UK to focus on the current “adequate” jurisdictions for international transfers

The UK is giving priority this year to assessing the approximately 40 jurisdictions for international transfers currently designated by the UK and the EU as “adequate.”

This list includes all the Member States of the European Economic Area and those currently declared as “adequate” such as New Zealand and Israel, stated Morgane Donse, Deputy Director, International Data Flows, at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology speaking yesterday at the IAPP conference in London. In the Data (Use and Access) Bill the criterion is changing to a level “not materially lower” than that of the UK.

In response to a question from Privacy Laws & Business, Donse explained that this process is required by UK law and could be subject to judicial review. Discussions between the UK government and the European Commission on the legislative progress of the Data (Use and Access) Bill continue on “a collaborative basis” at the level of ministers and policy officials, as the deadline approaches for the expiry of the adequacy agreement with the UK on 27 June this year. This means that work on new jurisdictions, such as Kenya and Brazil, will have to wait until next year.

In future, such discussions are likely to be more frequent than four yearly intervals.