Journal of Advanced Research and Studies in Law Data Sovereignty, Platform Regulation, and Sustainable Digital Development: A Comparative Legal Study of the European Union and India

Abstract

This article examines how data sovereignty and platform regulation shape institutional governance, legal accountability, and sustainable digital development through a comparative analysis of the European Union and India. It argues that contemporary digital regulation increasingly operates as a constitutional and developmental governance project in which legal systems structure the relationship between data markets, public authority, platform power, citizen rights, and socio-economic transformation. The European Union represents a rights-based and market-constitutional model built around data protection, competition governance, platform accountability, and digital sovereignty. India represents a developmental and state-capacity-oriented model that links digital identity, data governance, platform regulation, financial inclusion, and public service delivery. Using comparative legal analysis, institutional governance theory, and regulatory process tracing, the article analyzes the GDPR, Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, Data Act, India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, Aadhaar-related jurisprudence, and digital public infrastructure governance. The findings indicate that the EU emphasizes procedural accountability and regulatory constraint, while India prioritizes scalable digital inclusion and administrative transformation. However, both systems reveal that data governance affects not only privacy and innovation but also institutional legitimacy, welfare delivery, competition, and sustainable development. The article contributes to comparative legal scholarship by developing theoretical propositions on data constitutionalism, institutional interoperability, and sustainable digital governance.