With the Brexit vote cast but the UK’s exit strategy not confirmed, co-founder and partner of Forensic Risk Alliance Toby Duthie asks, “what does this mean for businesses under investigation?”
Current UK data protection laws are in limbo with no consensus on whether the UK will keep the EU’s rules or devise their own. Britain may very likely run into the issues the US encountered during its post Snowden “Safe Harbour” negotiations.
These US: EU negotiations are finally coming to a conclusion ten months after the European Court of Justice deemed “Safe Harbour” inadequate. It seems the new “Privacy Shield” will come into operation on August 1st. However the fundamental issue remains the same – that the “Privacy Shield” is untested in court and may be rejected as was the case with “Safe Harbour.”
So back to Brexit…..Jan Philipp Albrecht, a German Member of European Parliament who was a driving force behind the new and very strict incoming data protection rules, has publically stated that the UK’s current data protection rules would not be considered adequate by the European Commission.
This means businesses need to think very carefully as to where and what data is hosted by them and their vendors – especially in a litigation or investigation context where data may be moved from one part of the EU to the UK certainly now and most likely when a UK “Data Shield” equivalent is agreed. Otherwise this could lead to large fines.
For more information, you can read Toby’s commentary in the Global Investigations Review (GIR) on what could happen to UK data protection laws once the UK has left the EU.
Author: Toby Duthie, FRA founding partner
FRA’s expertise
FRA are experts in data protection compliance with data centers throughout North America and Europe. We have supported our clients with investigation and litigation expertise on numerous complex cross-border matters while ensuring compliance with local data protection and data transfer laws. We also offer the FRA Mobile Solution and on-site hosting in order to ensure that data is hosted, processed, and reviewed in the appropriate jurisdiction. Our review platforms provide for in-country review to help ensure that only potentially relevant data leaves its jurisdiction, and does so in a compliant fashion.
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