Security News > 2021 > June > European Parliament's data adequacy objection: Doubts cast on UK's commitment to privacy protection

Almost two weeks ago, the European Parliament took the step of objecting to the European Commission's decision to grant the UK data adequacy.

The European Parliament's resolution will not block adequacy, but it nevertheless sends a significant political signal, particularly in the wake of two major court cases last week, which have found the UK's exemption of immigration from data protection laws to be unlawful and that UK mass surveillance laws violated privacy rights.

There was always the danger that UK adequacy could be used as a political football during the Brexit negotiations while it is no longer a political pawn, the prospect that business and law enforcement may not be able to continue to benefit from the unimpeded flow of personal data from the EU to the UK has not gone away.

Having largely implemented the EU data protection acquis, UK law is similar to that of the EU on paper, but there are discrepancies, and MEPs raise particular concerns with the application of the law in practice.

This has not been overlooked by the EU, with the European Parliament's Schrems II resolution calling on the Commission to launch infringement proceedings against the Irish Data Protection Commissioner for failing to reach a decision on a number of these cases.

Whatever the adequacy verdict of the European Commission, if the UK's future departure from EU data protection law is not carried out with robust safeguards and enforcement, it is likely to only further increase uncertainty surrounding UK data transfers in the longer term.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/06/03/uk_data_protection_eu_parl/