Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to ensure that existing safeguards on people’s (a) privacy and (b) data protection will be replicated as part of a future WTO agreement on cross-border data flows; and if she will make a statement.

The UK government is seeking provisions in trade agreements that remove barriers to the free flow of data, while not lowering the standard of protection afforded to the personal data of UK individuals. The UK is, and will remain, committed to maintaining high standards of protection for personal data, including when it is transferred across borders. The UK recognises the importance of data protection to enable trading partners to build trust through transparent treatment of personal data and to ensure that data is able to flow in an uninterrupted manner.

Currently cross-border data flows as well as privacy and personal information protection are being discussed at the e-commerce negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The UK will not sign up to any agreement at the WTO which will put at risk the UK’s high standards of data protection, or the personal data protection or privacy currently afforded to UK individuals.