The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI), which will shortly begin its Report stage (as at 12 July) in the House of Commons. is now not expected to be adopted until Spring 2024.

Giving evidence on 10 May to the Parliament’s Public Bill Committee, Information Commissioner John Edwards said that he does not think there is anything missing from the Bill, and that, as it is largely the same as the UK GDPR, there are no concerns about the UK’s EU adequacy.

He said: “There is nothing in this bill that would put UK data adequacy at risk. The test is “essential equivalence” – New Zealand lacks many of the GDPR features as well as Israel and Canada, but all of them have retained their adequacy status. All of the UK GDPR features are in this Bill, so I have no fear that there would be a negative decision from the EU Commission .”