We are heading for a No Deal Brexit it seems (at least today!). What are the implications for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA2018)? Can we bin them on the 31st October with our red EU passports? The answer is no. GDPR and the DPA are here to stay albeit there will be immediate amendments coming into force if Boris does not “pull a rabbit out of the hat.”
The Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 were made earlier this year. Some of the sixty one pages of regulations (dealing with minor issues) came into force on 29thMarch 2019, with the rest coming into force on exit day (currently 31stOctober unless something happens in the next few weeks like a General Election!).
The new regulations will only apply if we crash out of the EU without a deal. If Boris gets a deal then GDPR will apply “as is” until the end of the transitional period (currently December 2020). But no deal will mean no transitional period and changes to GDPR as we know it.
The current (EU) version of GDPR, contains many references to EU laws, institutions, currency and powers, amongst other things, which will cease to be relevant in the UK after Brexit. The new regulations amend GDPR to remove these references and replace them with British equivalents where applicable. The functions that are assigned to the European Commission will be transferred to the Secretary of State or the Information Commissioner. From exit day this new amended version of GDPR will be imaginatively titled, the “UK GDPR”.
In a no deal scenario, the UK will immediately become a third country under GDPR and so EU Data Controllers will not be able to transfer data to the UK unless additional safeguards are in place. The regulations deal with post Brexit international data transfers from the UK by amending the GDPR and adding additional provisions to the DPA 2018. Broadly these mirror the current arrangements in the GDPR. However for the lawful transfer of personal data from the EU into the UK without additional safeguards being required, the UK will need to apply to the EU for adequacy status and join a list of 12 countries. The regulations attempt to make the UK version of GDPR as robust as the EU version and hopefully achieve an adequacy decision quickly. However the UK government has acknowledged that there would be no prospect of a positive adequacy decision in the foreseeable future.
The new regulations also amend the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) which must be read alongside GDPR. Chapter 3 of Part 2 of the DPA 2018 currently applies a broadly equivalent data protection regime to certain types of data processing to which the GDPR does not apply (“the applied GDPR”). For example, where personal data processing is related to immigration and to manual unstructured data held by a public authority covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI). The DPA 2018 applies GDPR standards to such data whilst adjusting those that would not work in the national context.Amongst other things, the new regulations merge this part into the UK GDPR.
All Data Controllers and Processors need to assess their EU/UK data flows and think what measures they can put into place to ensure continuity post No Deal Brexit.
The uncertainty around Brexit means that it is an interesting time for Data Protection Officers and advisers. Watch this space!
More on these and other developments in our GDPR update workshop presented by Ibrahim Hasan. Looking for a GDPR qualification? Our practitioner certificate is the best option.
2 thoughts on “GDPR and Brexit: What next?”