The politics surrounding Brexit negotiations may present significant challenges to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance for UK companies as well as the cross-border data flow.
In case the United Kingdom ceases to belong to the single market, this data protection law will not directly affect the UK. The country will have to implement its legislation governing data protection and seek equivalence to guarantee the free flow of data between itself and other European Union member countries. The UK can achieve this agenda by adjusting UKPDA to ensure alignment with EU countries. In this case, obtaining equivalence is viewed as being in a position to provide equivalent protections as the GDPR to facilitate a free flow of data between the UK and other members within the EU bloc.
It is paramount that the United Kingdom should conduct an early assessment of the after-Brexit consequences on the utilization of private data and bureaucratic business models. Non-retention of GDPR or sections applicable to non-members could result in misalignment with the data protection framework in EU states. This could potentially impede trade and create administrative challenges to the United Kingdom companies.
The prospect of Brexit continues to raise legal, technical and administrative impediments to the country’s industrial set up. The UK business fraternity must understand the jurisdictional challenges brought by Brexit in light of GDPR compliance. The British government remains committed to the implementation of the EU data privacy legislation whose effective date begins in May 2018.
However, this assurance alone may not suffice the European Union to grant it a clean bill of health after Brexit. There are fears that the Snoopers Charter may make it difficult for the United Kingdom to satisfy all the EU concerns. The country must approach the issue of Brexit with a lot of sobriety given that if the negotiations hit a deadlock, movement of data between the UK and EU member countries could be caught in the political crossfire. Another possible outcome would include non-recognition of UK data protection rules as being equivalent to the General Data protection Rule observed by EU.
It is, however, important to understand that the United Kingdom will still be an EU member state when the GDPR takes effect. As such, the country is obligated to satisfy every aspect of the EU legislation.