- 29 Nov 2022
- •
- 2 min read
Data Protection – News Alert
This is our first data protection alert since we started our Data Protection Q&A series and we are wrapping up two interesting data protection changes in one!
What’s happening and why is this important?
Firstly, it has been announced that before the end of 2022, the UK’s first independent adequacy decision will be in place allowing for the secure transfer of personal data to the Republic of Korea. This means that personal data can be transferred from the UK to the Republic of Korea without the need for data exporters to implement appropriate safeguards, like the EU model clauses, and carry out transfer risk assessments which are cumbersome and time consuming.
Secondly, John Edwards (the head of the UK Information Commissioner’s Office) has made the following announcement in relation to reprimands that the ICO issue to organisations for failure to comply with UK data protection legislation:
“Every regulatory action must be a lesson learned by the rest of the economy and play a role in behaviour change. Our website says that reprimands will not usually be published. That changes now. We will publish all reprimands going forward, including reprimands issued from January 2022 onwards, unless there is a good reason not to.”
Whilst the likelihood of organisations receiving a fine from the ICO at the current time seems low (given that we know very few fines have been issued in the last 5 years) the publication of reprimands could be reputationally very damaging for organisations. As a result, we are reminded (as is the ICO’s intention in implementing this change) of the importance of organisations having robust data protection compliance programmes in place.
Our data protection team have many years of experience in advising organisations on their compliance with UK data protection law. To speak to one of the team you can get in touch or call us on 0800 2800 421.
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