The UK and the US Build a ‘Data Bridge’ to Facilitate Personal Data Movements

Modern-day business transactions heavily rely on international data transfers. In 2021, 93% of the UK’s services exports were data-enabled, resulting in over £79 billion worth of services exported to the US. However, despite this strong relationship, the UK GDPR’s requirements somewhat hinder current arrangements. 

UK and US government officials have agreed in principle to establish a new legal framework for facilitating personal data transfers from the UK to the US. The new “data bridge” would extend the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The UK government said in a press release that the framework would “make it easier for around 55,000 UK businesses to transfer data freely to certified US organizations without cumbersome red tape.”

How do Businesses Comply with GDPR?

The EU GDPR and its UK counterpart have regulations regarding transferring personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). These regulations aim to maintain the same level of protection for personal data exported to other jurisdictions as provided under the GDPR. Businesses have various mechanisms to ensure that EU or UK data protection standards are upheld when exporting personal data. 

The legal tools/mechanisms to transfer personal data are split in two main categories.

Countries benefiting from an adequacy decision

When the third country has adequate level of data protection, an adequacy decision may be taken by the policymaker (European Commission for the EU, UK Government for the UK). In the case of an adequacy decision, data transfer shall not require any specific authorisation.

Countries without adequacy decision

In absence of adequacy decision, organizations shall not transfer data unless appropriate safeguards are taken. Different safeguards are authorized including binding corporate rules or data protection clauses adopted by a supervisory authority (e.g. EDPB).

In July 2023, the Europ

[…]
Content was cut in order to protect the source.Please visit the source for the rest of the article.