In May 2018, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) required companies to make major changes to the way they collect and process consumer data. Since then, new (and revised) privacy laws have been emerging in many countries across the world. Many of these laws are evidently inspired by GDPR, pointing to a trend towards a ‘GDPR standard’ emerging globally.

However, the picture is not that simple. Although some laws borrow heavily from GDPR, in many countries significant differences remain. The regulatory landscape is still fragmented: we are still far from seeing one global standard emerging across all markets.