The Externalization of Europe’s Data Protection Law in Morocco: an Imperative Means for the Management of Migration Flows

Abstract

EU data protection Law allows the transfer of personal data to third countries and international organisations only when the European protection standards are met. This condition demands for the externalisation of the EU legal framework to ensure the flow of information in all sectors. Morocco has been moving towards the EU data protection principles for trade purposes, tough it has not reached an equivalent level of protection as required by Article 44 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As a result, the exchange of personal data from the EU to Morocco is based on less guarantors means as far as the individuals’ fundamental rights are concerned. Concretely, the operational activity conducted by the European Border and Coast Guard to return irregular migrants is founded on the derogative clause of «important reasons of public interest». This article maintains that the approximation of Moroccan law to the continental one is an indispensable means to fairly manage migration flows. For this purpose, the EU not only promotes high data protection standards, but it also outsources its IT model enclosed in the Interoperability Regulations, no. 817 and 818 of 2019.