CIVIL LAW AND CIVIL PROCEDURE

Legal Regulation of Cross-Border Flow of Health and Medical Data: a Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This article is a systematic literature review on the legal regulation of cross-border flow of health and medical data. Primarily employing a systematic literature review approach, this study systematically identifies, screens, and comprehensively analyzes relevant academic literature in this field. Based on a comprehensive review of representative research findings, this study summarizes the main viewpoints, research context, and development trends of existing research. Furthermore, this study conducts a targeted analysis of the literature focusing on core issues such as the legal definition and attributes of health and medical data, the connotation and impact of cross-border data flow, and the legal regulation of cross-border flow of health and medical data. This analysis reveals that while current scholarship has established foundational frameworks for defining health and medical data, identifying core regulatory tensions, and addressing related issues, it remains fragmented along jurisdictional lines and predominantly focused on static institutional comparisons rather than dynamic implementation challenges. Building upon this foundation, this study comprehensively reviews the main viewpoints, existing controversies, and shortcomings of existing research, thereby revealing current research gaps and future development directions and highlighting the important theoretical value and practical significance of research on the legal regulation of cross-border flow of health and medical data in the current context.