Security News > 2020 > September > EU's decision on UK data adequacy set to become 'political football' in broader Brexit negotiations

No matter the legal reasoning, an "Adequacy" decision to let data flow between the UK and the EU will hinge on the ups and downs of the wider Brexit negotiations, which are entering a tense final phase.

At the end of the Brexit transition period, when business-as-usual trading with the EU will come to an end and the UK begins dealing with the world's largest trading bloc on new terms, the EU will need to decide whether the new UK data rules are sufficiently aligned with GDPR and allow the uninterrupted transfer of personal data from the EU to the UK. Such a decision of "Adequacy" in the relationship with EU data law is said to be important to the UK working as a successful digital economy.

"If the EU is looking to see if the UK is adequate in terms of its data protection law, and the next day a minister can change it, the EU might have to place restrictions on data transfer to the UK," he told us.

The EU may have bigger fish to fry in terms of the broader trade deal with the UK. "The deal is a political deal, not one about data protection. If the EU wants a deal, it will fudge the decision for the 'adequacy' of UK data law," Pounder claimed.

Should the EU and the UK fail to make a deal, there could still be some strong arguments for adequacy in that the UK's Information Commissioner's Office has historically been one of the most active members of the EU's regulatory community and helped draft the guidance around GDPR. Of the legal reason for blocking an adequacy decision, government surveillance of personal data and the rules governing the transfer of data to another jurisdiction would be the most important, Kon said.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/09/29/uk_data_adequacy_brexit/