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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the video games sector.

We recognise the importance of the UK video games industry, which is a significant player in the global games industry, with scope to deliver powerful economic benefits for the UK. The sector contributed an estimated £2.9 billion to the UK economy in 2019, a 9.1% year-on-year increase from 2018.

The UK games industry relies on a highly skilled workforce that possesses leading technical and creative expertise. The UK and the EU have agreed to a list of activities that can be carried out by short-term business visitors without the need for a work permit, on a reciprocal basis in most Member States, subject to any reservations taken. Domestically, the UK’s new Points Based System will enable companies to attract the best and brightest from around the world.

Data is of fundamental importance to the video games industry. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement helps to facilitate the cross-border flow of data by prohibiting requirements to store or process data in a specific location. As the EU left insufficient time to ratify data adequacy decisions before the end of 2020, we have agreed a time limited ‘bridging mechanism’ which will allow personal data to continue to flow as it does now whilst EU adequacy decisions for the UK are adopted, and for no more than 6 months. We see no reason why the UK should not be awarded data adequacy by the EU and we expect the process to be concluded promptly. However, we advise UK organisations to take sensible steps to prepare for a situation where the EU does not adopt adequacy decisions for the UK.

The video games sector relies on continued market access to export digital goods and services throughout the EU. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement maintains zero tariffs and zero quotas on trade in goods between the UK and the EU. The Agreement also secures commitments on the promotion of cross border trade in services by providing service suppliers and investors with transparency and certainty about future trade with the EU.

The sector also relies on a strong and stable framework governing Intellectual Property rights. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement represents a good balance between securing high standards for copyright protection and securing the UK’s domestic flexibility to continue to improve and adapt the copyright framework to meet future opportunities and challenges.