPR 作为打破边界的机会

该期刊以对数据保护和隐私问题采取全球和国际观点而自豪。不可避免地，我们发布的大部分内容都涉及欧盟 (EU) 数据保护法，尤其是将于 2018 年 5 月生效的欧盟通用数据保护条例 (GDPR)。迄今为止在英语国家法律期刊上很少受到学术关注的国家和地区的法律。这包括涵盖非洲国家（佛得角、埃塞俄比亚、毛里求斯、尼日利亚、南非、乌干达等）、亚太地区（日本、韩国、尼泊尔、新加坡等）和拉丁美洲（巴西）法律的文章）。IDPL 的国际重点与数据处理的全球性质保持一致。众所周知，数据经常在国际上传输，数据处理很少考虑国界，这主要是因为互联网。然而，许多数据保护和隐私法学术仍然是内向的，并受到国界的限制。如果人们牢记采取全球方法并不总是有助于推进一个人的法律学术生涯，那么这种态度也许并不奇怪。学术界的狭隘性也常常反映在政府和监管机构的态度上。GDPR 将成为有史以来最有影响力的数据保护立法，其影响将超越欧洲边界。这在欧洲和国际层面都带来了挑战，但也带来了机遇。在欧洲层面，GDPR 旨在导致整个欧盟数据保护法的大规模（但不是全部）统一。因此，重要的是通过欧盟法律而非特定国家法律体系的视角来看待它。然而，以最近出版的书籍为例，对德国 GDPR 的几篇评论的评论在这方面并不令人鼓舞。我们看到的都是由几乎完全是德国人的作者团队编写的（是的，德国以外的数据保护专家可以用德语写作）。更令人不安的是，基于对这些作品的快速阅读，他们倾向于引用几乎完全用德语编写的作品。仅通过特定国家法律体系的视角来评估欧盟法律文书并不是构建泛欧洲法律大厦的方式。GDPR 还将通过限制跨境数据传输、直接规范许多非欧盟组织的行为，以及对我们在这里的讨论很重要的，影响世界各地的数据保护立法来产生全球影响。虽然它可能是天上的馅饼，但我们只能希望 GDPR 也将导致数据保护学术更加全球化的发展。诚然，这将需要不同国家的大学系统发生变化，这些变化不太可能很快发生，例如更加重视其他语言和法律体系的出版物以及考虑其他相关学科（例如经济、政治或计算机科学）在做出有关职业发展的决定时。但是，GDPR 的生效还可以通过其他方式促进数据保护学术和数据保护法的国际化。撰写 GDPR 的学者至少应该表明他们了解其他语言和其他法律体系的材料。来自不同法律体系的学者团队也可以在 GDPR 相关项目中进行合作。欧盟委员会或其他一些资助机构也有机会支持创建一个在线数据库，其中包含来自欧盟各地解释 GDPR 的法院判决和意见，以使其在不同法律体系中的解释方式透明化并给予 撰写 GDPR 的学者至少应该表明他们了解其他语言和其他法律体系的材料。来自不同法律体系的学者团队也可以在 GDPR 相关项目中进行合作。欧盟委员会或其他一些资助机构也有机会支持创建一个在线数据库，其中包含来自欧盟各地解释 GDPR 的法院判决和意见，以使其在不同法律体系中的解释方式透明化并给予 撰写 GDPR 的学者至少应该表明他们了解其他语言和其他法律体系的材料。来自不同法律体系的学者团队也可以在 GDPR 相关项目中进行合作。欧盟委员会或其他一些资助机构也有机会支持创建一个在线数据库，其中包含来自欧盟各地解释 GDPR 的法院判决和意见，以使其在不同法律体系中的解释方式透明化并给予