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EU Grants Free Flow of Data to the UK

It has been announced today that the EU Commission has approved a UK adequacy decision. This means that the EU has decided that the UK has an adequate level of data protection to ensure that personal data can safely be transferred from the EU to the UK.

Following the UK leaving the EU, the EU agreed to continue to treat the UK as an EU member state for the purposes of data protection law for a period of 6 months after the end of the transition period (ending on 30 June 2021). This meant that organisations could continue to transfer data to and from the EU (e.g. if data was held in the cloud in the EU) without having to put any additional compliance measures in place.

For data transfers from the UK to the EU, the government had already confirmed these are authorised to continue until at least 2024.

Following the announcement that the EU had approved a UK adequacy decision, the Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham stated "This is a positive result for UK businesses and organisations.

"Approved adequacy means that businesses can continue to receive data from the EU without having to make any changes to their data protection practices.

"Adequacy is the best outcome as it means organisations can carry on with data protection as usual. And people will continue to enjoy the protections that their data will be used fairly, lawfully and transparently."

"The result is also a testament to the strength of the UK's data protection regime

The ICO's statement in response can be found here - https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-blogs/2021/06/ico-statement-in-response-to-the-eu-commission-s-announcement-on-the-approval-of-the-uk-s-adequacy/

For more information contact Bethany Paliga in our Governance, Procurement & Information department via email or phone on 01254 222347. Alternatively send any question through to Forbes Solicitors via our online Contact Form.

Learn more about our Governance, Procurement & Information department here

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