UK minister signals divergence: ‘EU doesn’t hold the monopoly on data protection’
Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport gave the strongest hint yet that the UK government will take advantage of Brexit to develop a distinct data protection regime. Dowden also said the next Information Commissioner will be asked to ensure people can use data to achieve economic and social goals.
Dowden said: “We do not need to copy and paste the EU’s rule book, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), word-for-word.” “Countries as diverse as Israel and Uruguay have successfully secured adequacy with Brussels despite having their own data regimes. Not all of those were identical to GDPR, but equal doesn’t have to mean the same.”
