Practical Explorations and Optimization Pathways for Cross-Border Data Flows between Hengqin and Macao
Yanfei Wang
(Zhuhai College of Science and Technology, Zhuhai Guangdong, 519000)
Abstract: With the rapid development of the digital economy, cross-border data flows have become an essential foundation for advancing digital trade, technological innovation, and regional coordinated development. Leveraging the institutional advantages of “One Country, Two Systems”, Hengqin and Macao have undertaken a series of practical explorations in areas such as cross-border personal information flows, cross-border data service platforms, trusted data spaces, and an international hub port for digital trade, thereby accumulating valuable experience in institutional innovation for cross-border data flows in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. This paper systematically reviews the progress of cross-border data flows between Hengqin and Macao and examines the practical challenges they face in regulatory alignment, institutional innovation, and integration with international rules. The study finds that Hengqin and Macao have established a relatively comprehensive regulatory framework and developed a range of application scenarios for cross-border data flows. Nevertheless, existing reforms remain largely focused on procedural facilitation within the prevailing national regulatory framework for outbound data transfers. Deficiencies persist in mutual institutional recognition, regulatory coordination, the effective transformation of the advantages of “ One Country, Two Systems,” and alignment with international rules. Consequently, a distinctive and replicable institutional model for cross-border data flows between Hengqin and Macao has yet to emerge. In response, this paper proposes establishing a special mechanism for cross-border data flows between Hengqin and Macao, improving data classification and scenario-based list management, introducing trusted entity certification and regulatory sandbox mechanisms, strengthening anonymization assessment and trusted data space arrangements, and exploring mechanisms for international rule alignment and collaborative governance. These measures are intended to promote a shift from procedural facilitation to substantive institutional innovation, thereby providing institutional experimentation and practical reference for market integration in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area and China’s pursuit of high-standard opening up.
Keywords:cross-border data flows; Hengqin – Macao integration; regulatory alignment;institutional innovation; Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area
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