EU-UK data transfers – final update

05/07/21  (updated) – As part of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement the EU and the UK agreed a six-month ‘bridging period’, allowing transfers of personal data from the EEA to the UK to continue freely until 30th June 2021, to give the European Commission enough time to adopt the adequacy decisions which are necessary to allow personal data to continue to flow from the EEA to the UK.  (If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, then you catch up here and here.)

Anyway, good news.  With a full two days to spare, the Commission formally adopted the adequacy decisions for the UK on 28th June – one for transfers of personal data under the GDPR and the other under the Law Enforcement Directive.  As a result personal data continues to flow freely from EEA countries to the UK after the end bridging period.

Unlike the adequacy decisions adopted by the Commission for other third countries, the ones adopted for the UK have ‘sunset clauses’ which means that, unless renewed by the Commission, the decisions automatically expire in four years’ time.  Furthermore, the Commission can intervene at any time during the four-year period if it considers that changes to UK law reduce the level of protection currently in place.

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