Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement on (a) the cross-border transfer of information by electronic means, (b) personal information protection and (c) the enforceability of UK data protection rights once that data has left the country.

The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is designed to prevent unjustified restrictions to the free flow of data between the UK and Japan, giving business assurances they can collect, process, and transfer data between the two countries, without facing unnecessary red tape, while ensuring high standards of personal data protection.

CEPA commits both parties to maintain national personal data protection regimes; the UK’s existing data protection framework, enshrined in the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR remains unchanged.

UK data protection laws are not undermined or changed by CEPA. Following the transition period, the UK will preserve the effect of the EU's adequacy decision for Japan on a transitional basis, and will continue to provide robust protections for the international transfer of personal data. CEPA addresses data flows between the UK and Japan and not onward transfers to other jurisdictions.