DataAigis
Advisory service

Industry-specific compliance for going global

Everyone calls it going global, but manufacturers worry about employee records returning home, automotive about whether in-vehicle data can leave at all, and embodied AI about the bystanders its sensors captured. The conversation only gets concrete once it is split by industry.

ManufacturingAutomotive and supply chainEmbodied AIConsumer electronicsCross-border commerce and retailSaaS and internet services

A generic outbound compliance plan stops being useful at the industry level

GDPR reads the same for everyone, but what triggers it differs: for manufacturing it is HR syncing overseas staff records back to China, for automotive it is a test vehicle returning footage to an R&D centre, for SaaS it is your customers' end users sitting in a multi-tenant database. So we do not hand over a generic checklist — we look at how data actually moves in your industry first, then set the route.

Manufacturing

Typical setup

Overseas plants and offices, HR and ERP centralised back home, connected supply chain systems, line and equipment data flowing to headquarters.

What matters in this industry

  • Employee data crossing borders — with HR centralised in China, overseas staff records need a lawful basis and proper notice
  • Supplier and customer data sharing requires processing agreements and purpose limitation
  • Personal data hidden inside line and equipment data — badges, access control, video — is routinely missed

Deliverables

  • Cross-border data flow mapping and route selection
  • Multilingual employee notices and consent text
  • Supplier data processing agreement clauses

Automotive and supply chain

Typical setup

OEMs and Tier 1/Tier 2 suppliers, connected vehicle services, overseas testing with data returned home, aftersales and remote diagnostics.

What matters in this industry

  • In-vehicle data — location, imagery, audio — is constrained by China's automotive data provisions and by destination law at the same time
  • How test and R&D data is de-identified decides whether it can be transferred at all
  • Long supplier chains mean responsibility boundaries have to be drawn segment by segment

Deliverables

  • In-vehicle data classification and de-identification design
  • Transfer route determination and filing materials
  • Supply chain data responsibility mapping

Embodied AI

Typical setup

Service and industrial robots, wearables and home devices capturing imagery, audio and spatial data in real environments.

What matters in this industry

  • Third parties captured incidentally — passers-by, family members, non-user staff — are the hardest consent problem in this category
  • Face, voice and gait are biometric data, treated at the highest sensitivity in most jurisdictions
  • Risk classification under the EU AI Act, and proving the lawfulness of training data sources

Deliverables

  • Collection lawfulness and consent design
  • AI risk classification and obligation register
  • Training data provenance and supporting evidence

Consumer electronics

Typical setup

Devices plus apps plus cloud services, users spread across jurisdictions, features shipping frequently.

What matters in this industry

  • Consent for device identifiers, profiling and personalisation differs by jurisdiction
  • Additional obligations for children's data
  • App store and SDK requirements — third-party SDKs are usually the largest unknown

Deliverables

  • Multi-jurisdiction consent matrix
  • Privacy policy and SDK inventory
  • Transfer routes and filings

Cross-border commerce and retail

Typical setup

Members, orders, payments, logistics and advertising, with several third-party platforms holding consumer data at once.

What matters in this industry

  • The moment the payment path touches card data, PCI DSS applies
  • Advertising and remarketing data sharing draws the most consumer complaints
  • Response deadlines for consumer rights in the destination market, and local representative requirements

Deliverables

  • Member and consumer data inventory
  • Third-party sharing register and agreements
  • Consumer rights response process

SaaS and internet services

Typical setup

Multi-tenant SaaS holding customer data, buyers across jurisdictions, security due diligence before every deal.

What matters in this industry

  • Controller versus processor roles determine contract terms and where obligations sit
  • Completeness of the sub-processor list, the DPA and standard contractual clauses
  • Customer security questionnaires and certification demands usually arrive together

Deliverables

  • Role definition and DPA templates
  • Sub-processor list and change notification
  • A security questionnaire response pack

Industry not listed? Tell us the business model and target markets and we can still start with a data flow assessment.

Industry-specific compliance for going global

Industry-specific compliance for going global

Everyone calls it going global, but manufacturers worry about employee records returning home, automotive about whether in-vehicle data can leave at all, and embodied AI about the bystanders its sensors captured. The conversation only gets concrete once it is split by industry.

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