A Comparative Overview of Data Protection in e-Commerce in the European Union, the United States of America, the Republic of North Macedonia, and Albania: Models and Specifics

Abstract

The advantages of electronic communications in the e-commerce sector and the rapid exchange of information continue to have enormous benefits, but they come at a cost in terms of privacy protection and legal gaps. Privacy is defined differently in each jurisdiction – the EU and the US, and despite widespread agreement on the importance of privacy, there is no single definition of the concept in scientific circles. The difficulties of transferring personal data between the European Union and the United States were once again at the forefront of the country’s highest privacy and data protection concerns. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) positioned data protection to the highest level of company directions throughout the requirements imposed on any organization that collects, processes, manages, or stores information about European citizens, requiring stricter standards and giving users more control over their data. The new regulation has an impact on businesses and users all over Europe. The study’s goal is to compare the level of protection and security provided to e-commerce users in the European Union, the United States of America, the Republic of North Macedonia, and Albania. Also, the correlation between the obligations and the effect of the GDPR was studied in order to determine whether it will guarantee a higher level of protection of individuals’ rights, or whether will it primarily result in the bureaucratization of the processes for protecting personal data performed in e-commerce actions.