The EU has ruled that the UK's data protection standards are "adequate" . The long-awaited ruling allows digital information to continue flowing between the UK and the bloc. However, Brussels has warned Boris Johnson's government against weakening British standards.
The UK's "adequacy" status is guaranteed for four years, but the commission warned that this could change if UK law is no longer considered to offer EU citizens protection over how their data is used.
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European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová said: “The UK has left the EU, but today its legal regime for the protection of personal data is as it was. Because of this, we are adopting these adequacy decisions.”
Jourová added that the committee had listened “very carefully” to the concerns expressed by the European Parliament, EU members and the European Data Protection Board, “in particular regarding the possibility of a future deviation from our standards in the UK’s privacy framework. “We are talking about a fundamental right of EU citizens that we have a duty to protect. That is why we have important safeguards and if something changes on the UK side, we will intervene,” Jourová added.
Additionally, John Foster, policy director at the Confederation of British Industry, said that success in the EU-UK adequacy decision would be welcomed by businesses across the country. “The free flow of data is the foundation of the modern economy and is essential for businesses in all sectors – from automotive to logistics – playing a vital role in the everyday trade of goods and services.”
During the Brexit transition period, the British government is largely copying key EU legislation onto the UK statute book, notably the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law Enforcement Directive, which governs data sharing in police and law enforcement.
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Brexiteers on the Tory backbenches are pressuring Boris Johnson to get rid of the “imperative and inflexible” GDPR. A task force set up by Downing Street to “seize new opportunities from Brexit ” has said the GDPR should be replaced by UK data protection laws . The EU’s GDPR “overwhelms individuals with consent requests and complexity they cannot understand, while unnecessarily restricting the use of data for worthwhile purposes,” the task force report , written by Iain Duncan Smith, Theresa Villiers and George Freeman, said
The group also said consumers need stronger rights, while data must be “free”to allow the UK to harness artificial intelligence and data-driven healthcare. The prime minister promised to give their report “the scrutiny it deserves”.
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During the Brexit negotiations, analysts at the New Economics Foundation warned that a no-deal Brexit could cost UK companies up to £1.6 billion, either in compliance costs or higher prices for goods and services. Any company that shares data between the UK and the EU – whether through payroll or health records – could be affected if Brussels decides to withdraw the deal.
Only 12 countries, including Canada, Switzerland and New Zealand, have received positive adequacy decisions from the EU. The US was found to be partially adequate, but these decisions have been rejected twice by the European Court of Justice, in rulings that show how fragile EU data sharing decisions are. The two legal victories for privacy campaigner Max Schrems concluded that EU-US data sharing agreements failed to protect EU citizens from spying by US intelligence services.
Source of information: theguardian.com
