Regulatory Interoperability in the Digital Economy: A Design Principle in the Making

Regulatory interoperability has emerged as a promising response to the growing fragmentation and divergence of digital regulation across jurisdictions, yet its practical implications and relationship with digital sovereignty remain poorly understood. This presentation traces the evolution of interoperability from its origins in military operations to its application in contemporary digital regulatory governance, distinguishing regulatory interoperability from established approaches such as harmonisation and mutual recognition. Using cross-border data flows as an illustrative case, it examines emerging interoperability frameworks in international agreements and informal transnational practices, highlighting their potential to facilitate regulatory cooperation while remaining limited in scope and uneven in implementation. The presentation argues that regulatory interoperability can enhance efficiency, legal and business certainty, and technological innovation, while potentially preventing dominant digital powers from unilaterally shaping global rules. However, its effective operationalisation requires a pragmatic approach that accounts for governments’ security and privacy concerns, asymmetric dependence on digital powers, and differences in regulatory capacity. Ultimately, both the choice of regulatory areas and jurisdictions and the design of appropriate institutional and procedural mechanisms are crucial to making regulatory interoperability an effective tool of transnational digital and data governance.

Neha Mishra is Assistant Professor in the international law department of the Geneva Graduate Institute. She researches and publishes on international legal issues in the digital economy, focusing on international economic law, data flows/governance, and digital trade, and the interface of international law and emerging digital technologies. Neha holds a doctorate degree from the University of Melbourne and has previously also taught at Australian National University. She has also held visiting research positions at the Max Planck Institute in Luxembourg and the World Trade Organization. She completed her undergraduate degree in law from National Law School Bangalore (India), LL.M. in Public International Law from London School of Economics (UK), and Master’s in Public Policy from National University of Singapore (Singapore). Neha also consults international organisations, the private sector, as well as governments on digital trade and data regulations.

The Seminar is open for the public.