As the preferred new Information Commissioner appeared before the DCMS Select Committee for pre-appointment scrutiny today, we consider some of the key elements of the UK’s ambitious package of post-Brexit global data plans (“UK Global Data Plans“). Read more

The UK has taken its first big data protection step in a post-Brexit world with the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO“) publishing its own version of an international data transfer agreement and accompanying methodology for conducting international risk assessments on 11 August 2021. The ICO has published the following documents, which all inter-relate with one another: … Read more

With the interim data transfer window under the Brexit Trade Agreement expiring yesterday, on 28 June 2021 the European Commission adopted two adequacy decisions confirming the UK as an adequate jurisdiction for GDPR and Law Enforcement Directive purposes – just in time to allow the uninterrupted free flow of personal data from the European Union … Read more

Background On 28 May 2021, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO“) published a call for views on the first draft chapter of its anonymisation, pseudonymisation and privacy enhancing technologies draft guidance). This first chapter is part of a series of chapters of guidance that the ICO will be publishing on anonymisation and pseudonymisation and their role … Read more

Seven months after the European Commission published its draft new Standard Contractual Clauses for data transfers between EU and non-EU countries (the “Draft SCCs“) for consultation (see our blog post here (the “Draft SCCs Blog“)), they have now published a finalised set of Standard Contractual Clauses (“Final SCCs“) with little fanfare (available here). It should … Read more

Background On 18 May 2021, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (“DCMS“) released the government’s response (the “Response“) to the consultation on the National Data Strategy (the “Strategy“). The Strategy was released in September 2020 as an attempt to pave the way for ‘unlocking the value’ of data across the economy. The Strategy … Read more

Executive Summary On 17 December 2020, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) published a new Data Sharing Code of Practice (the “Code”). As nearly ten years have passed since the implementation of the previous data sharing code published by the ICO, the new Code has been updated to reflect key changes in data protection laws and … Read more

As most in the data community are aware, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the “Brexit Deal”) was agreed on Christmas Eve and provides for an interim period (up to a maximum of six months ending on 30 June 2021) whereby data transfers from Europe to the UK will not be treated as transfers to … Read more