The government has announced Plans to reshape Britain’s data law It claims that in order to promote growth and increase trade after Brexit, such as GDPR requirements. The Minister of Digital, Media and Culture Oliver Dowden stated that the UK hopes to develop a data law based on “common sense, not a tick.”
What is GDPR?
this General Data Protection Regulation It is a substitute for the EU’s 1995 Data Protection Directive, which previously set the EU’s minimum standards for data processing. The GDPR has significantly strengthened a number of rights: Individuals find that they have more power to require companies to disclose or delete personal data they hold; for the first time, regulators can work together across the EU without having to take separate actions in each jurisdiction; And their enforcement actions have real meaning, and the maximum fines for violations are higher.
If we have left the EU, why is GDPR important?
As a European “regulation”, GDPR It became a British law after it came into force for the second time on May 25, 2018. If the government puts it on hold, it will cease to take effect on January 1, 2021, when the UK finally decides to leave the European Union. However, the 2018 Data Protection Act launched by the government of Theresa May under the then Minister of Media and Culture Matt Hancock rewritten the UK’s own data protection law to reflect GDPR. Therefore, the UK and There will be no conflicts between European laws.
This means that when the UK leaves the European Union, the Data Protection Act continues to apply rules that are functionally equivalent to GDPR-but now the government has the right to change these rules.
What prevents the government from completely tearing up the rule book?
The international transmission of data relies on so-called “sufficiency agreements.” People cannot transfer data internationally unless their government agrees that the country’s data protection rights are at least as good as their own.
These agreements are crucial.For example, the European Union has Tossing for years Discussed with the United States whether the country provides adequate protection for EU citizens’ data, especially on the issue of protection from government surveillance.this Edward Snowden broke the news The torpedo destroyed the previous “safe harbor” discovery that the United States is good enough, and the consequences of this can still be felt today.
If the government does too much to change the rules, it will face similar risks. It knows that sufficiency is important: at the same time as the announcement on Thursday, it also promised that the UK will seek such agreements with six countries, including the United States, South Korea and Australia, and confirmed the possible next Information Commissioner, New Zealand Privacy Commissioner John John Edwards has “important” experience in bringing his country into compliance with EU requirements.
But what about the cookie banner?
Despite being a public-facing image of GDPR, cookie banners have little to do with regulations. In fact, they predate the GDPR itself and can be traced back to the European Union’s 2002 Electronic Privacy Directive. But Dawden suggested that as part of a comprehensive reform of the UK’s data protection rules, the government could remove the requirement for websites to allow low-impact use of personal data.
It is not clear whether the cancellation of this requirement will have a big impact in practice. Websites will continue to be required to implement cookie banners for European users, and similar legislation applies in California. Many people might think that it would be easier to simply continue to ask UK users if they agree to tracking, even if they no longer need to do so.
