ICO comments on referendum result

Following the UK’s referendum vote to leave the European Union, an ICO spokesperson said on Friday 24 June: “The Data Protection Act remains the law of the land irrespective of the referendum result."

“If the UK is not part of the EU, then upcoming EU reforms to data protection law would not directly apply to the UK. But if the UK wants to trade with the Single Market on equal terms we would have to prove 'adequacy' - in other words UK data protection standards would have to be equivalent to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation framework starting in 2018.”

“With so many businesses and services operating across borders, international consistency around data protection laws and rights is crucial both to businesses and organisations and to consumers and citizens. The ICO’s role has always involved working closely with regulators in other countries, and that would continue to be the case.”

“Having clear laws with safeguards in place is more important than ever given the growing digital economy, and we will be speaking to government to present our view that reform of the UK law remains necessary.”

Great Expectations, PL&B 29th Annual International Conference in Cambridge, 4-6 July, will have an extra session on Tuesday 5 July on Data Protection and Brexit, in a session titled: Impact of the UK’s exit from the EU on data protection law in the UK. Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister for Data Protection, will speak about the UK government’s perspective on Monday 4 July.