AU Data Policy Framework

2.1 Vision

The framework envisions using data to empower African countries and improve lives while protecting rights and driving equitable development through trusted and secure data systems, governance institutions to regulate the data landscape, and free cross-border data flows that ensure equitable benefit distribution and address human rights and security risks. It seeks to enable state cooperation on data governance, support continental policy adoption, establish trust mechanisms for cross-border data flows while preserving state sovereignty, foster global competitiveness through cooperation among states and the private sector, ensure sustainable data use that protects privacy and dignity, and make data widely available with appropriate safeguards. The framework promotes innovative public benefits from data use in decision-making and monitoring, and was coordinated by the AU Commission with regional and international organisations through public consultation.

3.1 Data as the basis for new social contract and innovation economy

Data functions as a non-rivalrous and non-excludable public good creating economic and social value through processing, transmission and combination, requiring people-centred rights-preserving policies and safeguards that extend beyond technical security to encompass access and equitable participation. Harms from data concentration and power asymmetries require granular regulation across different categories of people and data sectors, moving beyond first-generation privacy rights to include second-generation social and economic rights, while recognising that both private value creation and public value from data for socio-economic goals are necessary and not mutually exclusive. Governance of data as a global public good requires new regulatory approaches distinct from traditional governance to address monopolistic global platforms that have extracted massive private data with little restraint from competition or data regulators, in order to preserve positive data governance obligations and limit negative social implications for data subjects.

3.2 Need for data governance - creating value, preventing harms

Outlines governance mechanisms including alignment of principles, assignment of roles, establishment of legal clarity, stakeholder collaboration and trust mechanisms for data sharing. The section identifies six governance priorities: data definition, continental coordination, domestic institutional capacity, domestic collaboration, policy support, and clarity to enable both data circulation for value creation and risk mitigation.

4.1 Overview of international, regional policy and legislation trends

Two-thirds of countries have some data legislation, one-tenth have draft legislation, and one-fifth have none. Major frameworks include the EU's GDPR with broad human rights protections, the APEC Privacy Framework prioritizing economic development, and the CPTPP supporting cross-border data transfer for business with allowable data protection measures. Domestic approaches vary: government-led (EU), private sector-led (US), top-down (Singapore), and bottom-up (Hong Kong, China) models each have different effects on implementation and innovation.

4.2 African policy and legislative context

African data governance operates across five separate legal domains - privacy, market conduct, information security, digital communications and inventions - with 32 of 55 African countries having enacted privacy laws and regional instruments from East African, West African and Southern African bodies, though the 2014 pan-African cybersecurity and data handling instrument remains in ratification and not operational; regional competition rules exist but lack harmonised treatment, while multiple continental projects develop monitoring tools and protection frameworks. A joint African Union, European Union and International Telecommunication Union initiative provides Expert Working Groups to help member states monitor and assess data protection and localisation rule harmonisation, and Smart Africa's Data Protection Working Group is mapping legal frameworks and developing implementation guidelines for harmonised data protection across the continent.

4.3 Situational analysis for data economy in Africa

A SWOT analysis of Africa's data economy identifies strengths including regional governance instruments and innovation hubs; weaknesses including inconsistent data laws, localisation barriers, resource constraints, and inadequate digital infrastructure; opportunities from data-driven value creation and interoperable standards reducing market entry barriers; and risks including policy harmonisation failure, discriminatory automated decision-making, market concentration, and insufficient international cooperation on data access, integrity, security and ethics. Additional risks to Africa's data economy include concentration in global data markets preventing fair local competition and inadequate international cooperation on global data issues.

4.4 Arising challenges in realising opportunities and mitigating risk

African countries must develop inclusive and equitable data policies through transversal coordination across sectors, sectoral development, regional harmonisation and capacity building to address uneven distribution of data economy benefits, market concentration, poor data quality and interoperability gaps. Legal clarity on data ownership and rights, strengthened data protection authorities, open standards for identity platforms such as the federated SATA system proposed by Smart Africa Digital Identity Blueprint, and harmonised cross-border data flow rules under AfCFTA are necessary to build trust, support digital trade and reduce personal data risks. Open data initiatives have demonstrated innovation potential and cost savings, though African countries face challenges of siloed policies, weak institutional capacity, poor broadband coverage and limited participation as standard makers rather than takers in global data governance.

5.1 Guiding principles of the framework

The framework is guided by seven principles: Cooperation on cross-border data exchange, Integration removing barriers to intra-Africa flows, Fairness and Inclusiveness addressing technological inequalities, Trust and Accountability in secure environments, Sovereignty for African self-governance, Comprehensive support for infrastructure and harmonised regulations, and Integrity ensuring lawful data use without unfair discrimination.

