Data Protection

(asked on 13th January 2020) - View Source

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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what multilateral regimes they intend to (1) continue to participate in, or (2) join, to ensure a legal and smooth data transfer regime between UK and EU companies after Brexit.


Answered by
Baroness Barran Portrait
Baroness Barran
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This question was answered on 22nd January 2020

In the Withdrawal Agreement the government and the EU have committed to use their best endeavours to negotiate a future relationship. The free flow of personal data is an important underpinning feature of this future relationship for both economic and security purposes and therefore it is in everyone’s interests that the exchange of personal data between EU Member States and the UK continues. The EU has an established mechanism to allow the free flow of personal data to countries outside the EU, called adequacy decisions.

The EU has committed in the Political Declaration to the Commission beginning its adequacy assessment of the UK as soon as possible after the UK’s withdrawal, endeavouring to adopt adequacy decisions by the end of December 2020 if the applicable conditions are met. The UK will in the same timeframe take steps to ensure the comparable facilitation of transfers of personal data to the EU. Data will be able to flow freely between the UK and the EU during the Implementation Period. The Political Declaration also states that the UK and the EU should make appropriate arrangements for cooperation between the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and EU Data Protection Authorities.

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