국제거래에서의 개인정보의 국가간 이동에 대한 소고－EU, 미국, 일본의 최근 법제 동향을 중심으로－

In Korea, current laws on the movement of personal information between countries are different from each other, and moreover, in order to transfer personal information from overseas to overseas, data controller must obtain informed consent. It is not realistic to obtain the consent of the data subject involved in the international transaction when inter-company transactions occur frequently and transactions are made in large quantities. In Korea, where the economy has developed based on trade, it is not desirable to create unnecessary barriers in international transactions. However, it is not desirable to ignore the intention of protecting the personal information of the Korean people through strict personal information protection legislation under Korean law or to create a blind spot of personal information protection as a result. One of the most popular legislative trends for the movement of personal information between countries is legislation of the General Data Protection Regulations of the EU. The EU, which accounts for a large portion of the global market, has been drawing much attention from around the world before the GDPR will come into force in May 2018. Japan recently revised the Japanese Personal Information Protection Act and reorganized the new system for the transfer of personal information abroad. Meanwhile, European Court of Justice invalidated the EU-US Safe Harbor, which was used as a regulatory system for the transfer of personal information between the EU and the EU. Subsequently, a new EU-US Privacy Shield has been set up to redefine the rules governing the movement of personal information between the United States and the European Union as the GDPR is enacted in the EU. The EU, the United States, and Japan are making efforts to effectively respond to the international movement of personal information in international transactions through legal reforms. On the contrary, Korea has been proceeding legislation only to strengthen the protection of personal information. However, in order to strengthen the competitiveness in the global market, we should not delay the worries for a balanced legal system for effective protection of the personal information of the Korean people, while trying to revitalize the transactions in the international transaction area. Based on the above-mentioned problem consciousness, this article looks at the recent trends of related legislation abroad in order to draw up the legal systematic countermeasures against the movement of personal information between countries while maintaining the viewpoint of harmony of protection and utilization of personal information. And it tried to make a brief proposal on the direction in which our legislation should go. As a result, we could derive three improvement directions: establishment of the principle of equal regulation, alignment of laws and regulations, establishment of international transfer system for efficient protection and transfer of personal information between countries. While acknowledging the inevitable movement of personal information in international transactions, it is necessary to improve the legal system in order to protect the personal information of the people as much as possible and to strengthen the enforcement power over foreign operators. Furthermore, strengthening international cooperation and strengthening Korea’s leadership in the international community, strengthening international cooperation activities, and establishing a practical personal information protection system are a desirable direction to regulate the movement of personal information in international transactions.