Do you think the UK will get adequacy status from the EC? The UK government is currently working to make adequacy decisions by the European Commission, both under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Directive, which, if guaranteed until the end of the transitional period, allow the free flow of personal data from the EU to the UK to continue without interruption. We will update our guidelines to reflect the outcome. In the meantime, you can take steps to ensure that personal data can continue to flow after the transition period. For more information, see our international transfer guidelines and interactive tool on using standard contractual clauses for transfers to the UK. The European Commission should not grant the UK an agreement on data adequacy as part of its ongoing assessment of the country`s data protection landscape, a civil rights group has said. [Shutterstock] An October ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) has no further doubt as to the likelihood of an adequacy decision. The ruling concluded that UK law, which allows the secret services to collect mass communication data, is incompatible with EU law. Whatever happens if we do not get an adequacy – not much has been written about this – there is a provision in the Withdrawal Agreement which is essentially the EU`s insurance policy for data that came into the UK from the EU during accession or during the transition period. This data pool must be protected in accordance with the GDPR. […] If there is no adequacy, that`s what the Withdrawal Agreement does, it protects EU data processed in the UK. According to his analysis, if no adequacy decision is made, the UK will be exposed to an increased risk of GDPR fines due to increased compliance requirements.
The UK Government stated that at the end of the transitional period, the transfer of data from the UK to the EEA would be allowed. He says he will control this. The UK Government intends to recognise adequacy decisions taken by the European Commission before the expiry of the transitional period. This will allow for continued limited transfers from the UK to most organisations, countries, territories or sectors covered by an EU adequacy decision. For more details, see our guide to international data transfers at the end of the transition period. This certainly means that the UK has a similar, if not identical, data protection system, and that the EC should automatically grant adequacy. . . .