5.2 Data definition and categorisation

Recommends that data protection authorities clarify how to distinguish between personal and non-personal data to help companies comply with regulations and reduce collection and processing risks. Data policies and regulations should use consistent data categorisations across public and private sectors, and across traditional and new collection methods.

5.3 Enablers to drive value in the data economy

The data economy enablers framework requires member states to invest in infrastructure, human and institutional capacity, foundational data infrastructure including digital identity systems, cloud computing and big data analytics, transparent legal and regulatory frameworks addressing data protection and governance, cybersecurity, ethical standards, and competition concerns. Member states must establish unified legal approaches balancing competing interests with data subject rights taking precedence over intellectual property claims, ensure data protection authorities have powers to issue warnings and reprimands, order breach communication, temporarily or permanently ban processing, suspend international data flows lacking adequate protection, and assist harmed persons to obtain compensation. Regional coordination through AfCFTA and harmonised standards are essential to address cross-border data flows, competition concentration, tax coordination for digital services, and capacity building across tax, competition, trade and technical areas, with support for regulatory experimentation through sandboxes and multi-stakeholder consultative processes.

5.4 Data Governance

Effective data governance should foster multi-stakeholder participation to advance data access, use and repurposing while reducing datafication harms, with policy clarifying control assignments for accountability and balancing data sovereignty concerns through politically impartial collaborative arrangements, risk assessments and alternative structures like data trusts. Personal data processing requires independent, funded Data Protection Authorities with lawful frameworks, strong deterring penalties, risk assessment mandates, collection minimisation, privacy-by-design, data subject rights and effective enforcement; processing frameworks created through multi-stakeholder partnerships should incorporate consent, legitimacy, collection limits, defined purposes, restricted uses, quality standards, protection measures, transparency including breach reporting, accountability and data specificity, while open data policies with open standards should guide public data generation and Member States should enable data portability. Member States must establish national cybersecurity policies with legal and technical measures, cooperate regionally on cybersecurity standards, integrate cybersecurity into government structures and data policy formulation, coordinate with cybercrime frameworks respecting human rights, establish minimum standards for border data transfers with reciprocity as a core principle, involve data communities and universities in policy-making, and provide tailored governance for sensitive categories like health or children's data through approaches such as approved codes of conduct aligned with general rules.

5.5 International and Regional Governance

The African Union, with Pan-African organisations, should facilitate inter-agency collaboration and coordinate Africa's positions in international data negotiations through a consultation framework, while developing continental data standards through multistakeholder consensus that reference standards bodies such as the International Organisation for Standardisation and draw on existing open data initiatives by the African Development Bank and research institutions. Member States must enable data sharing and interoperability across the continent, develop cyber security strategies and operational centres, support domestication of the data policy framework, and ensure AfCFTA negotiations on competition and intellectual property set minimum standards for access to non-personal proprietary data while clarifying data's intellectual property status and preventing intellectual property rights from restricting personal data or overriding competition regulation. Regional economic communities, human rights courts, data protection authorities, ICT regulators, sectoral associations, and the African Competition Forum are key institutional mechanisms for implementation through capacity-building, cross-border dispute resolution, and coordination, supported by an annual data innovation forum and strengthened collaboration on regulatory cooperation, taxation reform representation, and cross-border data issues.

5.6 Implementation Framework

Outlines a five-phase implementation process: Phase 1 involves member states adopting the framework and the AU establishing a coordination mechanism; Phase 2 requires assessing alignment with continental and international frameworks; Phase 3 focuses on developing broadband infrastructure and enabling conditions; Phase 4 involves member states domesticating the framework through multi-stakeholder engagement, legal frameworks, and resource allocation; Phase 5 emphasises ongoing collaboration, monitoring, and participation in continental activities. The AU Commission, working with regional institutions and stakeholders, will create an action plan covering short, medium and long-term timescales to implement the framework, taking into account member states' digital sovereignty, development levels, population vulnerability and existing gaps in ICT infrastructure, cybersecurity policies and legislation. The plan will identify roles and responsibilities and set key priorities and immediate actions at regional and continental levels according to each member state's data maturity.

References

Annex - working definitions

The annex defines key terms used throughout the framework, including data-related concepts such as anonymisation, consent, data controllers, data minimisation, and pseudonymisation; digital economy and infrastructure concepts such as e-commerce, interoperability, and open data; and scope-specific definitions of regional scope as the five African Union regions and sensitive data as personal information concerning religious, philosophical, or political opinion, sex life, race, health, or social conditions of the data subject.