Beyond Brexit: The UK makes its GDPR adequacy sales pitch

Viewpoints
March 30, 2020
1 minutes

As the world responds to the biggest threat we have faced in generations, it is hard to focus on other matters, including those that have filled screens, pages and airwaves for the last three years. Yet in the blink of an eye the C-word has replaced the B-word. 

I am of course talking about COVID-19 and Brexit and am reminded of the well-used adage that a week is a long time in politics.  Nevertheless, when we come out of the COVID-19 crisis, Brexit will remain an issue to be addressed. 

To ease the free-flow of personal data to and from the EEA once the UK's withdrawal  from the EU is complete, the UK is seeking to obtain an adequacy decision from the EU Commission, as a dozen or so other non-EU nations have.  

Although the UK, uniquely, is the first ex-EU member state to apply for adequacy, a successful application is far from certain. This  interesting article looks at what the UK is - or was - doing in the hope of obtaining an adequacy decision, and sets out some of the challenges it will need to overcome to be successful.